| A | B |
|---|
| seafloor | many of the same features as land, higher mountains, extensive plains, deeper canyons |
| continental shelf | sloping part of the continent that is covered with water from its shoreline to the continental slope |
| continental slope | steeply sloping area that connects the continental shelf and the deep ocean floor |
| continental rise | gently sloping surace at the base of the continental slope |
| abyssal plains | flat, level parts of the ocean floor |
| seamount | undersea volcano peak that is at least 1000 meters avove the ocean floor |
| guyot | a submerged flat-topped seamount |
| mid ocean ridges | are continuous undersea mountain chains found in the middle of the oceans |
| ocean trenches | long,narrow trouchs or depressions formed where ocean floors collide with another section of ocean floor or continent |
| Marianas Trench | ll km deep, deepest trench in the Pacific Ocean |
| submerged shoreline | sea has risen or land has shrunk |
| emergent shoreline | sea falls or land has risen |
| neutral shoreline | neither submerged nor emergent shorelines (flat and broad beach) |
| stack | island of resistant rock left after weaker rock is worn away by waves and currents |
| waves approaching beach at an angle | creates a current of water that flows parallel to the shore which carries sediment like a river of sand |
| split | formed when a weak longshore current drops its load of sand as it turns into a bay |
| rip currents | narrow currents that flow seaward at a right angle to the shoreline (dangerous to swimmers) |
| hydrosphere | covers 70 percent of the earth's surface that is covered in salt water (mass 1.4 X 10 to 24th power grams) |
| Oceans | 7 North Atlantic, South Atlantic, North Pacific, South Pacific, Indian, Arctic, Antarctic |
| Salinity | number of grams of these dissolved salts in 1000 grams of sea water (3.5%) salt being most abundant (low near river mouths and high in areas of high evaporation rates) |
| Ocean temperature | constant to depths of 90 meters (28 degrees C at equator to 2 degrees C at poles) Freezing point of seawater is lower than freezing point of pure water) Freezing point varies with the salinity of the water (-2 C to 0C) |
| Temperature zones of the ocean | Surface layer, mixed area- called thermocline (wind and waves churn where living creatures live) and third layer that is cold dark to barren ocean floor |
| oozes | name given to the sediment that contains at least 30% plant or animal shell fragments -contains calcium carbonate |
| authigenic deposits | deposits formed directly from sea water |
| seamounts | underwater wolcanoes-magna rising from the hot spot punches through the plate and forms a volcano - Hawaiian islands |
| Island arc | magma that rises to produce a curing chain of volcanic islands |
| lithification | when fluid sediments are transformed into solid sedimentary rocks- compact from wieghts of overlying materials leading to cementation |
| cementation | sediments are converted to sedimentary rock |
| igneous rocks | classified by texture, composition, and the way they were formed |
| magma | molten rock when it pours out onto earth's surface it is called lava |
| If magma cools quickly | crystals can hardly form such as obsidian which has a glassy tecture |
| If magma cools slowly | then crystals form causing course grained textrue such as with granite |
| Metamorphic rock | formed by high temperatures and great pressures |
| foliated metamorphic rock | leaflike rocks, compressed parallel bands of minerals giving the rock a striped appearance (slate, schist and gneiss) |
| unfoliated metamorphic rock | not banded such as quarzite, marble, anthracite rocks |
| minerals | are natural, non-living solids with a definite chemical composition and a crystalline structure. |
| ores | minerals or rock deposits that can be mined for a profit |
| rock | earth materials made of one or more minerals |
| rock facies | rock group that differs from comparable rocks as in composition, age or fossil content |
| Mineral characteristics | 1) non living 2) formed in nature 3) solid 4) atoms form a crystalline pattern 5) chemical composition is fixed within narrow limits (over 3000 minerals) |
| Soil | sand, clay, minerals, living organisms, humus, decayed plants and animals |
| Sandy soil | gritty do not bind together, porous- water passes quickly therefore do not hold water |
