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Earth Systems
Review on intro, minerals, rocks, water, plate tectonics,earthquakes, volcanism, Rock record, oceans, atmosphere
107
Geology
Undergraduate 2
11/02/2012

Additional Geology Flashcards

 


 

Cards

Term
What is Earth Science?
Definition
The scientific study of all aspects of Earth
Term
What are the steps in the scientific method?
Definition
  1. Observation/data collection
  2. Formulate a hypothesis
  3. Test hypothesis
  4. Evaluate the results
  5. Formulate a theory
  6. Formuate a law or principle
Term
What kind of system is Earth?
Definition
Closed System
Term
Describe the three types of systems and illustrate.
Definition
[image]
Term
What are the Earth's four spheres and illustrate an interaction between them?
Definition

Lithosphere

Biosphere

Hydrosphere

Atmosphere

Example: Tsunami-

Earthquake - Lithosphere

Kills people and animals - Biosphere

Occurs in ocean - Hydrosphere

Can create fires which emits smoke into the air - Atmosphere

Term
What is Earth System Science?
Definition
The study of Earth as a closed system composed of interacting open systems and how the open systems may be changed as a result of human activities.
Term
Name the 5 layers of the Earth.
Definition
  1. Solid inne core
  2. Liquid outer core
  3. Mantle
  4. Asthenosphere
  5. Crust/Lithosphere
Term
Define plate tectonics.
Definition
The movement and interactions of large fragments of Earth's lithosphere, called plates.
Term
Name and describe the two types of crusts.
Definition

Oceanic crust - the thnner, denser, and younger part of Earth's crust, underlying the ocean basins and characterized by Basalt.

 

Continental crust - the older, thicker, and less dense part of Earth's crust; the bulkof Earth's land masses and predominantly Granite.

Term
What are the 4 requirements for a substance to be considered a mineral?
Definition
  1. naturally occurring solid
  2. formed by inorganic processes
  3. have a crystalline structure
  4. have a specific chemical composition
Term
What are the physical and optical properties used in mineral identification?
Definition
  • Luster - how shiny it is (metallic/nonmetallic,vitreous,pearly,greasy)
  • Hardness - resistance to scratching
  • Cleavage - breakage surface
  • Color and Streak - the color of the streak on an unglazed porcelain surface
Term
What is the difference between a rock and a mineral?
Definition
Rock is an aggregate of minerals
Term
Name the 3 rock families and give examples of each.
Definition
  1. Igneous - Granite
  2. Sedimentary - Sandstone
  3. Metamorphic - Gneiss
Term
Illustrate the rock cycle.
Definition
[image]
Term
What are the 2 typese of igneous rocks?
Definition
  1. Extrusive igneous rock - Volcanic rocks - Lava
  2. Intrusive ingeous rock - Plutonic rock - Magma
Term
Define Foliation
Definition
A planar arrangement of textural features in a metamorphic rock, which give the rock a layered or finely banded appearance
Term
What are aphanitic rocks?
Definition
Rocks with very fine-grained texture. Mineral grains that are extremely small and can only be seen under a magnification
Term
What are porphyritic rocks?
Definition
  • Bimodal in grain size
  • rocks that consist of large mineral grains embedded in an aphanitic matrix
Term
Describe and illustrate the Hydrologic Cycle.
Definition
[image]
Term
What kind of system is the hydrologic cycle?
Definition
The hydrologic cycle is a closed cycle of open systems. The total amount of water is fixed but the reservoirs are free to gain or lose water.
Term
What are the four great reservoirs?
Definition
Lithosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, atmosphere
Term
Which is the largest and second largest reservoir of fresh water?
Definition
  1. Polar ice sheets (74% of the Earth's fresh water - Frozen)
  2. Underground (98.5% of the Earth's unfrozen fresh water)
Term
What are the basic characteristics of streams?
Definition
  • every stream or river has a channel
  • main channel, point bars and cut banks
  • headwaters - source of the stream
  • mouth - where the stream empties into a lake or the sea
Term
What are the 3 categories of streams?
Definition
  • Straight - occurs in relatively short stretches and usually with high gradients and near the headwaters
  • Meandering - low gradient and typically in the downstream part of a stream system
  • Braided - variations in flow over time 

 

