Oceanography Ch. 3

Question 1

Alfred Wegener

Answer 1

A busy German meteorologist and polar explorer

Question 2

Continental Drift

Answer 2

Theory that Earth was once a supercontinent

Question 3

Pangaea

Answer 3

Super continent Earth

Question 4

Panthalassa

Answer 4

Pangaea’s surrounding oean

Question 5

Density

Answer 5

An expression of the relative heaviness of a substance

Question 6

Earthquakes

Answer 6

Shaking of Earth’s crust due to tectonic plate movement

Question 7

Seismic Waves

Answer 7

Low-frequency waves generated by earthquakes

Question 8

Surface Waves

Answer 8

Move along Earth’s surface

Question 9

Body Waves

Answer 9

Useful for analyzing Earth’s interior structure

Question 10

P Wave

Answer 10

Compressional wave similar to a sound wave

Question 11

S Wave

Answer 11

Shear wave like a rope shaken side to side

Question 12

Seismograph

Answer 12

An instrument that senses and records earthquakes

Question 13

Shadow Zone

Answer 13

A wide band from which S waves were absent

Question 14

Crust

Answer 14

Lightweight, brittle, uppermost layer of Earth

Question 15

Oceanic Crust

Answer 15

Primarily basalt, a heavy dark-colored rock

Question 16

Continental Crust

Answer 16

Primarily granite, speckled rock

Question 17

Mantle

Answer 17

The layer beneath the crust

Question 18

Lithosphere

Answer 18

Earth’s cool, rigid, outer layer 70-200 km in thickness

Question 19

Asthenosphere

Answer 19

The hot, partially melted, slowly flowing layer of upper mantle below the lithosphere

Question 20

Lower Mantle

Answer 20

Extends to the core

Question 21

Core

Answer 21

Consists of two parts; dense, viscous outer core, solid inner core

Question 22

Radioactive Decay

Answer 22

An important form of heat formed from separating nuclei

Question 23

Conduction

Answer 23

Heat rising to Earth’s surface

Question 24

Convection

Answer 24

When fluid or semisolid is heated and rises

Question 25

Buoyancy

Answer 25

Ability of an object to float in a fluid

Question 26

Isostatic Equilibrium

Answer 26

When volume displaced by object is equal to weight of displaced object

Question 27

Fault

Answer 27

A plane of weakness

Question 28

Uniformitarianism

Answer 28

Theory that Earth’s geological features could be explained by present-day processes