| A | B |
|---|
| Plate Tectonics | The theory that the lithosphere is made of plates that move and interact with each other at their boundaries |
| Continental Drift | A hypothesis that Earth's continents move on Earth's surface |
| Mid-Ocean Range | A long chain of mountains with a central rift valley that is located along a divergent boundary on the ocean floor |
| Divergent Boundary | A boundary between two lithospheric plates that are moving apart |
| Rift | A crack or opening in Earth's crust |
| Convergent Boundary | A boundary between to plates that are moving toward each other, or converging |
| Subduction Boundary | A convergent boundary where an oceanic plate is plunging beneath another, overriding plate |
| Deep-ocean-trench | A long, narrow, steep sided trough that runs parallel to continental margins or to volcanic island chains |
| Transform Boundary | A boundary between two plates that are sliding past each other |
| Mantle Convection | A process by which heat form the Earth's inner and outer cores is transferred through the mantle |
| Ridge Push | A force that is exerted by cooling, subsiding rock on the spreading litohospheric plates at a mid-ocean ridge |
| Slab Pull | A force at a subduction boundary that the sinking edge of the subducting plate exerts on the rest of the plate |
| Pangaea | The name of a hypothetical landmass consisting of all the continents welded together |
| Terrane | A large block of lithospeheric plate that has been moved, often over a distance of thousands of kilometers, and attached to the edge of a continent. |
| electromagnetic radiation | wave energy |
| electromagnetic spectrum | continuum showing the range of electromagnetic radiation |
| constellation | a group of stars that appear to form a pattern in the sky |
| apparent magnitude | the measurement of how bright a star appears to be from earth |
| astronimical unit | the average distance between Earth and the sun (150 million kilometers) |
| absolute magnitude | the measure of how bright a star would be if it were located 10 parsecs from earth |
| parsec | unit of measurement used to describe distances between celestial objects- equal to 3.258 light years |
| nebula | large cloud of gas & dust in space |
| neutron star | superdense remains of a massive star that collapsed with enough force to push all of its electrons into the nuclei they orbit |
| main sequence | a star that is at the point in its life cycle in which it is actively fusing hydrogen nuclei into helium nuclei |
| light year | the distance light travels in one year (9.5 trillion kilometers) |
| luminosity | the brightness of a star |
| black hole | the final life stage of an extrmemly massive star with an intense gravitational field |
| supernova | brilliant burst of light that follows the collapse of the iron core of a massave star |
| white dwarf | the remnant of a giant star that has lost its outer atmosphere |
| asthenosphere | the partially melted layer of the mantel that underlines the lithosphere. |
| crust | the very thin outer layer of the earth above the mantal, composed of the regid layer of lighter rocks that can extend 65 kilomiters at its deepest point. |
| lithosphere | the outer shell of the earth consisting of the crust and upper most portion of the mantel. |
| parallax | The apperent shift in one object's posion relative to another caused by a chage in the location of the observer |
| fusion | the combining of the nuclei of lighter elements to form a heavier element |
| plasma | a state of matter consisting of charged particles- positively charged ions and negatively charged electrons |
| photosphere | the visible layer of the sun |
| chromosphere | the inner layer of the sun's atmosphere located above the photosphere |
| corona | the outermost layer of the sun's atmosphere located above the chromosphere |
| sunspot | dark areas on the sun's photosphere that result from variations in the sun's magnetic feild |
| aurora | a glow in the night sky produced by particles from the solar wind interacting with Earth's magnetic field |
| big bang theory | theory that all matter and energy in the universe was compressed into an extremely small volume that suddenly, billions of years ago, began expanding in all directions |
| biosphere | ecosystem encompassing all the life on earth and the physical environment that supports it |
| Doppler effect | apparant shift in the wavelength of energy, such as a sound wave or a light wave, emitted by a source moving away from or toward an observer |
| geosphere | the solid earth |
| main sequence | A star that is at the point in its life cycle in which it is actively fusing hydrogen nuclei into helium nuclei; also, the band of the Hertzsprung-Russel diagram depicting such stars 1 |
| big bang model | Thetheory holding that the universe originated from the instant expansion of an extremly small agglomeration of matter of extremly high density and temperature 13 |
| constellation | A group of stars that appear to form a pattern in the sky |
| black dwarf | white dwarf that has died |
| seafloor spreading | seperation of plates that causes new ocean floor material |
| red shift | stars shifting away from the earth- wavelengths get longer |
| blue shift | stars shifing towards the Earth |
| circumpolar | stars that make circular trails around Polaris |
| HR diagram | plots the luminosity against their surface temperature |
| pulsar | a distant nuetron star that emits rapid pulsesof light instead of steady radiation |
| convective zone | area within the mantle where heat from Earth's inner and outer core is transfered |
| prominance | dense clouds of material suspended above the sun's surface by magnetic field- can errupt into space |
| solar flare | a sudden outbust of energy that rises up in area of sunspot activity |
| solar system | the sun and its family of orbiting planets, moons, and solar systems |
| sunspot | dark areas of the sun's photoshere |
| sunspot cycle | a predictable cycle of sunspots averaging about 11 years |
| midatlantic ridge | one of the midocean ridges in the Atlantic ocean |
| island arc | volcanic island chains in the ocean |
| Earth system science | the study of Earth materials & processes divided 4 (atmosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere & geosphere) |
| model | a simplified representation of an object proces or phenomenon used as the basis for further study or investigation |
| closed system | a system in which energy can enter or leave by matter can not |
| open system | a system in which there is a free exchange and matter and its surroundings |
| geosphere | the rocks mountains lithosheric plants and other physical features of Earth except for water- one of the 4 spheres |
| atmosphere | the gaseous envelope of air surrounding the Earth - one of the 4 spheres of the Earth's system |
| hydrosphere | all wather in the Earth System- gaseous, sloid, & liquid |
| water cycle | continuous of water energy through the hydrosphere |
| transpiration | process by which stored water in plants is released into the atmosphere in the form of water vapor |
| evaporation | cycle of water vapor into the atmosphere |
| evapotranspiration | the rapid cycling of water vapor into the atmosphere by evaporation from the earth's surface or transporation from plant leaves |
| carbon cycle | entering & exiting of carbon into the Earth- contributed by everthing on Earth |
| law of thermodynamics | energy can never be created or destroyed only can be changed from one form to another- |
| solar energy | energy emitted by the sun |
| geothermal energy | heat from within the EArth drives plate movement |
| continental rise | part of the ocean basin-lies on the ocean crust |
| continental slope | drop off- water depth increases rapidly |
| continental shelf | from shorline to the slope- flat |