Term
What factors influence stream behavior?
Definition
  • Gradient - steepness of a stream channel
  • Discharge - amount of water passing by a point on the channel's bank during a unit of time
  • Load - suspended and dissolved sediment carried by a stream
Term
What are the 3 common land formations made by stream deposits?
Definition
  1. Floodplains - relatively flat valley floor adjacent to a stream channel
  2. Alluvial fans - develops where a stream draining a steep upland region suddenly emerges onto the floor of a much broader lowland valley
  3. Deltas - stream flows into a standing body of water
Term
Define drainage basin.
Definition
The total area from which water flows into a stream
Term
Define recurrance interval and show how it is used to predict floods.
Definition
Recurrance interval - the average time interval between two floods of the same magnitude
Term
Define Aquifer
Definition
A body of rock or regolith that is water-saturated, porous and permeable
Term
What is a water table? What lies above and below the water table?
Definition
  • A water table is the top surface of the saturated zone.
  • The zone of aeration (vadose zone) lies above the water table and the saturated zone lies below.
Term

What is the evidence that led to the acceptance of Wegener's theory?

Definition
Paleomagnetism - the study of rock magnetism in order to determine the intensity and direction of Earth's magnetic field in the past
Term
What were the arguments that Wegener gave in support of his hypothesis of continental drift?
Definition
  • The puzzle-piece argument
  • Matching rocks and fossils
Term
Define the theory of plate tectonics
Definition
The movement and interactions of large fragments of Earth's lithosphere, called plates.
Term
Illustrate each of the plate boundaries.
Definition
[image]
Term
Identify the 2 mechanisms by which heat moves inside Earth
Definition
  1. Conduction - the process by which heat moves though a solid body without deforming it
  2. Convection - a form of heat transfer in which hot material circulates from hotter to colder regions, loses its heat, and then repeats the cycle
Term

What are hot spots, how are they caused, and what are the results?

Definition
Region of the Earth's upper mantle that upwells to melt through the crust to form a volcanic feature. Most volcanoes that are not created by subduction zones or seafloor spreading are regarded as hot spot volcanoes.
Term
Illustrate and identify parts of an earthquake.
Definition

Earthquakes occur as a result of the motion of rocks along a fault. The focus is where the motion starts (underground); the epicenter is the place on the surface that lies directly above the focus. 

[image]

Term
What is the tectonic cycle?
Definition
Movements and interactions of the lithosphere by which rocks are cycled from the mantle to the crust and back; includes earthquakes, volcanism, and plate motion, driven by convection in the mantle
Term
What is the supercontinent cycle?
Definition
a Wilson Cycle - ancient supercontinents formed, exisited for a few hundred million years, and then broke apart.
Term
Explain the difference between stress and pressure.
Definition

Stress is the force acting on a surface, per unit area, which may be greater in certain directions than others.

Pressure is a particular kind of stress in which forces acting on a body are the same in all directions

Term
List the different types of eruptions and the volcanoes they create/come from.
Definition
  • Hawaiian eruption - low viscosity and gradual flow build up -> shield volcano
  • Strombolian eruption - more viscous than hawaiian and creates a fountain -> cinder/splatter cone
  • Vulcanian/Plinian eruption - explosive/violent, pyroclastic flows, ash columns -> strato volcanoes
Term
Describe how the chemistry of magma relates to explosive or non-explosive eruptions.
Definition
  • High silica content -> more viscous -> gases have a hard time escaping -> explosive eruption
  • Low silica content -> low viscosity -> gases escape easily -> non-explosive
Term
What is the difference between a caldera and a crater?
Definition

Crater - the funnel-shaped depression from which gas, tephra and lava are ejected

Caldera - a larger depression, steep-walled, roughly circular; formed when the magma chamber collapses 

Term
Describe three signs that signal a volanic eruption
Definition
  • Bulging - suggests that the reservoir of magma is growing
  • Outgassing/temperature change
  • Seismic activity
Term

Name the plutons.

