Geology for APES Flashcards
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| 6135245699 | Continental Crust | thicker, less dense crust made out of granite | 0 | |
| 6135245700 | Oceanic Crust | thinner, more dense crust made out of basalt | 1 | |
| 6135245701 | Mantle | plastic-like layer of the Earth where convection currents move heat from the core to the crust | 2 | |
| 6135245702 | Outer Core | iron and nickel rich LIQUID hot layer of Earth | 3 | |
| 6135245703 | Inner Core | iron and nickel rich SOLID hot layer of Earth (Solid because of the pressure of all the layers) | 4 | |
| 6135245704 | Convection | The process that occurs in the mantle (also in the oceans and the atmosphere) where warm "stuff" rises and cool "stuff" sinks. | 5 | |
| 6135245705 | Theory | Experiments and hypotheses that provide evidence to support a conclusion that may not be able to be proved. | 6 | |
| 6135245706 | Pangaea | Super-continent that occurred 250 million years ago | 7 | |
| 6135245707 | Alfred Wegener | Scientist (he was actually a meteorologist) that developed the theory of Pangaea and continental drift in the early 1900s. He had a lot of fossil evidence, but people did not believe him because he did not have a mechanism | 8 | |
| 6135245708 | Convection Currents in the Mantle | Mechanism for plate tectonics (makes plates move as the heat from the core rises through the mantle) | 9 | |
| 6135245709 | Harry Hess | Scientist who discovered seafloor spreading in the Atlantic ocean with SONAR (Sound Navigation And Ranging) with the US Navy | 10 | |
| 6135245710 | Seafloor Spreading | The idea that the seafloor is spreading apart at mid-ocean ridges, allowing magma to come up and create these ridge-like features. | 11 | |
| 6135245711 | Magnetic reversals | Happens when the earths magnetic field changes; evidence for seafloor spreading | 12 | |
| 6135245712 | How fast are the plates moving? | 2-10 cm per year | 13 | |
| 6135245713 | Continental Drift | The hypothesis that states that the continents once formed a single landmass, broke up, and drifted to their present locations | 14 | |
| 6135245714 | Evidence for Continental Drift | 1. Plant and animal fossils matched up on different continents 2. Continents fit together like puzzle pieces 3. Climate "clues" - tropical plants found on Antarctica 4. Rocks matched up on different continents | 15 | |
| 6135245715 | Plate Tectonics | The theory that pieces of Earth's lithosphere are in constant motion, driven by convection currents in the mantle. | 16 | |
| 6135245716 | How many major plates are there? | 7 - N. America, S. America, Africa, Eurasian, Indo-Australian, Pacific, Antarctic | 17 | |
| 6135245717 | Lithosphere | A rigid layer made up of the uppermost part of the mantle and the crust. | 18 | |
| 6135245718 | Asthenosphere | The soft layer of the mantle on which the lithosphere floats. | 19 | |
| 6135245719 | Divergent Boundary | The boundary between two tectonic plates that are moving away from each other | 20 | |
| 6135245720 | Convergent Boundary | A tectonic plate boundary where two plates collide, come together, or crash into each other. | 21 | |
| 6135245721 | Subduction | The process by which oceanic crust sinks beneath a deep-ocean trench and back into the mantle at a convergent plate boundary. | 22 | |
| 6135245722 | Transform Boundary | The boundary between tectonic plates that are sliding past each other horizontally | 23 | |
| 6135245726 | Mid-Ocean Ridge | an undersea mountain chain where new ocean floor is produced; a divergent plate boundary | 24 | |
| 6135245727 | Ocean Trench | Deep valley in the ocean floor that forms along a subduction zone (convergent boundary) | 25 | |
| 6135256283 | Most abundant elements in earth's crust | oxygen, silicon, aluminum (greatest to least) | 26 | |
| 6135257919 | Ring of Fire | area around Pacific Plate (Pacific Ocean) where the majority of current crustal activity is occuring | 27 | |
| 6135260103 | Earth's original atmosphere (2 elements) | helium and hydrogen | 28 | |
| 6135262433 | Earth's current atmosphere (2 elements) | nitrogen and oxygen | 29 | |
| 6135262434 | Volcanic outgassing | responsible for changing earth's atmosphere (by releasing carbon dioxide) | 30 | |
| 6135265805 | Cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) | responsible for the "oxygen revolution" on earth | 31 | |
| 6135268828 | Extinction events | The major time periods of geologic time are separated by these; there have been 5 throughout time, some think the 6th is happening now due to human activities | 32 | |
| 6135272484 | Most eroded country in the world | Madagascar | 33 | |
| 6135276991 | Most abundant rock type on the surface | sedimentary | 34 | |
| 6135278209 | Most abundant rock type on earth | igneous | 35 | |
| 6135279437 | Sedimentary Rocks | A type of rock that forms when particles from other rocks or the remains of plants and animals are pressed and cemented together (sandstone, siltstone, shale), or by chemical processes such as evaporation (limestone, rock salt) | 36 | |
| 6135281579 | Igneous Rocks | Form directly from cooling of magma or lava. Ex: granite (magma) and obsidian (lava) | 37 | |
| 6135288114 | Metamorphic Rocks | Made when heat, pressure, or fluids change one type of rock into another type of rock | 38 | |
| 6135288115 | Rock cycle | the series of processes that change one type of rock into another type of rock | 39 | |
| 6135289222 | Cementation and Compaction | Process in which sedimentay rocks are formed | 40 | |
| 6135291090 | Sediments | Loose materials such as rock fragments, mineral grains, and bits of shell in size such as gravel, sand, silt and clay | 41 | |
| 6135293232 | Weathering and erosion | alteration of rocks and sediment at our near the surface by physical, chemical, and biological process to form new materials (sediments) | 42 | |
| 6135297176 | Benefits of volcanoes | new land, fertile soil, geothermal energy, mineral resource /industrial products, recreation, tourism, hot springs and geysers/ spas and resorts (tourism) | 43 | |
| 6135301933 | Holocene epoch | the current epoch of geologic time which began 10,000 years ago | 44 | |
| 6135302974 | Order of geologic time (largest to smallest) | eon-era-period-epoch | 45 | |
| 6135304292 | Precambrian | the earliest 3 eons that make up 90% of the geological time; before the explosion of life in the Cambrian | 46 | |
| 6135310426 | Periods of geologic time in order from oldest to youngest (current) | Precambrian, Paleozoic, Mesozoic, Cenozoic | 47 | |
| 6135311479 | Paleozoic | Period of "Old life" - mainly marine organisms | 48 | |
| 6135314725 | Mesozoic | "Age of the Reptiles" | 49 | |
| 6135316231 | Cenozoic | "Age of mammals" (Current geologic period) | 50 |
