Science Flashcards
Evidence that supports continental drift
Fossil record. Scientists have found fossils of similar types of plants and animals in rocks of similar age. These rocks were on the shores of different continents. This suggests that the continents were once joined
List the layers of the Earth and describe how the temperature at the surface differs from the inner layers.
- Inner Core
- Outer Core
- Mantle
- Crust
Explain how convection currents in the mantle cause plates to move.
The Convection Currents in the lower mantle, causes the magma to become less dense and rise. Once it reaches the upper mantle it cools, becomes more dense and sinks. This process repeats forming convection currents throughout the mantle which are strong enough to drive plate movement of a few centimeters per year.
Explain what happens at the three types of plate boundaries.
Convergent, Divergent, Transform
Convergent
Spreads Apart
Divergent
Slide past one another
Transform
Where the crust is neither produced nor destroyed as the plates slide horizontally past each other.
Explain how volcanoes are formed. By both convergent and divergent boundaries.
Plates rip apart at a divergent plate boundary, causing volcanic activity and shallow earthquakes; and. At a convergent plate boundary, one plate dives or “subducts” beneath the other, resulting in a variety of earthquakes and a line of volcanoes on the overriding plate
Understand that tsunamis are most commonly caused by subduction events at convergent boundaries.
Subduction. Earthquakes that generate tsunamis most often happen where Earth’s tectonic plates converge, and the heavier plate dips beneath the lighter one. Part of the seafloor snaps upward as the tension is released. The entire column of seawater is pushed toward the surface, creating an enormous bulge.
the main processes in the water cycle and be able to describe what happens for each: transpiration, precipitation, evaporation, runoff, condensation.
Transpiration is when the sun warms people, plants and animals and they release water vapour into the air. Condensation is when the water vapour in the air cools and turns back into a liquid, forming tiny water droplets in the sky. Precipitation is when water droplets fall from the sky as rain, snow or hail.
Explain what the causes and effects of La Nina and El Nino weather systems are
ENSO is the oscillation between El Niño and La Niña states in the Pacific region. El Niño typically produces drier seasons, and La Niña drives wetter years, but the influence of each event varies, particularly in conjunction with other climate influences.
Explain what SAM is and the IOD and their effects on Australia’s weather patterns
The Southern Annular Mode, or SAM, is a climate driver that can influence rainfall and temperature in Australia
And a positive IOD typically results in less rainfall than average and a negative IOD typically results in more rainfall than average over parts of Australia
