Introduction

Question 1

Geology

Answer 1

from the Greek geo (Earth) and logos (discourse). Geology is the science that pursues an understanding of planet Earth

Question 2

Physical Geology

Answer 2

Examines the materials composing Earth and seeks to understand the many processes that operate beneath and upon its surface. Precedes the study of Earth history because we must first understand how Earth works before we attempt to unravel its past.

Question 3

Historical Geology

Answer 3

to understand the origin of Earth and its development through time.

Question 4

Natural Hazards

Answer 4

volcanoes, floods, tsunamis, earthquakes, and landslides

Question 5

Resources

Answer 5

water and soil, a great variety of metallic and nonmetallic minerals, and energy

Question 6

Aristotle

Answer 6

influenced later Western thinking, ideas. unfortunately continued to be viewed as authoritative for many centuries, thus inhibiting the acceptance of more up-to-date ideas

Question 7

Catastrophism

Answer 7

Catastrophists believed that Earth’s landscapes were shaped primarily by great catastrophes

Question 8

James Ussher

Answer 8

Catatrophism. Constructed a chronology of human and Earth history in which he calculated that Earth was only a few thousand years old, having been created in 4004 b.c.e.

Question 9

Uniformitarianism

Answer 9

It states that the physical, chemical, and biological laws that operate today have also operated in the geologic past.

Question 10

James Hutton

Answer 10

Uniformitarianism. Published Theory of the Earth in 1795. In this work, Hutton put forth a fundamental principle that is a pillar of geology today. ”the present is the key to the past.”

Question 11

Earth age is…

Answer 11

4.6 billion years old

Question 12

Current eon, era, period, epoch…

Answer 12

Phanerozoic eon, Cenozoic era, Quaternary period, Holocene epoch

Question 13

Hypothesis

Answer 13

a tentative (untested) explanation

Question 14

Theory

Answer 14

a well-tested and widely accepted view that the scientific community agrees best explains certain observable facts

Question 15

Scientific Method

Answer 15

researchers gather facts through observations and formulate scientific hypotheses

Question 16

Continental Drift Hypothesis

Answer 16

idea that the continents move about the face of the planet THEORY OF PLATE TECTONICS

Question 17

Earth Spheres

Answer 17

hydrosphere, atmosphere, biosphere, and geosphere

Question 18

Hydrosphere

Answer 18

water, continually on the move, evaporating from the oceans to the atmosphere, precipitating to the land, and running back to the ocean again.

Question 19

Ocean is __% surface, __% total water.

Answer 19

71 percent of Earth’s surface to an average depth of about 3800 meters (12,500 feet). It accounts for about 97 percent of Earth’s water.

Question 20

Atmosphere

Answer 20

gaseous envelope, very shallow layer, weather and climate

Question 21

Geosphere

Answer 21

solid earth, depth of nearly 6400 kilometers (nearly 4000 miles), largest sphere,

Question 22

Biosphere

Answer 22

all life on earth, interacts with all three, concentrated life as the surface

Question 23

All 4 spheres in…

Answer 23

soil

Question 24

Earth System Science

Answer 24

study Earth as a system composed of numerous interacting parts, or subsystems

Question 25

System (and example)

Answer 25

is a group of interacting, or interdependent, parts that form a complex whole (hydrologic and rock cycles)

Question 26

Earth powered by energy from two sources…

Answer 26

Sun and internal heat

Question 27

Big Bang happened…

Answer 27

13.7 billion years ago

Question 28

Nebular Theory: Stages?

Answer 28

proposes that the bodies of our solar system evolved from an enormous rotating cloud called the solar nebula

a shock wave from an exploding star (supernova)—caused this nebula to start collapsing in response to its own gravitation.

evolved from a huge, vaguely rotating cloud to a much smaller, fast-spinning disk

Most of the cloud’s matter ended up in the center of the disk, where it formed the protosun (pre-Sun)

Question 29

Solar Nubula

Answer 29

gas and microscopic dust grains and other matter ejected ultimately from long-dead stars

Question 30

Inner Planets

Answer 30

Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars

Question 31

Planetesimals

Answer 31

larger asteroid-size bodies

Question 32

Meteorites

Answer 32

rocky and metallic pieces that remained in orbit when they survive an impact with Earth.

Question 33

Outer Planets

Answer 33

Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune

Question 34

Earth Layers by Chemical Composition

Answer 34

crust (low-density rock)
mantle (high density rock)
core (iron and nickel)

Question 35

Earth Layers by Physical Properties

Answer 35

lithosphere (solid and rigid: continental crust, oceanic crust)
asthenosphere (solid but mobile)
lower mantle (solid)
outer core (liquid)
inner core (solid)

Question 36

Oceanic Crust

Answer 36

dark igneous rock basalt. younger (180 million years or less) and denser

Question 37

Continental Crust

Answer 37

Older (4 billion)
varied (granitic rock called granodiorite)
thicker

Question 38

Mantle

Answer 38

a solid, rocky shell, 82 percent of Earth’s volume

Question 39

Upper Mantle

Answer 39

Peridotite, (magnesium and iron). extends from the crust–mantle boundary down to a depth of about 660 kilometers (410 miles)

Question 40

Lithosphere

Answer 40

“sphere of rock” consists of the entire crust plus the uppermost mantle and forms Earth’s relatively cool, rigid outer shell. lithosphere is able to move independently of the asthenosphere. In upper mantle.

Question 41

Asthenosphere

Answer 41

(“weak sphere”). The top portion of the asthenosphere has a temperature/pressure regime that results in a small amount of melting. Within this very weak zone, the lithosphere is mechanically detached from the layer below. In upper mantle.

Question 42

Transition Zone

Answer 42

lowest portion of the upper mantle

Question 43

Lower Mantle

Answer 43

the mantle gradually strengthens with depth. Despite their strength, however, the rocks within the lower mantle are very hot and capable of extremely gradual flow

Question 44

Core

Answer 44

innermost layer, iron–nickel alloy with minor amounts of oxygen, silicon, and sulfur

Question 45

Outer Core

Answer 45

a liquid layer. The movement of metallic iron within this zone generates Earth’s magnetic field.

Question 46

Inner Core

Answer 46

solid due to the immense pressures that exist in the center of the planet.

Question 47

Continental Margin

Answer 47

portion of the seafloor adjacent to major landmasses. It may include the continental shelf, the continental slope, and the continental rise

Question 48

Continental Shelf

Answer 48

a gently sloping platform. extends seaward from the shore. Because it is underlain by continental crust, it is clearly a flooded extension of the continents

Question 49

Continental Slope

Answer 49

boundary between the continents and the deep-ocean basins, a relatively steep dropoff that extends from the outer edge of the continental shelf, called the shelf break, to the floor of the deep ocean

Question 50

__% earth is ocean basins

__% earth is continents

Answer 50

60 percent of Earth’s surface is represented by ocean basins and the remaining 40 percent by continents.

Question 51

Cratons

Answer 51

interiors of the continents, relatively stable (undisturbed) for the past 600 million years or even longer. Typically these regions were involved in mountain-building episodes much earlier in Earth’s history

Question 52

Sheilds

Answer 52

expansive, flat regions composed largely of deformed igneous and metamorphic rocks in the Cratons

Question 53

Stable Platforms

Answer 53

highly deformed rocks, like those found in the shields, are covered by a relatively thin veneer of sedimentary rocks in the Cratons