[image]

Definition
  1. Batholith
  2. Stock
  3. Sill
  4. Laccolith
  5. Dikes
  6. Xenoliths
Term
Define relative age and numerical age.
Definition
  • Relative age - the age of a rock layer, fossil or other natura feature relative to another feature
  • Numerical age - the age when a rock layer or natural feature was formed, in years before the present
Term
Name the four main principles of stratigraphy
Definition
  1. Law of original horizontality
  2. Principle of stratigraphic superposition
  3. Principle of lateral continuity
  4. Principle of cross-cutting replationships
Term
What are the four units of geologic time?
Definition
  1. Eons - 4 eons - Hadean, Archean, Proterozoic, Phanerozoic
  2. Eras - eon broken down into 3 shorter units - Paleozoic, Mesozoic, Cenozoic
  3. Periods - eras divided into shorter units - divisions were made on the basis of fossils and extinctions - ex: Cambrian Period 
  4. Epochs - periods split into smaller units - defined according to the percentage of their fossils that are represented by sill-living species - ex: Holocene Epoch
Term
What are tides?
Definition
A regular, daily cycle of rising and falling sea level that results from the gravitational attraction between the Moon, the Sun and Earth.
Term
Describe surf and breaking waves
Definition

Surf - the "broken" turbulent water found between a line of breakers and the shore

  • increasingly shallow seafloor interferes with the wave motion and distorts its shape
  • height of the wave increases and its length decreases
  • front of the wave is in shallower water and is steeper than the rear
  • eventually, front becomes too steep to support advancing wave and as the rear partkeeps moving forward, the wave collapses, or breaks
Term
What is a reef?
Definition
  • Hard structure
  • typically made up of coral
  • found in shallow, tropical, salt water
Term
Describe the environmental conditions that favor the growth of coral reefs
Definition
  • between 18°C and 30°C
  • shallow, clear water
  • normal salt levels
  • generally between the Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn
Term
As a wave approaches the shore wave height _______, while the wavelength ________.
Definition
increases, decreases 
Term
When a river flows into an ocean its velocity _______, and _______ are formed.
Definition
decreases, distributaries
Term
Describe the Earth's atmosphere
Definition
  • mixture of various gases
  • envelope of air held in place by Earth's gravity
Term
What are the 3 main gases that make up 99.96% of dry air by volume?
Definition
Nitrogen (78.08%)
Oxygen (20.95%)
Argon (0.93%)
Term
Identify the 4 layers of the atmosphere and their boundaries.
Definition
[image]
Term
Discuss chloroflourocarbons (CFC)
Definition
  • can substantially reduce ozone concentrations
  • moves up to the oxone layer, decomposes to form chlorine oxide (ClO)
  • ClO attacks ozone, converting it to ordinary oxygen
Term
Describe the difference between relative humidity and specific humidity
Definition

Relative humidity - compares the water vapor present in the air to the maximum amount it can carry at that temperature

Specific humidity - actual quantity of water vapor carried by a parcel of air

Term
Describe what happens to incoming solar radiation as it enters Earth's atmosphere
Definition
  • Absorbed by the the lithosphere
  • Can be scattered by gas molecules, dust or other particles in the atmosphere
  • Absorbed by molecules and particles
  • Reflected off of clouds
  • Absorbed by clouds
Term
Define Albedo
Definition
  • The fraction of solar energy reflected from the Earth back into space. 
  • A measure of the reflectivity of the Earth's surface.
  • Light/bright surfaces reflect more sunlight 
  • Dark surfaces absorb sunlight
Term
Describe the adiabatic principle
Definition
a principle of science that states that a gas cools as it expands and warms as it is compressed, provided that no heat flows into or out of the gas during the process
Term
List the 4 clous families.
Definition
  1. Cirrus - thin & wispy
  2. Cumulus - puffy
  3. Lenticular - lens-shaped
  4. Stratus - layered
Term
Name the 4 types of precipitation processes and describe the differences among them
Definition
  • Orographic - moist air is forced over a mountain barrier
  • Convectional - whem warm, moist air is heated at the ground surface, rises, cools and condenses to form water droplets, raindrops, and eventually, rainfall
  • Cyclonic - air is forced upward through the movement of air masses; usually occurs during cyclones
  • Convergence - air currents coming from different directions converge and air "piles up" and is forced upward
Term
What causes thunderstorms?
Definition
  • When convection continues strongly, air can become unstable, creating dense cumulonimbus clouds or thunderstorms
  • Environmental conditions for thunderstorms: very warm, moist air & environmental temperature laspe rate
Term
Identify the geologic features and rock types at each plate boundary
Definition
  • Divergent plate boundary - sea floor spreading- rift valley - igneous rock
  • Convergent plate boundary - subduction zones - volcanoes/mountain ranges - metamorphic and igneous rocks
  • Transform plate boundaries - fracturing - more  common on the ocean floor - metamorphic rock (due to pressure)
Term

Describe the beach protection structures called "groins"

How do the work and what problems might they cause?

