Geological Processes Flashcards
What can’t geologists know for sure?
How the surface of the Earth has changed.
What can they base their suggestions on?
From evidence from the processes that can be seen today.
What are examples of these processes?
Mountain building Erosion Sedimentation Dissolving Evaporation
What are magnetic clues used for?
Geologists can use magnetic clues in rocks to track the very slow movement of the continents over the surface of the Earth.
Where were rocks that now make up Britain formed?
In different climates.
What clues do Sedimentary rocks often contain clue that suggest how they were formed?
Fossils and the presence of shell fragments
Ripple patterns on sediments that settled on the bottom of the sea of a river
The shape of water-borne grains compared with air-blown grains.
Are the tectonic plates that make up the Earth moving?
Yes, but very slowly
What are they dragged by?
The convection currents in the mantle beneath them.
What is this theory supported by?
The continents that we see today seem as though they might have once fitted together
Similar rocks have been found on opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean
