Earth and Space Sciences Exam Review

Striations

As glaciers grind over the surface bedrock, they leave behind deep scratches in the rock and the scratches record the direction of ice  flow in the rock

Examples of igneous rock

Pumice, Granite, Vesicular basalt, Diorite

Seismograph

records intensity/energy of seismic waves to determine the intensity of the earthquake or map out the earth's interior

examples of metamorphic rock

Schist, Marble, Slate, Gneiss

Weathering

the process of decomposing, breaking up, or changing the color of rocks

Erosion

the movement of weathered materials due to natural forces such as wind, water and ice

examples of sedimentary rocks

Limestone, Conglomerate, Siltstone, Sandstone

intrusions

a body of igneous (created under intense heat) rock that has crystallized from molten magma. Ex. dikes, batholiths, and sills.

Dike

a sheet like intrusion that cuts across layering

Batholith

form by multiple intrusions in the same region

Sill

a sheet like intrusion that forms parallel to the country rock

Geologic time scale

The history of the earth divided into eons, eras, periods, and more based on fossil records of animals and plants that lived during earth time period.

Uniformitarianism

the processes that happen in the present are similar to the processes that occurred in the past. Ex. Faulting, Folding, Erosion

P-waves

Fastest seismic waves, traveling at about 6 to 7 km/s, compression and expansion motion, Bend when traveling through different layers, Slow down in the liquid core, creating a shadow zone.

S-waves

Slow, traveling at about 3.5 km/s,  perpendicular motion, Can only travel through solids, Disappear at the mantle core boundary.

layers of the earth

core, mantle, crust

Types of plate boundaries

divergent, convergent (subduction or collision), transform.

epochs of Radiation era

plank, GUT, inflationary, electroweak, quark, Hadron, lepton, nuclear

epochs of Matter era

atomic, galactic, stellar

Eras after the Big Bang

Radiation and Matter

Life cycle of a low mass star

nebula, protostar, main sequence star, red giant, planetary nebula, white dwarf, black dwarf

Life cycle of a high mass star

nebula, protostar, main sequence star, super red giant, black hole or neutron star

Keplers 1st law of planetary motion

Planets have elliptical orbits with the sun at one focus

Kepler’s 2nd law of planetary motion

A line drawn between the sun and a planet will sweep out equal areas of space in equal amounts of time. This indicates that planets speed up as they approach the sun.

Kepler’s 3rd law of Planetary Motion

Planets that are closer to the sun have smaller orbits and shorter periods. “The square of the orbital period of a planet is proportional to the cube of the semi-major axis of its orbit”

layers of the sun/solar atmosphere

core, radiation zone, convection zone, photosphere, chromosphere, corona

Features of Galaxies

bulge, disk, halo

Types of galaxies

spiral (barred spiral or spiral), elliptical, irregular, peculiar, lenticular

Types of plate boundaries

Divergent (mid atlantic ridge), subduction (Mariana islands, western coast of south america), collision (himalayas), transform (san andreas fault)

Layers of the earth

solid metal inner core, liquid metal outer core, liquid lower mantle, liquid upper mantle, solid crust

Continental drift

the gradual movement of the continents across the earth's surface through geological time.

The name of Wegener's "supercontinent"

Pangea

Types of volcanoes

Shield Volcanoes (broad bases), Cinder Cones(simple, magma hardens before hitting ground), Composite Volcanoes (layers of material from one vent)

Rift valleys

a large elongated depression with steep walls formed by the downward displacement of a block of the earth's surface between nearly parallel faults or fault systems.

Richter scale

Measures the magnitude of an earthquake based on seismic wave amplitude.

Mercalli scale

Measures the intensity of an earthquake based on its observed effects.

Pangea

The supercontinent that existed during the late Paleozoic and early Mesozoic eras, around 335 million years ago.

Formation of Pangea

about 300 million years ago Gondwana and the small landmasses converged to form Pangea. 

destruction of Pangea

Gondwana and Laurasia split off, and eventually split into today's continents.

Chemical Weathering

chemical changes in the minerals of the rock, or on the surface of the rock, that make the rock change its shape or color. 

Causes of chemical weathering

Carbon dioxide, oxygen, water, and acids.

Mechanical weathering

the process of breaking a large rock into smaller pieces without changing the minerals in the rock

causes of mechanical weathering

frost, ice, plant roots, running water, or heat from the sun.

Focus

The exact point within the Earth where an earthquake begins

Epicenter

The point on the Earth's surface directly above where an earthquake originates

Hypocenter

Another term for the focus, the point within the Earth where an earthquake originates.

Shadow zone

A region where P-waves do not reach due to their slowdown in the liquid outer core. 

ring of fire

a tectonic belt of volcanoes and earthquakes around the edge of the pacific ocean including chile, mexico, US, antarctica russia, japan, new zealand, papua new guinea, indonesia, etc.

Laccolith

magma intrusions that cool before reaching the surface, causing a dome shape

Joint

 a break in the natural origin of a rock body that has little displacement

Faults

a discontinuity in the natural origin of a rock body that has significant displacement

Drumlins

a low oval mound or small hill, typically one of a group, consisting of compacted boulder clay molded by past glacial action.

Morraines

a mass of rocks and sediment carried down and deposited by a glacier, typically as ridges at its edges or extremity.

Characteristics of minerals

hardness, cleavage, streak, luster, magnetism, fracture

Conchoidal

denoting a type of fracture in a solid (such as flint or quartz) that results in a smooth rounded surface resembling the shape of a scallop shell.

Splintery

liable to produce or break into splinters.

irregular (characteristic of fractures)

stone that is cut to or quarried in different shapes and/or sizes.

