SCIENCEY TEST 6 chapters 1-6 Flashcards
A volcano consisting primarily of erupted volcanic ash and rock fragments held together loosely is a __ volcano.
cinder-cone
The upper layers of the ground stripped away by surface mining are the __?
overburden
Some glaciers extend into the ocean without breaking to form
ice shelves
Which type of weathering involves the breaking or peeling away of rock into layers?
exfoliation
What is an alloy of iron and carbon?
steel
What is the land that borders a river and is covered by river water in flood time?
floodplain
The amount of matter in an object is the
mass
Man is classified as Homo ___?
sapiens
What type of mountain formed when rocks on one side of a fault were forced upward and the rocks on the other side were forced downward?
fault-block
What is the narrow zone of active volcanoes that encircles the Pacific basin?
Ring of Fire
What is the resistance of a smooth surface of a mineral to being scratched?
hardness
The largest group of minerals, which compose over 90% of the earth’s crust, are the
silicates
What plant food element promotes the ripening of fruits?
phosphorus
What is the upper surface of ground water?
water table
Lava that hardens into rough, jagged rocks with a crumbly or ‘‘blocky’’ texture is ___ lava
aa
What deep-sea fish living fossil was once though to be the ancestor of the first amphibians?
coelacanth
What are crystalline substances found naturally in the earth?
minerals
A fan-shaped deposit of sediments at the mouth of a river is a(n)
delta
The sudden appearance of life in the fossil record is called the
Cambrian explosion
Which australopithecine was known as ‘‘upright man’’?
Homo erectus
sandy, gently sloping underwater plain near a continent
continental shelf
underwater mountain range
mid-oceanic ridge
one of the deep depressions in the earth’s surface where the oceans are contained
ocean basin
underwater mountain
seamount
beginning marked by a shelf break
continental slope
one of the huge, muddy valleys that cut through portions of the abyssal plain
trench
large fissure in the continental shelf
submarine canyon
a pool of shallow, salty water at the center of an atoll
lagoon
a huge level region of the deep ocean floor
abyssal plain
Rhythmic back-and-forth motions of water that transfer energy are called _______
waves
Crystals are generally characterized by many flat surfaces called ____
faces
Oceanographers collect water samples from the ocean depths using ___ bottles.
Niskin
The process in which wind lifts particles for short distances then drops them abruptly is ____
saltation
Movements of ocean water caused primarily by the moon are called ___
tides
The study of the earth is ____
geology
The revolutionary submersible design invented by Auguste Piccard was the ___
bathyscaphe
Gentle, rolling waves that appear even in calm weather are ____
(ocean) swells
Seventy-eight percent of the salt in the ocean is _______
sodium chloride
The region where cold, deep water meets sun-warmed surface water is the ____
thermocline
The earth’s rotation causes surface currents to move in circular paths called ______
gyres
A ______ is a device with an open tube that is dropped to the sea floor, allowing its weight to puncture the sediment.
gravity corer
Huge chunks of floating glacial ice are ___
icebergs
The process that breaks rocks down into soil is
weathering
The study of fossils is
paleontology
When water from heavy waves rapidly flows away from the shore through a gap in a sandbar, the water forms a(n)?
rip current (or riptide)
Regions of the earth’s surface where limestone is exposed and abundant are __ regions
karst
The deepest regions of the sea, with depths greater than 6000 meters (19,690 feet) are in the ___ zone
hadal
One idea that attempts to reconcile the Bible and evolution is
theistic evolution
The deepest known point in the sea is the
Challenger Deep (or Marianas Trench)
A mineral test that leaves a line of powder on a plate is a(n) ___ test.
streak
The most abundant element in the earth’s crust is
oxygen
A low hill formed when a glacier overruns a moraine is a
drumlin
When two rock layers are pushed violently together, causing the layers to buckle, ___ mountains form.
folded
What is the red variety of corundum
ruby
What device uses sound waves to detect underwater objects?
sonar
What is a warm surface current that flows in the Atlantic Ocean north of the equator?
Gulf Stream
What are large almond- or teardrop-shaped pieces of ejecta formed when lava solidifies?
volcanic bomb
Halfway between the spring tides are weaker-than-normal tides called __ tides.
neap
What type of fold occurs when rocks buckle upward?
anticline
What hypothetical time scale supposedly charts both the earth’s history and the sequence of the rock layers in the earth’s crust?
geologic column
Emerald and aquamarine are two forms of what mineral?
beryl
The amount of dissolved salt in seawater is
salinity
A theory that has never been proven false is a
law
What is a winding, looping curve in a river on flat ground?
meander
What type of mountain is formed when molten rock collects beneath an overlying rock layer, forcing the layer upward into a blisterlike structure?
domed
What theory states that the earth’s crust and upper mantle consist of huge plates slowly drifting as a result of convection currents in the mantle?
plate tectonics
The daily or twice-daily period when the oceans levels are at their highest point is called ___ tide
high (duh)
What is the false belief that all geological processes have always proceeded at the same rate?
uniformitarianism
What metal is more valuable than gold or silver?
platinum
What scale do chemists use to express acidity and basicity of substances?
pH
What is the study of the earth’s oceans called?
oceanography
What percent of the earth’s surface is covered by water?
seventy
Give the term for an upward-flowing current
upwelling
What is the scientific term for water pressure?
hydrostatic pressure
What does scuba stand for?
self-contained underwater breathing apparatus
Oh, I thought it stood for stop cats unicycling before anything.
What is the substance that makes up the physical world?
matter
What device serves as a framework for many water collection bottles, allowing oceanographers to collect water from different depths?
rosette
What is the point on the earth’s surface directly above an earthquack’s focus?
epicenter
What is the highest point of a wave?
crest
Who popularized evolution with his book On The Origin of Species?
(Charles) Darwin
