Geography: Lithosphere

What Earthly landscape is Mars reminiscent of?

The desert landscapes of the South west like the Mojave Desert.

What exciting rock formation did Curiosity discover?

Pebble deposits that would indicate evidence of a river. Water once flowed on the surface of Mars.

What does CHNOPS stand for?

Carbon, Hydrogen, Oxygen, Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Sulfur.

What percent of the mass of living things does CHNOPS make up?

99% of the mass of the human body and the mass of all living things.

Why do scientists choose to examine the Jezero Crater Delta and what type of life do they hope to find?

Deltas tend to collect settled sediment/mud layers that collect tiny microbes. Scientists hope to find small microscopic organisms (microbes).

How many cameras does Perseverance have?

23 cameras!

Why is Black Chert so desirable for scientists?

Black Chert contains fossilized bacterial cells but it is very hard to drill.

Explain how Perseverance collects rock samples.

A drill will carve out a rock core and that core will be brought into the body of the rover. The rock will be inspected, a volume taken, pictures taken, and then it will be sealed in storage. It took 7 years to develop and test this process.

Why are scientists so obsessed with cleaning Perseverance so thoroughly

Scientists don't want Earthly microorganisms to hitch a ride to Mars and then we accidentally discover life that we sent there.

How much time separates each launch window to Mars and how much money would it cost if NASA scientists miss that window (due to Covid)?

Earth and Mars are close enough to launch every two years and it will cost half a billion dollars if NASA scientists miss the launch window.

What plaque do scientists attach prior to the Perseverance launch?

A plaque honoring healthcare workers.

What is the purpose of the Mars Yard and what is Perserverance's twin's name?

The Mars yard has replicas of all of the vehicles that have gone to Mars. Optimism is Perserverance's twin. Scientists test drive rovers and find fixes before they become an issue on Mars.

What is Ingenuity and what makes its success on Mars challenging?

Ingenuity will be the first helicopter to fly on another planet. Mars has an atmosphere 100x thinner than Earth, making getting lift difficult.

What is Moxie testing and why is it important?

Moxie is determining if deadly Martian air could be converted to a breathable atmosphere/oxygen. (CO2 = CO + O2). This is important to support living organisms but also to create a combustion reaction to get back off of Mars.

Explain how Fetch Rover will help get the Mars samples back to Earth.

The Fetch Rover will collect the sample tubes dropped by Perseverance by using sophisticated camas and a complex arm. These will be brought to a small rocket that will launch off Mars, release the samples, and be intercepted by the Earth return orbiter.

Materials brought back from Mars will be treated as __________ until proven safe.

Items brought back from Mars will be treated as hazardous until proven safe.

What will the rover's second brain use to determine where to land?

The second brain will use geographic landmarks to determine where to land.

What is going on with the Perseverance rover now? (search the internet - this is also a good site to track Perserverance's journey). Click on multimedia to see the videos and pictures Perseverance has taken.

SOL 1642. Ingenuity finished in January 2024.

Jigsaw Fit

The similarity in outline of the coastlines of eastern South America and West Africa

Geological Fit

When the geology of eastern South America and West Africa was mapped it revealed that ancient rock outcrops (cratons) over 2,000 million years old were continuous from one continent to the other.

Tectonic Fit

Fragments of an old fold mountain belt between 450 and 400 million years ago are found on widely separated continents today.

Glacial Deposits

There is evidence of past glaciation on several continents that were once part of the same land mass eg. sediments / scratches and striations made by flowing ice

Fossil Evidence

There are many examples of fossils found on separate continents and nowhere else, suggesting the continents were once joined.

Continental Crust

8-70 km

22

solid

granite, sedimentary rocks and metamorphic rocks

Upper Mantle

670 km

1400-3000

liquid / solid

Iron, magnesium, silicon, aluminum

Lower Mantle

670-2890 km

3,000°C

solid

iron , silicon, magnesium, aluminum

Outer Core

5,150km

4000-6000

liquid

Iron, nickel, sulfur

Inner Core

Metal ball 2500 km wide

5000-6000

solid

Iron and nickel

Divergent

Plates pull apart.

Convergent

Plates come together.

Transform (also known as "conservative" or "slip")

Plates slide past one another.

Composite (also known as a Stratovolcano)

The viscosity of the lava means that eruptions at these volcanoes are often explosive.

The viscous lava cannot travel far down the sides of the volcano before it solidifies, which creates the steep slopes of a composite volcano.

The volcano is constructed layer by layer, as ash and lava solidify, one upon the other. The result is the classic cone shape of composite volcanoes.

Shield

Shield volcanoes get their name from their shape. Although shield volcanoes are not steep, they may be very large.

Shield volcanoes are common at spreading centres or intraplate hot spots.

The lava that creates shield volcanoes is fluid and flows easily. The spreading lava creates the shield shape. Shield volcanoes are built by many layers over time and the layers are usually of very similar composition. The low viscosity also means that shield eruptions are non-explosive.

Cinder Cone

Cinder cones are the most common type of volcano.

A cinder cone has a cone shape, but is much smaller than a composite volcano. Cinder cones rarely reach 300 metres in height but they have steep sides.

