ESC Midterm Flashcards
A government report about a hurricane would
be part of the discipline of meteorology.
A newspaper article about an earthquake would be reporting on the discipline of
geology.
According to the figure, the birth of the Earth occurred approximately
4,540 Ma.
Glaciers would be considered part of both the cryosphere and the
hydrosphere.
If buying a house in the area shown, Earth Science may help you determine
if the area is safe from natural hazards.
The difference between meteorology and climate science is that
meteorology studies shorter-term conditions of the atmosphere and climate science studies the longer-term trends.
The mantle and core would be considered part of which Earth System realm?
Geosphere
The study of Earth’s oceans and their interaction with Earth’s land and atmosphere is called
oceanography
The theory of _________ is considered to be the foundation of geology.
plate tectonics
Which one of these practical questions may be answered by Earth Science?
What will the weather be like today?
A bathymetric map of the Earth’s oceans would reveal that most of the ocean floor is made up of
abyssal plains.
Earth’s core
generates Earth’s magnetic field.
Edwin Hubble’s research was important because
his measurements of galaxies showed that the Universe is expanding.
From earliest to latest, which of the following is the correct order of events in the formation of Earth?
Formation of accretionary disk, formation of planetesimals, differentiation, formation of Moon
How did the Earth become round?
The early Earth’s interior rock became warm enough to flow in response to gravity.
Scientific cosmology
investigates the overall structure and history of the Universe.
Soil forms when ________ interact(s) with air, water, and organisms.
sediment
The Big Bang
began with all matter and energy concentrated in an infinitesimally small point.
The Moho is the boundary between Earth’s
crust and mantle.
The earliest nebulae to form in the Universe were made almost entirely of
hydrogen and helium.
The geothermal gradient
refers to the rate of increase in temperature with increasing depth in the Earth.
The leading hypothesis for the formation of our Moon states that it
was formed by the collision of Earth with a Mars-sized protoplanet.
The nebular theory explains
how the Solar System formed.
The process by which the Earth developed its layered interior is called
differentiation.
The two most common gases of Earth’s atmosphere are
nitrogen (N2) and oxygen (O2).
The type of rock formed by the solidification of molten rock is
igneous.
This figure shows the planets of the Solar System and their positions relative to the Sun. Rocky planets are closest to the Sun, and the gas and ice giants are farther away. Which of the following sequences places the planets in the correct order?
Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune
This figure shows the planets of the Solar System and their positions relative to the Sun. Which observation about the planets’ arrangement is true?
The asteroid belt marks the boundary between the rocky planets and the gas giants.
Using this image, describe the relationship between air pressure and altitude.
At the top of Mt. Everest, air pressure is less than 0.4 bars.
Which layer of the Earth’s interior is completely molten?
Outer core
Which of Earth’s layers accounts for most of the volume of Earth?
Mantle
Which of Earth’s layers is the thinnest?
Crust
Which of the following groups of elements make up most of the mass of the Earth?
Iron, oxygen, silicon, and magnesium
Which of the following serves as a trap for cosmic rays and shields life on Earth from excessive radiation?
Van Allen belts
Which of these is a terrestrial planet?
Mars
A subducting (or downgoing) plate
will have a trench associated with it.
According to the mantle plume model for the origin of hot spots
mantle plumes produce volcanoes that do not always coincide with a plate boundary.
Accretionary prisms form as a result of what process?
Subduction
Asthenosphere
is warm enough to flow slowly.
By using GPS data, scientists have been able to
directly observe plate motions.
During the process of seafloor spreading
new seafloor is formed at ridges and destroyed at trenches.
Earth’s magnetic field is created primarily by the
flow of liquid iron alloy in Earth’s molten outer core.
East Africa and the Basin and the Range Province of the United States are examples of a
continental rift.
Identify the plate boundary in the image.
convergent
Identify the plate boundary in the image.
transform
In the figure the magnetic anomaly pattern is mirrored on either side of the central ridge. What is responsible for this pattern?
Reversals of the direction of Earth’s magnetic field occur during seafloor spreading.
Oceanic crust
is composed of basalt and lies under a blanket of sediment.
Plate tectonics theory took decades to be accepted because
Wegener couldn’t explain how continents moved.
Plate tectonics theory was widely accepted by scientists in what decade?
1960s
The Hawaiian Islands, a chain of volcanic islands located in the middle of the Pacific Plate, extend northwest across the Pacific as shown in the figure. The island of Hawaii is the youngest, and the islands get progressively older to the northwest. How are the positions of the islands explained by plate tectonic theory?
A hot spot is currently situated under Hawaii and the Pacific Plate is moving across it in a northwesterly direction.
The Himalayas are currently growing because at their location
a continental plate is colliding with another continental plate.
The center of a mid-ocean ridge is where
new oceanic lithosphere is being created.
The chain of volcanoes along the west coast of South America (the Andes Mountains) exists because
an oceanic plate is subducting under the western edge of the South American Plate.
The contact between lithospheric plates is called a
plate boundary.
The global occurrence of earthquakes reveals that
they usually occur on the boundaries of plates.
The rate of plate motion
can range from 1 to 15 cm per year.
Which of the following has faulting but no volcanic activity?
Transform plate boundary
Which of the following statements about lithosphere and asthenosphere is TRUE?
Lithosphere consists of the crust and the upper mantle, and behaves like a hard layer that breaks and bends.
Which of the following was used as evidence by Wegener to develop the theory of continental drift?
The presence of matching mountain chains on continents currently separated by oceans
Why is the lithosphere rigid while the asthenosphere is not?
The temperature in the asthenosphere is higher than the lithosphere so the rock is softer.
According to Mohs hardness scale
gypsum is softer than fluorite.
Asbestos was widely used as a fireproofing insulation. Why is it no longer used?
When inhaled it can embed in the lungs and cause cancer.
Calcite and aragonite minerals that constitute clamshells are examples of which method of mineral formation?
Biomineralization
Crystalline rocks
are rocks whose grains grew to interlock.
Diamonds are very hard gemstones that form
when graphite is subjected to high pressure.
Glass is not considered a mineral because
it does not have a crystal structure.
Most of the major chemical classes of minerals are defined by which chemical group that the mineral contains?
Negatively charged ion or group
Rocks in which individual mineral grains are held together by a cement are
clastic rocks.
Rocks that form at or near Earth’s surface by the cementing of grains or precipitation from water are
sedimentary.
The building block of the silicate minerals is called the
silicon-oxygen tetrahedron.
The image shows a calcite fragment. The calcite has
three planes of cleavage, one of which is inclined.
The migration of atoms or molecules through a material is called
diffusion.
The mineral crystals of amethyst growing into the center of the geode in the figure are
euhedral.