Geology Lecture Exam 4 Review

What does the solar system contain?

One star, eight planets, 184 moons, eight large asteroids, and more than 100 Kuiper Belt objects more than 300 km in diameter, and many smaller asteroids, comets, and meteoroids

How much space in the solar system does the sun take up?

99.8%

Where do all planets lie in the solar system?

The same plane! (SO they can appear as a line across the sky)

What is a crater?

When a big enough asteroid or comet hits a planet (or moon or asteroid or dwarf planet), it creates a hole in the ground a crater.

What do craters cause?

Shock wave created by the object, but most of the impactor is vaporized and shattered.

What is the definition of a crater?

The hole created by an impact of an object from spae

How large are craters usually?

Typically about 10 times as wide as the object creating them, and twice as deep

What type of craters are there?

Simple crater, Compex crater, and multi-ring basin

What type of crater has the most energy?

Multi-ring basin

Where can impact craters be found?

On almost every solid object in the solar system

Why don’t we see a lot of impact craters on earth?

Because weathering and erosion makes it hard for craters to stay on the surface for long. (Water, ice wind, activity from organisms, and plate tectonics)

What is Manicouagan crater?

Crater in Canada, it’s a multi-ring basin but it’s been eroded deeply.

What is Barringer Crater?

Crater in Arizona, formed 50,000 years ago when a large iron meteorite hit the Earth. Meteorite weighed over one million tons.

What can we use the number of craters on a planet’s surface to determine?

How old the surface is (NOT THE WHOLE PLANET) (The planet’s age is still 4.5 billion years old)

What is the order of planets from closest to the sun to the farthest?

Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Asteroid Belt, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune

What are the planets closest to the sun called?

Terrestrial Planets

What are some characteristics of Terrestrial Planets?

Small & Rocky, Close to the Sun, Have thin/no atmosphere, Have no/few moons, Have no rings

What is special about Mercury?

Larger core, Caloris Basin, Past flood basalts but no present day volcanism, Covered with craters, Ice in some permanent dark ones at the poles

What is special about Venus?

Very thick atmosphere of mostly CO2, No moons, Active volcanism (Shield Volcanoes), 80% of the surface is covered in volcanic features, Lava domes,

What does the moon do?

The moon orbits the Earth, the moon orbits at a certain angle with respect to the Earth’s orbit around the sun

What is a Lunar eclipse?

The Earth blocks sunlight from shining on the moon (Earth is between the Sun & Moon) (Moon joins Earth’s umbra)

What is a Solar eclipse?

The Moon blocks sunlight from shining on the Earth (The Moon is between the Earth and the Sun)

What is special about the moon?

Lots of Maria (singular mare) are flood basalts that are less cratered and younger than highlands

What are the differences between the near and far side of the moon?

Near - Lots of Maria, little variation in elevation, smoother surface

Far - Few maria, lots of variation in elevation, rough and mountainous surface, large southern impact basin

What kind of weathering made Mars Red?

Oxidation (Chemical Weathering)

What is special about Mars?

Surface is mostly basalt with some sedimentary rocks, thing atmosphere, cold and dry

What type of dunes are on Mars?

Longitudinal sand dunes

Why can Mars maintain it’s ice caps?

Because it has enough of an atmosphere

What are some differences between the northern and southern hemispheres? (MARS)

Northern - Smoother, fewer craters, less variation in elevation
Southern -n More rugged, more craters, more variation in elevation

What is Tharsis Montes?

Largest volcanic region on Mars’s surface, the size of North American.

What is Olympus Mons? (MARS)

The tallest volcano in the solar system
Size of Arizona
Shield Volcano

What are Valles Mariners? (MARS)

Huge canyon east of Tharsis formed from extension of the crust as Tharsis was rising

What are dust devils?

Martian torandoes, 10x bigger than any tornado on Earth (Occur in summer)

What is the Curiosity Rover?

Rover sent by NASA looking for signs of past habitability

What is the Perseverance rover?

Sent by NASA looking for signs of past life, landed in ancient delta in Jezero Crater (Has Ingenuity helicopter)

Was there water on Mars?

Yes, evidence points to past water on the surface. But now all water is subsurfacr or frozen

What type of River features does Mars have?

Ancient braided stream channel, Deltas, Ancient floods

How do we know there was Water on Mars?

Cause Mars has Layered shale, siltstone, sandstone, and conglomerates. Braided Stream, Channels, Deltas, teardrop-shaped islands (All of those need water to form)

How many moons does Mars have?

2 small moons (Phobos/fear & Deimos/panic)

What are captured asteriods?

Asteroids that get caught in a planet’s gravitational force and orbit the planet.

What are all of the planets after the asteriod belt called?

Jovian Planets

What are some characteristics of Jovian planets?

Large and gaseous, Far from Sun, Many Moons, Have rings, Strong magnetic fields

What are all of the Jovian Planets?

Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune

What makes Jupiter so special?

Largest Planet
79 moons, the 4 largest are called the Galilean satellites
Great Red Spot
Strong magnetic fields

WHat is the Great Red Spot and what planet is it on?

It’s on Jupiter, it is a storm raging for at least 300 years

What does Jupiter protect Earth from?

Making sure asteriods or debris don’t hit Earth because of the gravatational pull Jupiter has

Does Jupiter have Rings?

