Scientific Processes and Geology Terminology

These flashcards cover key vocabulary and concepts related to scientific processes and geological terminology.

Scientific Process

A method used by scientists to explore and understand natural phenomena.

Experimental Studies

Research where a researcher manipulates one or more independent variables to observe the effect on dependent variables.

Observational Studies

Research in which the researcher observes and records data without manipulating variables.

Independent Variables

The variables that are manipulated or controlled in an experiment.

Dependent Variables

The variables that are measured or observed in response to changes in the independent variables.

Hypotheses

A testable prediction or explanation for a phenomenon.

Theories

Well-substantiated explanations of some aspect of the natural world, developed through evidence and repeated testing.

Laws

Descriptions of natural phenomena that consistently occur under certain conditions.

Headwaters

The source or origin of a river or stream, usually found in higher elevations.

River Mouth

The point where a river empties into a larger body of water.

Gradient

The slope or steepness of the riverbed.

Flow Competence

The maximum particle size a river can carry.

Flow Speed

The velocity of water moving through the river.

Sinuosity

The degree of winding or meandering of a river.

Erosional Features

Features formed by the wearing away of the land.

Depositional Features

Features formed by the accumulation of materials.

Meanders

Curves or bends in a river's path.

Cutbanks

Eroded outer banks of a meander where the river's velocity is highest.

Point Bars

Deposits of sediment on the inner side of a meander.

Oxbow Lakes

Lakes formed by the remnants of a meander cut off from the river flow.

100-year Flood

A flood event that has a 1% probability of occurring in any year.

Mountain Glaciers

Smaller glaciers that form in mountain ranges.

Piedmont Glaciers

Glaciers that spread out at the base of a mountain range.

Glacial Plucking

The process where glaciers pick up rocks as they move.

Till

Unsorted material deposited directly by glacier ice.

Drumlins

Smooth, elongated hills formed by glacial deposition.

Kettle Lakes

Depressions formed by the melting of ice chunks left behind by retreating glaciers.

Ablation Zone

The area of a glacier where ice and snow are lost.

Conglomerate

A coarse-grained sedimentary rock composed of rounded clasts.

Lateral Moraines

Moraines formed along the sides of a glacier.

Glacial Erratics

Large boulders transported by a glacier.

Superposition

The principle that in undisturbed layers of rock, the oldest layers are at the bottom.

Uniformitarianism

The principle that geological processes observed today also operated in the past.

Cross-Cutting Relationships

A principle that a feature cutting through another is younger than the feature it cuts.

Baked Contacts

The principle that an igneous intrusion is younger than the rock it intrudes.