Exam 1 Flashcards
What is it called when water on the Earth’s surface moves from reservoir to reservoir?
They Hydrologic Cycle
Which reservoir has the smallest residence time?
Atmosphere (water vapor)
Which reservoir has the second smallest residence time?
Biosphere (living tissues)
What is the reservoir with surface water such as oceans and lakes?
Hydrosphere
What is the reservoir with glacial ice?
Cryosphere
What is the reservoir with the greatest residence time?
Lithosphere (ground water)
An example of a divergent plate boundary is
The Mid-Atlantic Ridge
An example of a convergent plate boundary is
The Marianas Trench
The history of the changing shape of the ocean basins is recorded in the magnetic patterns in the rock of the ocean floor. This is because
The rocks get older with increasing distance from the mid-ocean ridges
The lithospheric plates move because
convection cells in the asthenosphere, created by heat from the core, make a “ridge push”; the cooling slabs sink back into the asthenosphere, as “slab pull”
What are the deepest parts of the oceans?
trenches
What are the faults crossing the mid-ocean ridges called?
Fracture zones
What are the remains of micro-organisms called?
ooze
What occurs in hydrothermal vents on mid-ocean ridges?
chemosynthesis
What is a submerged, flat-topped extinct volcano called?
guyot
What is the submerged edge of the continent called?
Continental shelf
What drives lithospheric plate motions?
Convection currents
What is the ATM of Venus?
90
What is the ATM of Earth?
1
What is the ATM of Mars?
0.01
What does the temp range from for Venus?
300-400 C
What does the temp range from for Earth?
-60-100 C
What does the temp range from for Mars?
-200-20 C
Which planet has no surface water and is made of volcanoes?
Venus
Which planet has no surface water and has ice caps in the spring?
Mars
What is the escape velocity of Venus?
6 mi/sec
What is the escape velocity of Mars?
4 mi/sec
What is the escape velocity of Earth?
7 mi/sec
How fast do Hydrogen molecules travel?
4 mi/sec
How fast do oxygen molecules travel?
2 mi/sec
What can escape from Earth?
Hydrogen, not Oxygen
What does acoustic bathymetry entail?
Asound pulse is sent to the seafloor
Measure time needed for the echo to be received
This time is related to the distance to the seafloor
What are isolated volcanic peaks that rise at least 1,000 feet above the sea floor?
Seamounts
What is terrigenous sediment?
sediment coming from the continents/islands
What is biogenic sediment?
organically produced material, like shell material, made by organisms
Dissolved minerals present in seawater chemically react to form solids is what?
Authigenic
Material from outer space, dust and small particles, like tektites, reaching Earth from space is what?
Cosmogenic
What is the continental crust made up of?
Mostly granite
What is the oceanic crust made up of?
Mostly basalt
What is the mantle made up of?
a dense rock containing lots of silicon, oxygen, iron, magnesium
What is the core made up of?
Iron
What is the lithosphere made of?
Crust and upper mantle
What layer of the earth is rigid and brittle?
Lithosphere
What layer of the earth is soft, plastic, and able to flow?
Asthenosphere
What is the lower mantle called?
Mesosphere
What are examples of trenches?
Andes Mountain Chain, Peru-Chile Trench
When plates pull apart, what type of boundary is it?
Divergent
When plates collide, what type of boundary is it?
Convergent
What way does a transform fault move?
side-to-side
Our magnetic field is currently oriented towards ______, which we call _____.
magnetic north, normal
In the past, the magnetic field has flipped to _____, which we call _____.
magnetic south, reversed
What is the speed of the creation of the ocean floor measured in?
cm/year
