Planet Earth Key Terms Flashcards
Rock
Made up of more than one material
Mineral
A pure, naturally occurring, non-living crystalline material
Crust
The outermost layer of the Earth
Element
A pure substance
Mohs Hardness Scale
A scale that measures the hardness of minerals
Crystals
The building block material; crystals occur naturally
Lustre
The shine of a mineral
Color
The color of a mineral
Streak
When a mineral is rubbed across a porcelain tile it leaves a streak
Cleavage
Minerals that break on smooth or flat surfaces
Fracture
Minerals that break on rough or jagged surfaces
Igneous Rock
When magma or lava cools or solidifies
Magma
Melted rock under the crust
Lava
Melted rock above the crust
Intrusive Rock
Magma cools and hardens
Extrusive Rock
Lava cools and hardens
Sedimentary Rock
When loose material is compacted into sediments
Sediment
Loose material such as bits of rock, minerals and plant or animal matter
Stratification
the arrangement of sedimentary rock in visible layers
Compaction
Takes a long time and requires pressure and water and other sediments
Cementation
A process by which particles are held together by
another material
Metamorphic Rock
a type of rock made when high pressure and heat
act on another type of rock and change it into a new form
Mantle
The middle layer of the Earth
Outer Core
The layer between the mantle and the core
Inner Core
The center of the Earth
Continental Drift
The movement of the continents
Sea Floor Spreading
The process in which the a ocean floor slowly increases due to the making of new igneous rock
SONAR
Sound Navigation and Ranging. It is used to study the surface at the bottom of the ocean
Plates
Large sections of the Earths crust
The Theory of Plate Tectonics
These plates are always moving due to convection currents
Converging Plates
Tectonic plates coming together
Diverging Plates
Tectonic plates being pulled apart
Evidence of Continental Drift
Biological evidence, Geological evidence and similarities in rocks
Convection Currents
The hottest magma in the Mantle rising and sliding against the tectonic plates moving them
Subduction Zones
When two plates converge, one is shoved underneath the other
Seismograph
A machine the measures seismic waves
Bedrock
Solid rock underlying loose deposits
Richter Scale
A scale that shows the magnitude of a earthquake
Seismic Waves
A wave produced by a earthquake
Primary Waves
Fastest, least amount of damage, pass through all liquid/solid/gas
Secondary Waves
Medium damage, medium speed, pass through solids
Surface Waves
Largest damage, slow speed, pass through solids
Focus
Where earthquake occurs. Under the Earths crust
Fault
Rock is under pressure if the pressure causing the rock to bend or stretch and if the pressure is too great and the rock breaks, that creates a fault
Normal Faults
Diverging, tension, valleys will form
Reverse Faults
Converging, compression (subdution zones)
Strike-Slip Fault or Transform Fault
Shear, stretch and twist
Aftershocks
A smaller earthquake following the main shock of a large earthquake
Epicenter
Right above the focus on the Earths surface
Vents
Openings in volcanoes
Dormant
When a volcano is inactive
Ring of Fire
This is the name of the ring of volcanoes surrounding the Pacific Ocean
Anticline
Top part of a fold ( mountains )
Syncline
Bottom part of fold ( mountains )
Thrust Faulting
When low angling rock is thrust together
Fault Blocking
When plates diverge and blocks of rock fall creating valleys
Complex Mountains
A variety of types of mountains
Petrified
When water penetrates the bones of dead animal matter turning it into a rock like substance
Carbonaceous Film
Type of fossil found in any rock when organic material is compressed, leaving only a thin carbon film
Cast
Type of fossil in which sediments are formed a mould and hardened into rock
Mould
A mould is a cavity left in a rock from the original remains
Trace Fossils
Evidence of activity
Original Remains
Part of organism preserved in resin or ice