| clay soil | smooth and greasy, bind firmly, moist and water does not pass through easily |
| loamy soils | feel like velvet, clump together, sand clay and silt, holds water but some water can pass through |
| pedalfers | soil formed in humid, temperate temperatures eastern US, iron oxide and aluminum rich clays of brown reddish color (forrest type vegetation) |
| Pedocals | Western US, dry and temperate, rich in calcium carbonate (grasslands and brush vegetation) |
| Laterites | wet and tropical, red-orange soil rich in iron and aluminum oxides little humus soil not very fertile |
| renewable resource | one that is replaced naturaly ie plants and animals, water, air and soil |
| non-renewable resources | not easily replaced in a timely manner, minerals, metals |
| erosion | inclusion and transporatation of surface materials by another moveable material, usually water, wind or ice. |
| weathering | breaking down of rocks near to the earth's surface |
| physical weathering | process by which rocks are broken down into smaller fragments without undergoing any change in chemical composition. freezing of water, expansion of rock, activities of plants and animals |
| frost wedging | cycle of daytime thawing and refreezing at night causing large rock masses, especially mountain top rocks, to be broken into smaller pieces |
| exfoliation | peeling away of the outer layers from a rock, rounded mountain tops |
| chemical weathering | breaking down of rocks through changes in chemical composition, by water oxygen and carbon dioxide which can form a weak acid |
| sun | nearest star to earth produces energy by nuclear fusion, hydrogen gas is converted to helium gas |
| core of the sun | inner portion where fusion takes place |
| photosphere of the sun | surface of the sun produces sunspots (coold, dark areas that can be seen on its surface) |
| chromosphere of the sun | hydrogen gas causes this portion to be red in color |
| solar flares | sudden brightness of the chromosphere |
| solar prominences | gases that shoot outward from the chromosphere |
| corona of the sun | transparent area of sun visible only during a total eclipse |
| solar radiation | energy traveling from the sun into space |
| solar flares | excited protons and electrons that shoot outward from the chromosphere at great speeds reaching earth (affect radio reception and magnetic field on earth) |
| refracting telescope | uses lenses to bend light rays in focusing the image (Galilee) |
| reflecting telescope | uses mirrors to gather light rays on a curved mirror which produced image (Newton) |
| Hubble Space telescope | uses a single relector mirror. It observes objects seven times farther away |
| optical telescopes | refracting and reflecting telescopes since they gather visible light and focus it to produce an image |
| radio telescope | collects invisible radio waves created by the sun and stars- It has a reflector or dish with special receivers (advantages- receive 24 hrs a day, operate in any kind of weather, ability to detect objects from great distances in space) largest in Puerto Rico dish more than 300 meters in diameter) |
| spectroscope | device attached to telescopes used to separate white light into a series different color by wave lengths called a spectrum (used to observe spectra, temperatures, pressures, and movement of stars) |
| spectograph | photographs a spectrum (red longest wavelength, violet the shortest) |
| electromagnetic spectrum | arrangement of wavelengths- range from very long radio waves to very short gamma rays |
| Star moving toward earth | light waves compress and wavelenghs are shorter so moves toward blue or violet |
| Star is moving away from earth | light waves expand and wavelengths seem longer. moves toward the red end of the spectrum |
| AU or astronomical unit | the distance from the earth to the sun (150 X 10 to the sixth power)- used to measure distances within our solar system |
| LY or light year | the distance light travels in one year or 9.5 X 10 to the twelth power - used to measure distances in space |
| parsec | measures large distances in space =a distance of 3.26 light years |
| Planets in our solar system | Mercury Venus Earth Mars (inner planets) Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune and Pluto (outer planets) |
| Mercury | closest planet to the sun, craters and rocks, hydrogen, helium and sodium in the atmosphere (named after Roman messenger god) |
