Things to study Flashcards
What are tectonic plates?
Pieces of the earths and the upper most mantle referred to as the lithosphere
What do tectonic plates consist of?
Oceanic crust & continental crust
What is Iceland’s volcano called?
Eyjafjallajokull (only need to know how to spell it)
Where did the volcano erupt?
Located south of the intersection between the South Iceland Seismic Zone and the Eastern Volcanic Zone, Eyjafjallajokull is close to a propagating rift zone
When did it erupt?
14th of April 2010
Atmospheric air pressure
The force exerted on the earths surface by the weight of the air, measured in millibars
Caldera
A caldera volcano occurs when a volcano erupts so explosively that the magma ash chamber empties and the car
Climatic zones
Divisions of the earths climates into belts or zones according to average temperatures and average rainfall. The three major zones are polar template and tropical
Composite volcanoes (stratovolcanoes)
A steep sided dome shaped volcano that are erupts a variety of materials such as sticky acid lava and ash. Occurs at destructive plate margins
condensation
the process whereby rising water vapour becomes a liquid
Continental drift
the movement of continents and tectonic plates, which is driven by convection in the mantle
Continental plate
the lithosphere (crust) upon which sits our continents and land
Convection
the constant churning of the mantle through heat energy (radiation) passing out from the core
Core
the centre of the Earth, with a solid metal inner core (at 6000°C temperature) and semi-solid outer core (4030–5730°C) from which heat is radiated outwards through the mantle
Coriolis effect
the result of Earth’s rotation on weather patterns and ocean currents, making storms swirl clockwise in the southern hemisphere and anticlockwise in the northern hemisphere
crust
the solid, rocky shell layer (lithosphere) over the mantle around the Earth, upon which sit our continents and oceans; the Earth’s crust is fragmented into tectonic plates that float on the mantle
Development
the state of growth or advancement whereby people and places improve over time
Drought
a prolonged period of time with unusually low rainfall; droughts occur when there is not enough rainfall to support people or crops
El Niño
climatic changes affecting the Pacific region and beyond every few years, characterised by the appearance of unusually warm water around northern Peru and Ecuador, typically in late December; the effects of El Niño include the reversal of wind patterns across the Pacific, causing drought in Australasia, and unseasonal heavy rain in South America