Lithosphere

the brittle crust and uppermost mantle

Asthenosphere

a solid but it can flow, like toothpaste. The lithosphere rests on the asthenosphere.

Types of fossils

Original remains, replaced remains, molds and casts, trace fossils, carbonaceous films

replaced remains

Remains are slowly replaced by rock forming minerals molecule by molecule. This occurs in fossil bones, teeth, shells

molds and casts

Plant, leaf or insect is buried in mud or sediments, it's hard body parts become a fossil as the sediments become rock. The fossil later dissolves and leaves mold (a hollow depression), If minerals fill in the mold it forms a cast

trace fossils

Trails, footprints, tracks, burrows, bite marks on trilobites

Carbonaceous films

Remains of animals and plants are affected by temperature and pressure as sediments are deposited. The conditions cause the carbon compounds to chemically change. The carbonizing process results in the thin film of carbon

Plutonic features

Comet composition

core: is mostly made up of ice but has some dust and rock particles

coma: ice sublimates due to solar heat

Gas tail: made of lightweight gasses that often appear blue

Dust tail: made of heavier particles like dust and rock particles

Comet location of origin

The oort cloud

Asteroid Composition

Made of rock and metal, no ice because it formed closer to the sun than comets. Sometimes has organic material.

Asteroid location

Forms closer to the sun, often found on asteroid belts.

Meteoroid composition

fragments of comets, asteroids, or artificial space debris

Meteoroid location

In space

Meteor composition

fragments of comets, asteroids, or artificial space debris.

Meteor location

Anywhere within earth's atmosphere, at a height of around 80-120 km above the surface.

meteorite composition

fragments of comets, asteroids, or artificial space debris

Meteorite location

Earth's surface

Inner layers of the sun

Core, Radiative Zone and Convection Zone

Outer layers of the sun

Photosphere, the Chromosphere, the Transition Region and the Corona.

Features of the sun

Sunspots, prominences, coronal mass ejections, solar flares

Trends of the Hertzsprung-Russel diagram

• main sequence stars are more luminous when they are hotter

• Red giants are more luminous than main sequence, but cooler

• white dwarf stars are less luminous that main sequence, but they can be hotter

• blue/white = hot, red=cool

  

Spiral galaxies

These galaxies have a flat, rotating disk with spiral arms and a central bulge. They often appear as a pinwheel shape.

Central bulge

A dense, spherical region of stars.

Spiral arms

Regions of active star formation and high concentration of stars, gas, and dust.

Halo

A spherical region surrounding the disk, filled with older stars and globular clusters.

Elliptical Galaxies

These galaxies have a spheroidal shape, with no distinct spiral arms or disk. Older, redder stars dominate, with little to no ongoing star formation. Very little gas and dust compared to spiral galaxies.

Irregular galaxies

These galaxies lack a defined shape, unlike spiral or elliptical galaxies.

Lenticular galaxies

These galaxies are intermediate between elliptical and spiral galaxies. They have a central bulge and a flat disk but lack the spiral arms of a spiral galaxy.

Peculiar galaxies

These galaxies do not fit into the traditional categories of spiral, elliptical, or irregular. They have unusual shapes due to interactions with other galaxies.

Eratosthenes

• Measured Earth's Circumference

• Found earth-moon distance, earth-sun distance

Hipparchus

• Believed in pure observation

• Examined precise positions of the stars

• Unable to detect parallax

• Found procession of the equinoxes

• Modern Magnitude system (bright=1st dim=6th)

Ptolemy

• Last of great astronomers of Alexandria

• Hid in library of Serapeum

• Created Ptolemaic Model (explained retrograde using epicycle and different)

• Bad model (no universal rule, all planets were independant, too complicated)

Copernicus

• First heliocentric model of universe (explained retrograde motion)

• Orbits were circular :(

Kepler

• Tycho's assistant, inherited all positional data

• redefined copernicus's model (eliptical orbits)

• laws of planetary motion (planets move in elipse around sun)

Galileo

• Delivered final blow to geocentric model

• Trouble with catholic church (said objects fall at same rate)

• Built his own telescope (observed phases of venus, moon mountains, suspots, moons of jupiter, rings of saturn, etc.)

• Roman Catholic Church put him in house arrest

Newton

• began development of physics and calculus

• Laws of motion

  • in motion = remain in motion, at rest=at rest

  • F=ma

  • every action has an equal and opposite reaction

• Laws of gravitation (attracting force is proportional to mass, inversely proportional to distance apart)

North star

polaris, located in ursa minor, northern hemisphere, always above the horizon

Evidence of the big bang

1. Galaxies are moving farther apart, therefore they were close together before

2. Element ashes observed are proportional to the predictions using the Big Bang model

3. CMB, heat and light detected from the first stages of the universe

Law of superposition

within an undisturbed sequence of layers of sedimentary rock, the oldest layer is at the base and that the layers are progressively younger with ascending order in the sequence.

The Hadean Eon

began with the formation of the first rocks on Earth and ended 4 billion years ago. This eon was a time of massive volcanic activity and frequent collisions with asteroids, leading to rapid changes of the planet’s surface. 

The Archean Eon

began 4 billion years ago and ended 2.5 billion years ago. During this time, the first areas of continental crust appeared and began coalescing into larger landmasses. These continental cores are known as cratons or shields. Collisions with objects from space and volcanic activity decreased. Life first appeared on Earth during this Eon. The earliest types of fossils to be found in any quantity are traces of microbial mats. A mat of aquatic microbes would trap sediment, and the microbes would grow over the sediment, producing a layered structure. Stromatolites are one well-known type of microbial mat fossil.

Proterozoic Eon

the most recent division of the Precambrian. It is also the longest geologic eon, beginning 2.5 billion years ago and ending 541 million years ago