Geology Test 1

What is Geology?

Geology is the scientific study that focuses on Earth.

What are three areas one could persue of geology?

Oceanography, Astronomy, Wetlands

What is the sceintific method?

The scientific method attmepts to minimize influence, bias, or prejudice in an experiment by providing an objective, stardardized approach to conducting experiments, and evaluating and solving a problem.

What is a theory?

A theroy is a hypothesis that has been rigorously tested, supported by an abundance of evidence is reputable and has not been disproven. Theories can eventually be disproven.

What is the study of the overall structure and history of the universe

cosmology

What is the theory that the earth is the center of the unvierse?

geocentric

What is the theory that the sun is the center of the unvierse?

heliocentric

What are the three theories for the creation of elements

Big band, stellar nuclearsynthesis, and supernova nucleosynthesis

What is the theory that describes the origin of a solar system and explains that a nebula is gas, dust, and ice? Inward collapse of materials generates nuclear fission which results in proto-sun and proto-planetary disk, which may go on to mature?

Nebular theory

What is the imaginary barrier of the protoplanetary disk?

frost line

What are protoplanets formed by?

continuous collisions.

they go on to form terrestrial planets or ice giants.

What does ALMA allow us to do?

ALMA allows us to see stars in other galaxies that are in the early stages of developemnt.

Explain differentiation

DIfferentiation is the separation of materials due to density differnces.

The earth began by being homogeneous inside, temps increased and iron began to melt, and iron accumulated to form metallic core

What are the three primary layers of Earth? What is the distinction between them

Crust mantle, and core

The distinction between them is density.

What are the two types of crust? What is true of each type

The two types of crust are oceanic crust and continental crust.

Oceanic crust is thinner and heavier, while Continentalo crust is thicker and lighter.

What is the name for the boundary between crust and mantle

moho

What is Earth’s crust predominately made of? What is it like in terms of weight?

oxygen and silicon.

It is generally lighter than the rest of the earth

What is true of what the mantle contains

The mantle contains rock with a high % of iron and magnesium

It is composed of the upper and lower mantle

What is true of the lower mantle

The lower mantle is more dense than the upper mantle

What does the upper mantle contain?

The upper mantle contains the Lithospheric mantle and the Aesthenospheric Mantle

Which part of the upper mantle is cool and rigid like the crust but is made of different materials?

Lithospheric mantle

What part of the upper mantle is composed of rock that is the same of the other part of the mantle, but it is much hotter?

Aesthenospheric Mantle

What part of the core that is liquid iron alloy and induces the earth’s magnetic field due to convection currents?

Outercore

What part of the core is solid metal alloy due to high pressure

inner core

How are seismographers able to see what the earth’s layers are like

An earthquake creates seismic ‘energy waves’ that propogate through the subsurface, which are recorded

What are the two types of seismic energy waves?

Body waves and subsurface waves

What are the two types of Body-waves? What is the difference between them in terms of what they are able to pick up?

P-waves (compressional waves) and S-waves (shear waves)

P-waves travel faster than S-waves and go though solids and liquids. S-waves (shearwaves) do not travel fast and cannot go through liquid

What was the zone between P-waves and S-waves that scientists found that allowed them to determine that there is liquid in the core?

Shadow Zone