Cinder cones grow rapidly, usually from a single eruption cycle . The rock shoots up in the air and doesn't fall far from the vent.

Cinder cones usually have a crater at the summit.

Mt. Pelee

Martinique, Caribbean island

Destructive, Convergent, Subduction zone

Composite Cone

Volcanic Explosivity Index VEI or 5, explosive, pyroclastic flow (superheated ash, gas, rock)

29,025 people killed

Port town St. Pierre (large town nearby) was destroyed

No prediction / evacuation

Mount St. Helens

Washington State, U.S.

Destructive plate margin - Juan de Fuca plate subducting beneath North American plate

Stratovolcano (composite)

VEI of 5, highly explosive eruption, ash falls and pyroclastic flows

57-61 people killed

lot of damage to forestry,agriculture and communications

Soufriere Hills

Montserrat in the Caribbean

Destructive plate margin - the Atlantic plate is slowly being forced under the Caribbean plate

Stratovolcano (composite) with many lava domes

VEI of 3, highly viscous acidic magma contained massive amounts of gas, which caused several explosive eruptions

19 people killed

Much of island now abandoned

Nyiragongo

Democratic Republic of Congo

Hot spot deep underground associated with the East African Rift System

Stratovolcano (composite)

VEI of 2, non-explosive and involved high temperature basic magma escaping from a 'hot spot'

45 people killed

Much of Goma's infrastructure was destroyed by lava, which was up to 3 metresthick in places and hundreds of homes and business premises wererazed to the ground. Some 500,000 people fled the city

What causes the plates to move?

Huge plates float on magma

What causes earthquakes?

Friction between two plates (where they bump up against each other)

What influences the strength of an earthquake?

The type of zone where plates meet--Subduction is the most violence

What causes tsunamis?

Subduction plate in the middle of the ocean

How many earthquakes occur each year? How many of those can be felt?

500,000 each year - only 100,000 are felt

What factors can affect the 'rating' of an earthquake? Friction, fault line, pressure, depth, type of rock and the rock's ________

history

The Richter Scale was invented in the ______ to give an understanding of the magnitude of earthquakes, as measured by ____________

1930s, seismographs

The Richter Scale is logarithmic, so each point on the scale is a _______ fold increase eg. a 7 is ______ times more powerful than a 3.

10, 10 000

Mercalli Scale: Measures the ____________ of earthquakes to understand how they are felt on the __________. It was also developed in the 1930s. It uses roman numerals to describe the experiences of people, so it is __________.

Intensity, Surface, Subjective

Moment Magnitude Scale: This is a modern measure that allows scientists to use computer _______ to create synthetic seismograms and determine how the quake released _______ through its magnitude. It can tell them how much the plates moved and is much more ________. It also works all over the world as a _________ measure.

Nodels, Energy, Accurate, Standard

How far has the coastline sunk due to this earthquake?

3 feet (1 metre)

When did this earthquake occur?

Mar. 11, 2011

Describe the warning system that the Japanese people had in place.

seismic sensors

messages sent out to cell phones

internet, radio, TV

Which earthquake wave traveled the fastest?

P (primary) waves

Which type of earthquake wave causes the most damage?

S (secondary) waves

Did the nuclear power plant shut down?

yes, but the core was still extremely hot

lack of electricity to power the cooling pumps so the whole thing overheated causing multiple explosions

What was the first magnitude reported for the earthquake?

7.0, then 7.5, then 7.7, then 8, and finally 9.0

How far off the coast of Japan was the earthquake located?

62 miles (and 4 miles deep)

How fast do the plates move near Japan?

about 3 inches per year

Which plate is Japan located on?

Eurasian plate

Which plate is converging with Japan's plate?

Pacific plate

How many years has the energy been building up at this boundary?

centuries

How long did the quake take? Is this typical?

approximately 5 minutes (longer than usual)

What is liquefaction?

loosely packed soil, when earthquake hits ground compresses and water is pumped to the surface

Which direction did the ocean floor move that created the tsunami?

upward motion

How fast does a tsunami travel?

over 500 miles per hour (approximately 750 km per hour)

What are two reasons why the tsunami reached different locations at different times?

a) varying depths of sea bed (moves faster in deeper water)

b) layout of the land (e.g. cliffs, bays, inlets)

How high was the tsunami at Miyako?

30 feet

Why were the walls in Miyako insufficient?

walls failed at the base and then sunk down to a lower level

How far did the ground sink at the nuclear power plant?

a few feet

After the tsunami swept everything inland, where did the water go?

receded back out to sea

How did the person in California die?

wanted to take pictures of tsunami but was swept out to sea

Why did the tsunami reach heights higher than the predicted height?

water pushed through narrow areas (e.g. valleys, streets) and rises in height (it has nowhere else to go)

How many aftershocks occur during the week after the main event?

over 500

How could this quake create more strain on a fault somewhere else?

pressure builds up at other parts of the plate (initial earthquake relieves pressure in one spot, but causes increased pressure in other spots)

What are things that can be done to prevent damage in future quakes?

stronger buildings (earthquake resistant buildings)

greater physical barriers