Earth Science Flashcards Chapter 14/15

Question 1

Earthquake

Answer 1

A sudden movement of Earth’s crust that releases energy

Question 2

Conduction

Answer 2

Occurs when heated molecules pass their vibrational energy to nearby molecules by direct contact

Question 3

Radiation

Answer 3

The movement of electromagnetic energy through transparent materials

Question 4

Convection

Answer 4

Heated matter circulates from one place to another due to differences in temperature and density

Question 5

Convection Cell

Answer 5

Heated material rises toward the surface in some places and in other places, cool material sinks into Earth. Horizontal currents complete the circulation by connecting the areas of vertical heat flow

Question 6

Stress

Answer 6

Forces applied to solid rock at high temperatures and over a long time can bend, or deform, rocks

Question 7

Strain

Answer 7

Elastic bonding response to stress by surface rocks

Question 8

Faults

Answer 8

Cracks in Earth’s crust where earthquakes occur

Question 9

Focus

Answer 9

The place underground where the rock begins to separate of an earthquake

Question 10

Epicenter

Answer 10

The point directly above the focus where the earthquake is fealt most

Question 11

Seismology

Answer 11

The study of earthquakes

Question 12

Mercalli Scale

Answer 12

Measurement of how powerful an earthquake is without instruments

Question 13

Richter Scale

Answer 13

Measurement of earthquake magnitude with a seismograph

Question 14

Seismograph

Answer 14

Tool used to measure the magnitude of an earthquake through the Richter Scale

Question 15

Seismic Moment

Answer 15

Magnitude Scale based on the total energy released by the earthquake

Question 16

Logarithmic

Answer 16

An increase of one unit on the scale translates to a 10-fold increase in the quantity measured

Question 17

Primary waves

Answer 17

The first waves to arrive at any location

Question 18

Secondary waves

Answer 18

Travel at about half of the speed of P-waves

Question 19

Seismologists

Answer 19

Someone who studies the earth and attempts to foretell an earthquake

Question 20

Travel time

Answer 20

The time inferred between the breaking of the rocks that causes an earthquake and when the event is detected at a given location

Question 21

Origin Time

Answer 21

The time at which the fault shifted

Question 22

Moho

Answer 22

Boundary between the crust and the mantle

Question 23

Refraction

Answer 23

The bending of energy waves

Question 24

mid-ocean ridges

Answer 24

An underwater system of mountain ranges

Question 25

seafloor spreading

Answer 25

The mid-ocean ridges are the places where new lithosphere is made and adds on to older material that moves away from the ridges on both sides

Question 26

Polarity

Answer 26

The direction of a magnetic field

Question 27

Subduction Zones

Answer 27

Where the old lithosphere moves back into Earth’s interior

Question 28

Ocean Trenches

Answer 28

Where the more mafic parts of the lithosphere are absorbed into the mantle

Question 29

Plate Tectonics

Answer 29

Tectonic forces cause the rocks of the continents to become folded

Question 30

Lithospheric Plates

Answer 30

A dozen rigid sections that makes up Earth’s surface

Question 31

Lithospheric Plates

Answer 31

A dozen rigid sections that makes up Earth’s surface

Question 32

Fluid

Answer 32

Any substance that can flow

Question 33

Plastic

Answer 33

A solid under short-term stress that flows like a liquid when stress is applied over a long period of time

Question 34

Asthenosphere

Answer 34

The plastic part of the mantle. Plastic refers to its state of matter

Question 35

Divergent Plate Boundaries

Answer 35

At the mid-ocean ridges new ocean floor
away from the plate boundary

Question 36

Convergent Plate Boundaries

Answer 36

Zones of Subduction

Question 37

Island Arc

Answer 37

A curved line of volcanic islands

Question 38

Transform Boundary

Answer 38

occurs when two plates slip past each other without creating new lithosphere or destroying old lithosphere

Question 39

Hot Spot

Answer 39

A long-lived source of magma within the asthenosphere and below the moving lithospheric plates