YES!!! They’re barely visible but yes Jupiter has rings

What is Io?

One of Jupiter’s moons

What is special about Io?

Most volcanically active body in the solar system!!

What colors come from Io’s volcanic eruptions?

Yellow, Red and Black

Why are the volcanic plumes so high on Io?

Because of Io’s low gravity

What is Ganymede?

One of Jupiter’s moons, and the largest moon in our solar system!

What is special about Ganymede?

Has a thick ice crust covering it’s water ocean

What is Callisto?

One of Jupiter’s moons, and is also the most heavily cratered object in the solar system

What is Special about Callisto?

Has a thick ice crust over it’s rocky interior

What is special about Saturn?

The least dense planet in the solar system, and it has the largest rings in the solar system

What is the Hexagon?

A huge hurricane in Saturn at the North Pole (Polar vortex at the center)

How did the Hexagon form?

Caused by a narrow jet stream

What are some characteristics of Saturn’s rings?

Consist of chunks the size of clay, sand, pebbles, and boulders (Made of water ice which is reflective)

What is Titan?

One of Saturn’s moons

What is special about Titan?

Only moon in solar system to have an atmosphere, and only other moon we’ve landed on

Characteristics of Titan’s surface?

-290*F! Pebble sized pieces of water and hydrocarbon ice cover the surface

What do we believe used to be on Titan?

Lakes and seas of liquid methane.

How do we know Titan used to have liquid methane?

Because we see drainage patterns!

What is the drainage pattern on Titan?

Dendritic!

What is Enceladus?

One of saturn’s moon that has tiger stripes

What is special about Enceladus?

It has a icy surface covering a water ocean, tiger stripes (large cracks where crust is pulled apart by gravity), and geysers of water ice crystals that maintain one of saturn’s rings)

What makes Uranus special?

Coldest planet in solar system, blue green color caused by methane, seen by only one space craft being Voyager 2

What is the tilt of Uranus?

Highest acial tilt (On its side basically)

What is special about Neptune?

Blue color caused by methane, seen by only one space craft being Voyager 2, strongest winds in the solar system

What is Triton?

Neptune’s largest moon! (Has cantaloupe terrain)

What is an asteriod?

fragments of rick and iron left over from the formation of the solar system or the breakup of larger fragments

How many asteriods are there, and where are they usually found?

Over 600k! Asteriod belt, but Jupiter has like a body guard of asteriods on left and right side

What is asteriod vesta?

The third largest asteriod! Shows signs of volcanism (unique in asteriods) ALSO it’s differentiated (most are too small to do that)

What is differentiation?

Separation of materials by density, formed the earth's layers

What is accretion?

Amaller pieces coming together to forming bigger pieces (Planet Building).

What is Asteriod vest thought to be?

A protoplanet dating back to the formative stages of the solar system

What is Asteriod Ida and Dactyl(moon)?

Ida is a asteriod with a moon named Dactyl! (First non-planet object discovered to have a moon)

What is Asteriod Psyche?

Asteriod made entirely of metal, has differentiated!

What are dwarf planets?

Small planets that are not considered planets, mostly found in Kuiper belt or asteriod belt

Characteristics of dwarf planets

Orbit sun, solid rocky/icy bodies, moons, no rings, live in kuiper belt or asteriod belt

What is pluto?

Dwarf planet

What is special about pluto?

Closest Kuiper Belt object, has five moons, icy object (water, nitrogen, methane) largest glaciers in solar system!

What is Ceres?

Dwarf planet!

What is special about Ceres?

Only known dwarf planet not in Kuiper belt but in the asteriod belt, rocky core covering rhick water ice layer covered with a thing dusty crust

What are comets?

Dirty snowballs, mostly ice with some dust and rock

Where do comets come from?

outer edges of our solar system, sometimes come from the oort cloud

How do comets get their dust tail?

as they come closer to the sun, solar radiation heats the comet’s surface causing the ice to boil off and into space carrying some of the dust with it, develops a dust trail left behind in solar orbit

What is comet shoemaker levy 9?

comet discovered heading for jupiter, broken off into more than 20 pieces

what is special about comet shoemaker levy 9?

crashed into jupiter and we saw the effects of comets crashing into planets from a safe distance

what are meteors?

when small dust particles cross earth’s orbit they burn up in our atmosphere causing meteors (shooting stars)

what is a meteor shower?

As a comet gets near the Sun, they leave a trail of particles floating around in space. Lots of particles crossing Earth’s orbit in a relatively short time (a few days) is a meteor shower

what are some ways of observing the solar system?

telescopes, flyby/orbit, radar, going on the surface,

what is the method of radar for observing the solar system?

microwaves are sent from spacecraft to the surface, the waves reflect back if surface is rough or faces spacecraft, waves bounce away if surface smooth or slopes away from spacecraft

what is deformation?

any change in the shape or volume of a rock, like when a rock is folded (bended) or fractured (broken - joints/faults)

Where does deformation occur?

large mountain ranges at convergent boundaries through: volcanism, metamorphism, continental accretion

how does deformation happen?

a force is applied over a large area will result in less deformation than the same force applied over a small area

what is force?

a push or pull that causes change in motion

what is stress?

force of deformation applied over an area

how do rocks respond to stress?

displacement, rotation, strain, elastic deformation (strain), plastic deformation