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Flashcards in Chapter 2 Deck (40)
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0
Q

Meat are the sun and nine other planets, as well as other celestial bodies orbiting the sun, known as?

A

The solar system

1
Q

What is a landmass above water on earth?

A

Continent

2
Q

What is the center of the earth, made up of iron and nickel, known as?

A

The core

3
Q

What is the layer surrounding the core?

A

Mantle

4
Q

What is magma?

A

Molten rock

5
Q

What is the thin layer of rock at the earth’s surface?

A

Crust

6
Q

What is the layer of gases surrounding the earth?

A

Atmosphere

7
Q

What is the solid rock portion of the earth’s surface?

A

Lithosphere

8
Q

What are the water elements on earth?

A

Hydrosphere

9
Q

What is the part of the earth where plants and animals live?

A

Biosphere

10
Q

What is continental drift?

A

The movement of continents

11
Q

What is the continuous cycle of water between the atmosphere, the oceans, and the earth?

A

Hydrologic cycle

12
Q

What is an area drained by a major river and it’s tributaries?

A

Drainage basin

13
Q

What is water held in the pores of a rock?

A

Groundwater

14
Q

What is the level at which the rock is saturated?

A

The water table

15
Q

What are the naturally formed features on the surface of the earth?

A

Landforms

16
Q

What is the earth’s surface from the edge of a continent to the deep part of the ocean known as?

A

Continental shelf

17
Q

What is the difference in elevation of a land form from its lowest point to its highest point?

A

Relief

18
Q

What is the combination of the surface shape and composition of the landforms and their distribution in a region?

A

Topography

19
Q

What is an enormous piece of the earth’s lithosphere known as?

A

Tectonic plate

20
Q

What is a fracture in the earth’s crust known as?

A

Fault

21
Q

What’s it called when plates grind or slip past each other at a fault and cause the earth to shake or tremble?

A

Earthquake

22
Q

What is a special device used to detect earthquakes?

A

Seismograph

23
Q

What is the point directly above the focus on the earth’s surface?

A

Epicenter

24
Q

What tool uses info collected by seismographs to determine the relative strength of an earthquake?

A

The Richter scale

25
Q

What is a giant wave in the ocean caused by an earthquake?

A

Tsunami

26
Q

What is a crack in the earth’s surface from which flows lava?

A

Volcano

27
Q

What is magma that has reached earth’s surface?

A

Lava

28
Q

What is the zone around the rim of the Pacific Ocean where the majority of active volcanoes are located?

A

Ring of Fire

29
Q

What are the physical and chemical processes that change the characteristics of rock on or near the earth’s surface?

A

Weathering

30
Q

What are small pieces of rock created by weathering?

A

Sediment

31
Q

What are the processes that break rock into smaller pieces?

A

Mechanical weathering

32
Q

What is it called when rock is changed into a new substance, as a result of interaction between elements in the air or water and the minerals in the rock?

A

Chemical weathering

33
Q

What is it called when weathered material is moved by the action of wind, water, ice, or gravity

A

Erosion

34
Q

What is a fan-like deposition of sediment at the mouth of a river?

A

Delta

35
Q

What is wind blown silt and clay sediment that produces fertile soil?

A

Loess

36
Q

What is a large, long-lasting mass of ice that moves because of gravity?

A

Glacier

37
Q

What is the changing of landforms by slowly moving glaciers?

A

Glaciation

38
Q

What is a ridge or hill formed by rocks left behind a glacier?

A

Moraine

39
Q

What is humus?

A

Organic material