Exam 1 Study Guide Flashcards

1
Q

What is the Big Bang Theory?

A

13.6 billion years ago the universe began as an infinitely hot and denser point that suddenly expanded and continues to expand

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2
Q

What is the Solar Nebula Theory?

A

4.6 billion years ago, the collapse of interstellar gas and dust created a disc-like mass, creating our solar system.
The sun was created first via nuclear fusion, then leftover material clumped together to create meteorites, asteroids, dwarf planets, moons, and planets.

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3
Q

How is the Earth compositionally layered?

A
  1. The core: Iron-nickel alloy
  2. The mantle: Olivine
    3: The Crust:
    - Continental: Granitic Rocks
    - Oceanic: Basalt
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4
Q

How is the Earth physically/mechanically layered?

A

Lithosphere: Crust and upper mantle
- solid and rigid
Asthenosphere: Upper mantle
- partially molten and weak
Mesosphere: lower mantle
- solid that can flow
Outer core: liquid
Inner core: Solid

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5
Q

What is Continental Drift?

A

A theory put forth by Alfred Wegener in 1912; there once was a supercontinent, Pangea, and it began to split and drift apart during the Mesozoic era.

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6
Q

What were the key findings of seafloor spreading?

A
  1. The ocean floor is more rugged than originally thought
    - Major ocean basins have a mid-oceanic ridge system
    - Discovered trenches and rift valleys (spreading center)
  2. The ocean floor is completely regenerated every 200 million years
    - Fractures from spreading allow injections of magma into rift valleys (becoming new oceanic crust)
    - Sediments settle in deep ocean trenches
    - Oceanic crust falls into the mantle and is reabsorbed
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7
Q

What were the key findings of Paleomagnetism?

A
  1. Paleomagnetic reversals
  2. Symmetrical patterns of reversals
  3. Further proved seafloor spreading
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8
Q

What were the key findings of seismic surveys?

A
  1. Confirmed sediment thickness near continents and thinness near the ridge crest
  2. The oceanic crust is thin and mostly composed of basalt
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9
Q

What evidence was gleamed from mantle plumes and hotspots?

A
  1. As a plate moves over a hotspot, a chain of volcanoes form
  2. The age of each volcano indicates how long it has been since it was over the mantle plume
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10
Q

What is a divergent boundary?

A

When two plates move away from each other
Result: Upwelling of hot material from the mantle creates new seafloor.
Features:
- Subduction zones: Trenches & rifts/rift valleys/ fault zones, earthquakes and volcanoes

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11
Q

What are the two types of divergent boundaries?

A

Oceanic-Oceanic:
- Features:
+ Mid-ocean ridge along it
+ Faulting and Earthquakes
+ Volcanoes (new ocean crust created)
+ Subduction zones
Continental Rifts:
- Features:
+ Rift valley
+ Volcanoes present
+ Subduction zones

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12
Q

What is an example of an oceanic-oceanic divergent boundary?

A

East Pacific Rise

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13
Q

What is an example of a Continental Rift?

A

Rio Grande Rift
East African Rift Valley
Basin and Range USA
Red Sea Rift

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14
Q

What is a convergent boundary?

A

Two plates move toward each other.
- Two Possible Results:
+ Subduction under another plate
+ Creation of mountain belts
- Features:
+ Earthquakes
+ Volcanoes
+ Trenches and rift valleys

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15
Q

What are the 3 types of convergent boundaries?

A

Oceanic-Oceanic: One plate sinks into the asthenosphere
- Features:
+ Volcanic arc
+ Back arc
+ For arc
+ Deep ocean trenches
+ Subduction zones
Oceanic-:Continental: Oceanic plate subducts to continental
- Features:
+ Subduction zones
+ Continental volcanic arc
Continental-Continental: Netiher plate can subduct due to buoyancy
- Features:
+ Earthquakes
+ Mountain belts (no volcanoes)
+ Sutures (where continents collide)
+ Fold and thrust belts (thick sequences of sedimentary rock)

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16
Q

Give an example of a volcanic arc, in reference to oceanic-oceanic convergent boundaries.

A

Aleutian Islands in Alaska

17
Q

Give an example of continental-continental convergent plate boundaries.

A

Himalayas
Appalachians

18
Q

Give an example of oceanic-continental convergent boundaries.

A

Coastal Range Batholith
Baja California Batholith

19
Q

What is a transform boundary?

A

A strike and slip movement where the lithosphere is neither created nor destroyed.
Oceanic-Oceanic: Where most of them happen
- Features:
+ Earthquakes
+ No volcanoes
+ Ridge-trench transform fault
Few occur on land:
- Features:
+ Transform fault
+ Earthquakes

20
Q

Give an example of a transform boundary that occurred on land.

A

San Andreas faultzone
Haiti earthquake in 2010
Alpin Fault Zone, New Zealand

21
Q

What are unconformities?

A

Breaks/gaps in rock sequence produced by nondisposition or erosion

22
Q

How are unconformities classified?

A

According to their formation into:
1. Angular unconformity - tilted rock overlain by flat-laying rocks
2. Disconformity - strata is parallel to sedimentary rocks
3. Nonconformity - strata overlies metamorphic or igneous rock

23
Q

What was James Ussher’s contribution to the geologic time scale?

A

Annals of the world; earth was created in 4004 BCE

24
Q

What was James Hutton’s contribution to the geologic time scale?

A

The Theory of the Earth; a foundation of modern geology
Introduced the idea of Deep (Geological) Time; Earth millions of years old

25
Q

What was Henri Becquerel’s contribution to the geologic time scale?

A

Radiometric dating; discovered radioactivity in uranium

26
Q

What was Ernest Rutherford’s contribution to radiometric dating?

A

Discovered the cause of radiation

27
Q

What was Clair Cameron Patterson’s contribution to the geologic time scale?

A

Earth is 4.55 billion years old; +/-0.07 billion years

28
Q

What is radiometric dating?

A

A way of directly dating rocks using radioactive decay

29
Q

What 3 eras are the Phanerozoic eon divided into (oldest to youngest)

A
  1. Paleozoic era
  2. Mesozoic era
  3. Cenozoic era
30
Q

What are the 3 periods in the Cenozoic era? (oldest to youngest)

A
  1. Paleogene
  2. Neogene
  3. Quaternary