Midterm exam Flashcards
(79 cards)
1
Q
what does GA stand for?
A
Billion years ago
2
Q
what does Ma stand for?
A
Million years ago
3
Q
The last 3 eruptions?
A
- 2.1 Ma (largest of caldera) huckleberry ridge tuff
- 1.3 Ma
- 0.64 Ma lava creek
4
Q
How many years of information do we have on the earth?
A
500 million years
5
Q
What is Matter?
A
- a substance that has mass and occupies space
- composed of chemical elements
6
Q
What can matter do?
A
- exists in different physical states: solid, liquid, gas
- store, exchange, and use energy
7
Q
Matter = what?
A
Matter = earth materials
8
Q
Why is earth materials important?
A
- Provides resources
- Provides record of past events
9
Q
Solids?
A
- keeps its shape
- has a fixed volume
- a more ordered, lower energy state
10
Q
Liquid?
A
- takes the shape of container
- has a fixed volume
11
Q
Gas?
A
- takes shape of the container
- less ordered, higher energy state
12
Q
Earth is what planet?
A
The water planet
13
Q
Explain: Absorbed and Released
A
- Absorbed is to take in or soak up (energy, liquid, or any substance)
- Released is to allow something to move, act, or flow freely a.k.a the cloud release water to the earth
14
Q
What is the most and least elemental composition of the whole earth?
A
Most: Iron 35%
Least: Aluminum 1.1%
15
Q
What is the most and least elemental composition of the earth’s crust?
A
Most: Oxygen 46%
Least: Sodium 2.1%
16
Q
What is the most and least elemental composition of the earth’s Atmosphere?
A
Most: Nitrogen 78.08%
Least: Argon 0.93%
17
Q
What happens when you link atoms together?
A
They become molecules
18
Q
What is a mineral?
A
All naturally occurring
*salt is both a crystal and a mineral
19
Q
what is the age of the earth?
A
4,560,000,000 = 4.56 billion years ago = 4.56 Ga
20
Q
What is a crystal structure?
A
The way the atoms of the elements are packed together
21
Q
What is composition?
A
The major chemical elements that are present and their proportions?
22
Q
What is the most common mineral group?
A
Silicates
23
Q
What are the different mineral groups?
A
- oxides
- sulfides
- carbonates
- sulfates
- phosphates
24
Q
What is rock?
A
- all naturally occurring
- solid
- aggregate of minerals (multiple minerals combined into one)
25
What are the 3 types of rock?
Igneous, Sedimentary, Metamorphic
26
Where to find the 3 types of rock?
Igneous- deep crust and upper mantle
Sedimentary- exposed at surface
Metamorphic- deep in crust or upper mantle
27
What is Topography?
Changes in the ground elevation of the Earth's surface
28
The Earth's core is made up primarily of ________ .
Iron
29
Ninety percent of the Earth is made up of which four elements?
Iron, oxygen, silicon, and magnesium.
30
Alfred Wegner became famous for his theory of?
Continental drift
31
What were used to support sea floor spreading?
age of seafloor, sea floor sediments thicken away from the ridges, valleys run down center of the ridges, polarity stripes on the sea floor.
32
Divergent plate boundaries are places where?
magma is extruded onto the sea floor forming pillows
33
mid-ocean ridges
underwater mountain ridge system formed by plate tectonics
| -formed by young volcanic rock (basalt)
34
transform
plates slide horizontally past each other
35
What is a hotspot?
- Heat flows from the lower mantle
- It penetrates the upper mantle and the crust
- The location remains stable, it does not move with the plates
- Causes eruption of basaltic magma
36
fault
a break or fracture between two blocks of rocks in response to stress
37
compression
causes rocks to fold and ultimately break to produce a fault
38
tension
causes rocks to stretch and also break to produce a fault
39
strike
a horizontal line along the direction of a fault plane
40
dip
the angle between the fault plane and the horizontal
41
normal faults
- produced by tensional forces
| - the upper block (hanging wall) moves down relative to the lower block (foot wall)
42
reverse faults
- produced by compressive forces
| - the upper block (hanging wall) moves up relative to the lower block (foot wall)
43
strike-slip fault
a type of fault where rocks on either side move past each other sideways with little up or down motion, caused by shear stress
44
transform faults
- move horizontally in response to shearing stresses
| - also called strike-slip faults because the movement is along strike
45
Plate Tectonics
The theory that explains why continents move.
46
Convergent
An area where two tectonic plates move into each other
47
Divergent
An area where two tectonic plates move away from each other.
48
Three types of plate boundaries?
1. Divergent
2. Convergent
3. Transform
49
three types of faults
normal, reverse, strike-slip
50
earth's magnetic field
caused by convection in liquid outer core, and grows weaker the further in space you are
contains dipolar magnetic pole
51
mantle
largest layer
solid rock
-upper mantle
-lower mantle
52
sea-floor spreading
The process by which molten material adds new oceanic crust to the ocean floor
53
rock cycle
how all rocks on earth relate and are interconnected
54
What is the most prevalent rock type in Yellowstone?
Igneous
55
If all the water in the atmosphere condensed, how much rain would it make?
about 2cm
56
What elements are the basis(constituent) of most rock forms?
oxygen and silicon
57
What are the 3 steps of transformation into rock?
1. Compaction
2. Cementation (cement)
3. Recrytallization
58
What are the different processes of new rock from old?
- Contact metamorphism
- Burial metamorphism
- Regional metamorphism
59
What is Contact metamorphism?
Where magma intrudes rock, high temperatures cause chemical reactions and recrystallization.
60
What is Burial metamorphism?
Buries sediment may attain temperatures greater than 150C, causing recrystallization
61
What is Regional metamorphism?
Different stress, mechanical deformation and recrystallization from mountain range formation
62
What is low-grade?
150C -550C and low pressure
63
What is high-grade?
above 550C and high pressure
64
What other factors play an important role in metamorphism?
Fluids, time, stress
65
What is Continental Drift?
the gradual movement of continents over time
66
What are the two types of crust?
Oceanic and continental
67
The rocks in the oceans only record a very _____ part of the earth's history.
short
68
What is the evidence of plate tectonics?
Lands fit like puzzle pieces, matching fossils (form other continents of where they would fit in the puzzle), US Navy studies ocean, Hot spots
69
What are the major differences of oceanic and continental crust:
- composition
- Age
- density
- thickness
- formation processes
70
At what rate does the plates move?
about 5 cm a year
71
What is earth's structure made of?
- crust
- mantle
- outer crust
- inner crust
72
Conduction
Energy is transferred by direct contact
73
Convection
energy by mass motion or molecules
74
Radiation
energy is transferred by electromagnetic radiation
75
Hot spots create large _____.
Igneous Provinces (LIPS)
76
Lithosphere
the crust and upper mantle
77
What are the types of hydrothermal features?
- hot sprigs
- geysers
- mudpots
- travertine terraces
- fumaroles
78
How do geysers work?
A magma chamber provides the heat, which radiates into surrounding rock. water from rain and snow works it way through cracks in the rock. As super heated water nears the surface, its pressure drops, and the water flashes into steam as a geyser.
79
Why do geysers erupt?
As water boils, the resulting pressure forces a super heated column of steam and water to the surface through the geyser.
