Test 1 Flashcards
Geocentric
Earth sits motionless at the center of the universe
Heliocentric
sun lies act the center of the universe
star
immense ball of plasma
Planet
object that orbits a star, is roughly spherical, and has “cleared its neighborhood of other objects”
terrestrial planets
consists of a shell of rock surrounding a ball of metal
moon
sizable body locked in orbit around a planet
Big bang theory
all matter and energy was initially packed into an infinitesimally small point
nebulae
patchy clouds of hydrogen and helium gas
accretionary disk
bulbous plate-like shape
protostar
when the ball of gasses becomes hot enough to glow
supernova
when stars run out of fuel, collapse, and explode
Planetesimals
bodies whose diameter exceeds 1 km
protoplanets
almost full sized planets
differentiation
In bodies whose temp rose sufficiently to cause internal melting, denser iron alloy separated out and sank to the center of the body, whereas the lighter rocky materials remade in a shell.
atmosphere
the envelope of gas that surrounds the planet
sections of the atmosphere by increasing altitude
Troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, thermosphere
Hydrosphere
oceans, surface water, and groundwater
Cyrosphere
ice
geosphere
solid Earth, from the surface to the center
Bathymetery
variations in depth of the seafloor
organic chemicals
carbon-containing compound the either occurs in living organisms or has characteristics that resemble compounds in living organisms
Minerals
a solid, natural substance, in which atoms are arranged in an orderly pattern
Glasses
a solid in which atoms are not arranged in an orderly pettern
Rocks
an aggregate of mineral crystals or grains, or a mass of natural glass
Greatest to least proportion of silica
Felsic, intermediate, mafic, and ultramafic
Biosphere
the aggregate of all living organisms, as well as the portion of Earth in which living organisms exist
When did differentiation of the Earth occur?
about 4.5 billion years ago
Till
sediment left behind by melting glaciers
paleomagnetism
a record of Earth’s magnetic field in the past
magnetic declination
the angle between the direction that a compass needle points and a line of longitude at a given location
magnetic inclination
the angle between a magnetic field line and the surface of the Earth
Mid ocean ridge fracture zones
narrow bands of vertical cracks and broken up rock
Seamounts
isolated submarine mountains, which were once volcanoes but no longer erupt