Earth Science Study Guide Vocabulary

Flashcards covering key Earth Science vocabulary terms and definitions from the provided lecture notes.

Light Year

The distance that light travels in one year.

Comet

A small body of rock, ice, and cosmic dust that follows an elliptical orbit around the sun.

Radiometric dating

Used to determine the absolute age of an object by comparing the relative percentages of a radioactive parent isotope and a stable daughter isotope

Unconformities

A break in the geologic record created when rock layers are eroded or when sediment is not deposited for a long period of time.

Renewable Resource

A natural resource that can be replaced at the same rate at which it is consumed.

Non-Renewable Resource

A resource that forms at a rate that is much slower than the rate at which it is consumed.

Metamorphism

Process by which heat, pressure, or chemical processes change one type of rock to another.

Sorting

Tendency of currents of air or water to separate sediments according to size.

Cementation

Process in which sediments are glued together by minerals that are deposited by water.

Compaction

Process in which the sediment is squeezed and in which the size of the pore space between sediment grains is reduced by the weight and pressure of overlying layers.

Volcano

Vent through which magma, gases, and volcanic ash is expelled.

Bowen’s Reaction Series

Rock cycle pattern that illustrates the order in which minerals crystallize from cooling magma according to their chemical composition and melting point

Igneous Rock

Forms when magma cools and hardens.

Bowen's Reaction Series

The simplified pattern that illustrates the order in which minerals crystallize from cooling magma according to their chemical composition and melting point.

Mineral

A natural, usually inorganic solid that has a characteristic chemical composition, an orderly internal structure, and a characteristic set of physical properties.

Cycles

Group of processes in which matter and energy move through a series of reservoirs.

Biosphere

All forms of life in geosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere; any organic matter that has not decomposed.

Atmosphere

Blanket of gases; 78% N, 21% O, 1% other gases

Closed System

Energy, not matter is exchanged with surroundings.

Gravity

The larger the masses the greater the force; as the distance from earth’s center increases, the weight decreases.

Magnetosphere

Earth’s magnetic field.

Mantle

Layer under the crust (2/3 of Earth’s mass).

Crust

Thin, outermost layer (1% of mass).

Astronomy

scientific study of the universe

Coriolis Effect

The curving path of a moving object from an otherwise straight path due to earth’s rotation.

Dew point

constant pressure and water vapor content, the temperature at which the rate of condensation equals the rate of evaporation

Epicenter

Area on Earth’s surface directly above an Earthquakes starting point