Study Guide for stem test Flashcards
What is convection
the transfer of heat energy through flowing materials, like liquid or gas. This is how heat moves in the mantle.
What is a Trench
Deep regions of the ocean floor at the edge of plates. This is the location where the old oceanic crust is destroyed and subducted under another plate
What is Subduction
The sliding of one plate under another plate, or forcing it into the mantle where it will melt. This occurs at trenches
What is Sea floor spreading
Oceanic crust is created at the mid-ocean ridge, moving sideways away from the mid-ocean ridge, and being pushed back or subducted into the mantle at a trench.
What is a geologist
Scientist who study earth and how earth changes and the materials earth is made up of.
What is the crust
One of the earth’s main layers covers the entire surface thinnest under oceans and thickest under continents composed of rock.
Continents
Large land masses
Mantle
One of the earth’s main layers is under the crust and is made up of rock. Earth’s thickest layer makes up most of the earth’s mass. The upper part is rigid while lower part flows very slowly.
Core
One of earth’s main layers. Earth’s center. Mostly made up of iron and nickel. Earth’s hottest layer.
Outer core
Outer of the core and is liquid and flows slowly.
Inner core
Inner of the core and is solid.
Conduction
Transfer of heat energy through solid matter. Exm( This is how heat moves from core to the crust.
Pangea
A giant continent. Pangea means all land. Alfred Wegener believed that Pangea split apart
Convection currents
A cycle of heated matter due to density changes. Causes dramatic changes to the earth’s surface. Deep inside the earth can cause the asthenosphere to flow and makes plates move.
Fossils
Remains, Imprints, or traces of living things that has been fossilized- the fossils in the rocks on both continents were identical
Continental drift
The idea that continents move from one part of the earth to another
Lithosphere
A brittle outer layer of the earth, between the upper mantle and the crust. It is solid and made up of plates
Plates
Earth has twelve big plates and several small plates. Plates can be made up of oceanic crust or continental crust
Asthenosphere
Under the lithosphere. Hot enough to change and bend its shape. A region in the upper mantle
Plate tectonics
A theory that explains how plates move.
Sonar
A type of technology to see information about the ocean using sound waves.
Mid-ocean ridge
A mountain range where a chain of mountains (volcanic mountains) rise from the ocean floor
Rift
A valley that runs along the crest of the mid-ocean ridge
Magma
Melted rock that hardens and becomes rock
Divergent boundary
A place where two plates are moving away apart most are located along the mid-ocean ridge. New crust forms at divergent boundaries. Can rip apart continents and create new oceans.
Convergent boundary
A place where two plates collide crust is destroyed. One plate goes under another. When a plate with continental crust collides with the other plate with oceanic crust the plate with oceanic crust goes under the other plate and creates a trench. When a two plates with continental crust collide the buckle and is pushed up into a mountain range
Transform boundary
When the crust is neither destroyed nor created and the plates slide past each other. Earthquakes occur here.
What is isostasy
The constant balancing between the downward force of the crust and the upward force of the mantle is called isostasy
What is a fault
A break in the crust along where rocks move.
Ring of fire
An area of frequent earthquakes and volcano eruptions encircling the pacific ocean.
Earthquake
A vibration in the ground when rock suddenly slips or breaks which releases energy. There is also stress along the faults
magnitude
The energy released by the earthquake. Can be determined by a seismograph and compared to other earthquakes using the Richter scale.
Focus
An area in the crust or upper mantle were the energy is released. This can also be where a earthquake occurs
Epicenter
An area on the surface directly above the focus
Richter scale
A scale that measures the magnitude of an earthquake from a scale of 1-10. Each number going up is 10x the magnitude released.
Mercalli scale
A scale that measures the damage done by an earthquake in a specific location. Uses the scale I-XII
Who is harry hess
Was a teacher of geology at price university. He taught in the early 1940s and served for the naval reserve. When America entered WWII Harry was called to duty. He commanded a ship and took surveys of the ocean floor based on the sonar equipment he used. He continued to study the ocean floor and published a book History of Ocean Basins. Later on, his idea of seafloor spreading was just a hunch but with new technology later on, technology helped support his theory. When hesses and Wegener’s theories were both true. Their theory combined to become the theory of Plate tectonics
Who is Alfred wegener
Was born in Berlin in 1880 where his father was a minister who ran an orphanage. He studied in Germany and Austria receiving his Ph.D. in astronomy. He started studying the science of weather and his research improved. He returned from his trip to Greenland he started teaching meteorology at the University of Marburg. Wegener realized that the continents looked like they fit like puzzle pieces. He served in WWI and continued his theory of how the continents look like they fit like jigsaw puzzle pieces while most scientists did not believe him some still did. On his last expedition to Greenland, he celebrated his fiftieth birthday but got lost in a blizzard and died. Later on with new technology, his theory was proved to be correct.
