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Flashcards in Exam 1 Deck (49)
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1
Q

How long has the world existed?

A

4.6 Billion Years

2
Q

Biggest difference between Geology vs. other sciences

A

Time

- not much happens to the earth over the course of 1 human lifetime

3
Q

Rates of Geologic Processes

A

um/year to cm/year

4
Q

How old are some fossils?

A

3.5 billion years

5
Q

Atmosphere and hydrosphere formed?

A

4 billion years ago

6
Q

When did Dinosaurs go extinct?

A

65 million years ago

7
Q

How did the universe expand after Big Bang Theory?

A

Formed galaxies, planets, stars

8
Q

Big Bang Theory - universe began…

A

14 billion years ago

9
Q

Nebular Hypothesis

A

A large gas (nebula) cloud begins to condense and small eddies collide and become solid chunks

10
Q

Formula for the Sun

A

H + H = He + Energy

11
Q

Protoplanets

A

Bigger than current planets, eventually contract due to gravitational pull

12
Q

Protoplanets vs. Terrestrial Planets

A

Terrestrial grew from collision of Planetesimals

Protoplanets = gas accretion

13
Q

Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Jupiter, Pluto, are all which kind of planets?

A

Outer Planets

14
Q

Venus, Earth, Mercury, Mars, are all which kind of planets?

A

Inner Planets

15
Q

James Hutton (1785) believed Earth was like a …

A

Superorganism

16
Q

Gaia Hypothesis (James Lovelock)

A
  • Earth is an organism

- Life consciously controls the environment and changes it to benefit us

17
Q

5 Fundamental Concepts

A

1) Population Growth
2) Sustainability
3) System and change
4) Hazardous Earth Processes
5) Scientific knowledge and values

18
Q

Population Growth Formula (Doubling time)

A

D = 70/G

19
Q

What are earth’s 2 heating sources?

A

Inner core + Sun

20
Q

4 Subsystems of the earth

A
  1. Lithosphere
  2. Atmosphere
  3. Hydrosphere
  4. Biosphere
21
Q

Average Resident Time (formula)

A

T = S(stock) / F(average rate of transfer)

22
Q

When does a theory become a law?

A

When there is no sensible way to challenge the theory (which has been proven via many hypothesis tests)

23
Q

What is the atmosphere?

A
  • All the gases surrounding earth
  • Wind, clouds
  • Atmosphere spreads water around the earth
24
Q

What is the hydrosphere?

A

All the water in the world

25
Q

Lithosphere

A

The earth’s crust (rocks, plates)

- Erosion turns rocks into soil

26
Q

Biosphere

A

All the plants and animals in the world

27
Q

4 Factors that lead to heating and melting

A
  1. Accretion of meter-sized bodies
  2. Collisions
  3. Compression
  4. Radioactivity of elements (uranium etc.)
28
Q

What is the Core made of (100-200 million years after initial accretion)

A

Iron - melted and pulled to core

29
Q

Earth’s composition

A

Fe + O + Si + Mg = 93%

30
Q

Crust’s composition

A

Si + O + Al = 92%

31
Q

Asthenosphere

A

Part of the mantle beneath the lithosphere

32
Q

How many plates make up the earth’s outer crust?

A

20

33
Q

Evidence for Dynamic Earth Theory

A

Mountain ranges, earthquakes in space, volcanos in space,

34
Q

Continental Drift

A

Unified super-continent, pangaea shifting apart

  • same fossils across both sides of Atlantic ocean
  • rock distribution (matches up like a puzzle)
35
Q

Seafloor spreading

A

Not a single static piece

  • Existence of mid-oceanic ridges
  • Continents float over spreading seafloor
  • Paleomagnetic data
  • age of seafloor rocks
  • thickness of seafloor sediment
36
Q

Plate Tectonics Theory

A

Plates move in relation to each other

- No movements within plates, just at plate boundaries

37
Q

Significance of tectonic cycle

A

Global distribution of resources

- Patterns of earthquakes/volcanoes

38
Q

What are hot spots centers for?

A

Volcanos…which have lava and magma originate from the deep mantle
- Chain of volcanoes over a change of plate motion

39
Q

Plate Subduction can lead to?

A

Island arc + volcanic arcs

40
Q

How is a hazardous event (like earthquake) measured?

A

Magnitude and frequency (which are generally inverse)

41
Q

Risk of Hazard Formula

A

Probability of occurrence X consequence

42
Q

Annual Loss of life from hazardous earth processes

A

150,000

43
Q

What is an earthquake?

A

Movement of rocks past one another

44
Q

Earthquake Fault

A

Locus of earthquake movement

45
Q

Earthquake focus

A

Where initial earthquake began

46
Q

Earthquake epicenter

A

point on surface right ABOVE the focus

47
Q

Seismology

A

Study of energy released from earthquakes

- Source of wiggly lines that describe earthquake

48
Q

2 Types of Earthquake Waves

A
P waves (compressional parallel)
S Waves (shear perpendicular)
49
Q

Richter Scale

A

Amount of energy received from epicenter