Definition
  • Groin - low wall built into the water at a right angle to the shoreline
  • acts as a check on the rate of beach drift b/c it traps sand carried to it along the shore
  • erosion tends to occur on the downdrift side, where the beach sand is not being replenished
Term
What is an unconformity?
Definition
A gap in time, or a missing time, in the stratigraphic column due to erosion
Term
Describe 3 unconformities. Illustrate.
Definition

Nonconformity – different rock types together

Disconformity – gap of time is missing 

Angular unconformity – tilted strata


[image]

Term
What is the difference between groundwater and an aquifer?
Definition
  • Groundwater – in the ground – infiltrated water
  • Aquifer – completely filled permeable rock
  • Include:
  1. Zone of aeration
  2. Water table
  3. Zone of saturation
  4. Permeability – ability to pump water at a rate that can sustain people
Term
What are sea arches and sea stacks and how do they form?
Definition

Sea arch - cave that has been eroded through

Sea stack - too much erosion on a sea arch and the top of the arch collapses and leaves a column  standing

Erosional formations (undercutting) from water 

Term
Where do deltas form and what does it look like?
Definition

Form at the mouth of rivers

Fans out

Low velocity

Term
Describe the role of ozone in the atmosphere
Definition
  • A layer of O3 that acts as a UV filter
  • Absorbs incoming UV radiation and breaks up the O3 into O2 and O
Term
How do clouds form?
Definition
  • Condensation of water vapor
  • Aerosols, dust particles, particulates, salt sprays
Term
Describe three methods scientists use to study paleoclimates
Definition

Fossils

Tree rings

Ice cores

Term
ITCZ= Intertropical Convergence Zone - What is it and what happens there?
Definition

Tropical weather

Hot air rises

Term

Mammals are descended from a class of reptiles. Increased in diversity. Rise in Mammals is due to what?

Definition
OXYGEN
Term

Most waves are produced by

Definition
WIND
Term

Vitreous and pearly are examples of...

Definition
NONMETALLIC LUSTER
Term

Rock w/ vesicles

Definition
EXTRUSIVE IGNEOUS ROCK
Term

This is a dark, mafic, igneous rock found in the ocean

Definition
BASALT
Term

Magma first cools big crystals underground – erupts to produce small crystals

Definition
PORPHORYTIC
Term

Extrusive igneous rock forms from the _______ cooling of lava result in the formation of ______ crystals

Definition

RAPID

SMALL

Term

When air rises, it _______ and tempurature _______ and pressure ________.

Definition

EXPANDS

DECREASES

DECREASES

Term

Isotopes of the same element have what kind of atomic number and what kind of mass number?

 

 

Definition

SAME – atomic number

DIFFERENT – mass

Term
What is convection? Illustrate.
Definition

Heating and cooling cycle

Heat – more dense

cooling – less dense

Term
Describe the three types of systems and illustrate.
Definition
Term
What are the Earth's four spheres and illustrate an interaction between them?
Definition
Term
Name the 5 layers of the Earth. Illustrate.
Definition
Term
Illustrate the rock cycle.
Definition
Term
Illustrate the Hydrologic Cycle.
Definition
Term
Illustrate each of the plate boundaries.
Definition
Term
Illustrate the 4 layers of the atmosphere and their boundaries.
Definition
Term
Illustrate what happens to incoming solar radiation as it enters Earth's atmosphere
Definition
Term
Illustrate the tectonic cycle
Definition
Term
Describe and illustrate the process of absolute dating
Definition
Term
Illustrate the beach protection structures called "groins"
Definition
Term
Illustrate and label 2 parts of a wave
Definition
Term
Illustrate the photosynthesis process
Definition
Term
Why do waves break as they approach the shore. illustrate your answer.
Definition
Term
Illustrate the 3 states of water and their processes
Definition
Term
Illustrate a meandering stream and label.
Definition
Term
Illustrate what happens to incoming solar radiation as it enters Earth's atmosphere
Definition
Term
What is a source region? ID 4 different air masses and their symbols
Definition
Term
What is a source region? ID 4 different air masses and their symbols
Definition
Term
What are the Earth's four spheres and illustrate an interaction between them?
Definition
Term
What is convection? Illustrate.
Definition
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