SCIENCEY TEST 6 chapters 1-6 Flashcards by Cynthia Criswell

A volcano consisting primarily of erupted volcanic ash and rock fragments held together loosely is a __ volcano.

cinder-cone

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The upper layers of the ground stripped away by surface mining are the __?

overburden

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Some glaciers extend into the ocean without breaking to form

ice shelves

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Which type of weathering involves the breaking or peeling away of rock into layers?

exfoliation

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What is an alloy of iron and carbon?

steel

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What is the land that borders a river and is covered by river water in flood time?

floodplain

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The amount of matter in an object is the

mass

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Man is classified as Homo ___?

sapiens

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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

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What is the narrow zone of active volcanoes that encircles the Pacific basin?

Ring of Fire

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What is the resistance of a smooth surface of a mineral to being scratched?

hardness

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The largest group of minerals, which compose over 90% of the earth’s crust, are the

silicates

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What plant food element promotes the ripening of fruits?

phosphorus

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What is the upper surface of ground water?

water table

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Lava that hardens into rough, jagged rocks with a crumbly or ‘‘blocky’’ texture is ___ lava

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What deep-sea fish living fossil was once though to be the ancestor of the first amphibians?

coelacanth

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What are crystalline substances found naturally in the earth?

minerals

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A fan-shaped deposit of sediments at the mouth of a river is a(n)

delta

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The sudden appearance of life in the fossil record is called the

Cambrian explosion

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Which australopithecine was known as ‘‘upright man’’?

Homo erectus

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sandy, gently sloping underwater plain near a continent

continental shelf

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underwater mountain range

mid-oceanic ridge

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one of the deep depressions in the earth’s surface where the oceans are contained

ocean basin

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underwater mountain

seamount

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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?

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