Term
What is the outermost layer of the Earth? How many miles thick is this layer? How many kilometers? |
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Definition
Crust. 3 to 63 miles thick. 5 to 100 km thick. |
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Term
| What is the thinnest layer of the Earth and what are the types of this layer? |
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Definition
| The thinnest layer is the crust. The types of this layer are continental and oceanic. |
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Term
| What is the difference between oceanic crust and continental crust? |
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Definition
| Oceanic crust is much thinner and has additoinal elements that make it denser than continental crust. |
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Term
| What is the layer between the crust and core, which is much thicker than the crust and makes up most of Earth's mass? |
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Definition
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Term
| What gives scientists good clues about the compostion of the mantle? |
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Definition
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Term
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Definition
| Where continental crust and hot mantle meet. |
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Term
What layer of the Earth extends from below the mantle to the center of the Earth? |
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Definition
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Term
| What do scientists believe about the core? |
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Definition
| That it mainly consits of iron and some nickel, which makes it more dense. That is why the materials sank to the center. |
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Term
| What do tectonic plates consist of? |
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Definition
| Pieces of the stiff upper mantle on which the continental and oceanic crust rest. |
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Term
| Together, what do the crust and upper mantle make up? |
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Definition
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Term
| What are tectonic plates like? |
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Definition
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Term
| What are all the possibilites that the playes could consist of? |
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Definition
Mainly continental, mainly oceanic, or a combinatin of the two. |
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Term
| What is the layer beneath the lithosphere? |
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Definition
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Term
| Describe the asthenosphere. |
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Definition
| Solid rock that moves very slowly , which forces the tectonic plates to collide, move apart, or grind together. |
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Term
| When do seismic waves occur? |
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Definition
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Term
| What kind of clues do they provide for scientists? |
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Definition
| Clues about the deepest parts of the Earth. |
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Term
| Why do seismic waves travel at different speeds through the Earth? |
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Definition
Because they pass through different materials. |
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Term
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Definition
| A tool that detects seismic waves in order to study earthquakes. |
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Term
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Definition
| Scientists who study earthquakes. |
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Term
| What is the idea that suggested continents had been a single land mass, Pangaea, which broke up and drifted apart? |
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Definition
| Continental Drift Theory. |
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Term
| What did the Continental Drift Theory explain? |
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Definition
| How the continents fit together and why the same fossililzed species are found on continents separated by the Atlantic. |
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Term
| What is sea floor spreading? Why does it support this idea? |
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Definition
| The process in which new oceanic lithosphere is formed as magama rises to the surface and solidifies. It supports this idea since crustal rocks are older as they move away from mid-ocean ridges. |
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Term
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Definition
| The rate of tectonic plate movement. |
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Term
| Why does ridge push occur? |
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Definition
| Because the mid-ocean ridges are mountainous, so oceanic lithosphere slides down hill with gravity. |
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Term
| Why does slab pull occur? |
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Definition
| Because oceanic lithosphere is denser than the layers below it, so it sinks and pulls the plate attached to it downward too. |
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Term
When does convection current occur? |
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Definition
| As deep rock heats, becoming less dense and rising, then cooling and becoming more dense and sinking again. |
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Term
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Definition
| Places where oceanic crust dives beneath another plate. |
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Term
| What is divergent boundary? |
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Definition
| The boundary between two tectonic plates moving apart. |
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Term
| What happens at a divergent boundary? |
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Definition
| New sea floor forms at divergent boundaries as they pull apart and magma fills the crack. |
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Term
What is transform boundary? |
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Definition
| The boundary between tectonic plates that slide past on antoher horizontally. |
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Term
| What is convergent boundary? |
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Definition
| The boundary between 2 tectonic playtes the collide. |
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Term
Scientists assume that all rock layers started as what type of layers? |
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Definition
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Term
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Definition
| The bending of rock layers due to stress in the Earth. |
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Term
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Definition
| Breaks in a body of rock where once block slides relative to the other block. |
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Term
| What are some types of faults? |
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Definition
| Normal faults, reverse faults, strike-slip faults. |
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Term
| Where do most earthquakes occur? |
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Definition
Near the edges of tectonic plates. |
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Term
| When do fault- block mountains form? |
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Definition
| When stress from the stretching of crust at a divergent boundary causes large blocks of Earth's crust to drop down. |
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Term
| Where are most volcanic mountains? |
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Definition
| At convergent boundaries. |
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