Global Patterns Flashcards
Any evidence of an organism from a former geological time
Fossil
Transverse and longitudinal earthquake waves that travel through the interior of the earth
S and P waves
The scientific study of earthquakes and the internal structure of the earth
Seismology
The German Scientist who first proposed that the continents had once been one big landmass (Pangea) and drifted with time (continental drift)
Alfred Wegener
A break or rupture in the Earth’s crust, which allows magma to escape from deep within the upper mantle
Volcano
Energy travelling through the Earth in the form of a longitudinal or transverse wave.
Seismic wave
The theory that explains how the Earth’s crust is broken into plates and how they move.
Plate tectonics
Layers of gases surrounding the Earth. The main gases include: % highest to lowest — 78% nitrogen, oxygen, argon, carbon dioxide
Atmosphere
Where new crust is generated as the plates pull away from each other
Divergent boundary (mid-oceanic ridge)
The law that states that in undisturbed strata, lower layers of rocks are older than those nearer the top
Superposition
The process in which two or more tectonic plates collide and one plate slides beneath the other
Subduction
Label each of layers of the Earth
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A series of ‘water waves’ caused by an undersea earthquake or volcanic eruption
Tsunami
The outermost terrestrial layer of the earth. The sea bed is on average 8km thick consisting of basalt. The continents are on average 40km thick consisting of granite.
Crust
One of several subdivisions of geological time allowing cross- referencing of rocks, fossils and geological events from place to place.
Geological period
An actively deforming region where two (or more) tectonic plates move toward one another and collide. Also known as a destructive plate boundary.
Convergent boundary
Where the crust is neither produced or destroyed as the plates slide horizontally past each other
Transform boundary
The theory that states that the Earth’s surface was shaped in the past by gradual processes.
Uniformitarianism
The centre of the Earth consisting of two layers. The outer core is molten consisting of an iron- nickel alloy. This later contributes to the earth’s magnetic field. The inner layer is solid iron.
The core
Relating to the structure of the Earth’s crust and the forces and processes which take place within it
Tectonics
Oxygen, silicon, aluminium, iron, calcium, sodium, potassium, magnesium
List of elements making up the earth’s crust. % — highest to lowest
The continual re-cycling of rocks through weathering, erosion, burial, compacting, melting and uplifting
Rock cycle
The scientific study of the origin, history, structure and composition of the earth
Geology
Crust, Mantle, Outer Core, Inner core
The 4 layers of the earth
A movement of hot material upwards towards cooler regions where it cools and sinks again
Convection currents
A series of vibrations induced in the earths crust by the sudden movement of the earths crust caused by the release of stress accumulated along geologic faults or by volcanic activity
Earthquake
Constantly changing, energetic in nature
Dynamic
The layer directly below the crust. This layer is approximately 2900km thick.
Mantle