| Venus | slow rotation , rotates opposite the earth (retrograde rotation), extensive cloud coverage so cannot see surface, atmosphere mostly carbon dioxide, clouds contain sulfuric acid giving a yellow appearance, clouds trap heat (named Roman goddess of love) |
| Earth | a water planet, gravity holds water in place, different temperatures on earth allow water to exist as a solid, liquid and gas. Atmosphere is mostly oxygen and nitrogen, only planet known to support life |
| Mars | numerous craters, active and extinct volcanoes, ridges and valleys, iron oxide in soil giving rust color to surface, atmosphere has carbon dioxide, nitrogen, argon oxygen and water vapor, polar ice caps of water, two satellites (named after Roman war god) |
| Jupiter | largest planet, 16 moons, atmosphere of hydrogen, helium, methane, and ammonia, rising and and descending gases caused by heat from the core, Great Red Spot thought to be hurricane cloud, strong magnetic field |
| Saturn | seond largest planet, rings of ice and rock and dust particles, stmosphere of hydrogen, helium, methane, and ammonia, 20+ satelites (named after Roman god of agriculture) |
| Uranus | retrograde (reverse) rotation, gaseous planet, 10 dark rings and 15 satellites, atmosphere is hydrogen, helium, and methane (named after Greek god of the heavens) |
| Neptune | gaseous planet, atmosphere of hydrogen, helium and methane, 3 rings and 2 satellites,(named after Roman sea god, atmosphere has the color of the seas) |
| Pluto | smallest planet, atmosphere thought to contain methane, ammonia, and frozen water, 1 satellite, revolves around the sun every 250 years (named after Roman god of the underworld) |
| Asteroids | found in the region between Mars and Jupiter |
| Comets | masses of frozen gases, cosmic dust, and small rocky particles, think they originate in a comet cloud beyond Pluto- it has a nucleus, a coma, and a tail, The tail points away from the sun |
| Halley's comet | discovered in 240 BC it returns every 75 to 76 years |
| Meteoroids | composed of particles of rock and metal, it burns in our atmosphere and then called a meteor or a shooting star |
| Meteorites | meteors that strike the earth's surface, Barringer Crater in Arizone |
| constellations | patterns of stars as a reference to locate other stars |
| Ursa Major | big bear constellation |
| Ursa Minor | little bear constellation |
| The Big Dipper | found within the Ursa Major |
| The Little Dipper | found within Ursa Minor |
| Magnitude stars | 21 of the brightest stars seen from earth |
| galaxies | Vast collection of stars |
| irregular galaxy | no real structed appearance, early stage of life |
| elliptical galaxy | smooth ellipses containing little dust and gas composed of millions and millions of stars |
| spiral galaxy | disk shaped with extended arms that rotate around a dense center, earth is in the Milky Way Galaxy and it is a spiral galaxy |
| pulsar | variable radio source that emits signals in very short regular bursts, it is believed to bea rotating neutron star |
| quasar | object that photographs like a star but has an extremely large redshift and a variable energy output, believed to be the active core of a very distant galaxy |
| black holes | object that has collapsed to such a degree that light can not escape from its surface, light is trapped by the intense gravitational field |
| tidal hypothesis (origin of solar system) | proposes that the solar system began with a near collision of the sun and a large star - as these two stars passed a great gravitational pull of the large star extracted hot gases out of the sun - not supported by many astronomers today |
| condensation hypothesis (origin of solar system) | porposes that the solar system begam with rotating clouds of dust and gas. Condensation occurred in the center forming the sun and smaller parts forming the planets - widely accepted today |
| Big Bang Theory (origin of the universe) | universe originiated from a magnificent explosion spreading mass, matter and energy into space.- widely accepted |
| Steady-State Theory | universe is continuously renewd, galaxies move outward and new galaxies replace - no evidence to support, least accepted theory |
| Oscillating Universe Hypothesis | universe will oscillate or expand and contract. Galaxies will move away from one another and in time slow down and stop then a gradual moving toward each other will activate the explosion of The Big Bang theory |
