Geology Test 1 - Chapter 1

Front 1

Geology

Back 1

The science that pursues an understanding of planet Earth.

Front 2

Physical geology

Back 2

examines the materials composing Earth and seeks to understand the many processes that operate beneath and upon its surface

Front 3

Historical geology

Back 3

seeks an understanding of the origin of EArth and its development through time

Front 4

What are some of the problems and issues addressed by geology?

Back 4

Natrual hazards, resources, world population growth, and environmental issues

Front 5

Catastrophism

Back 5

Earth's features formed through sudden and violent changes

Front 6

Who believed in Catastrophism?

Back 6

Aristotle - 300 bc

Front 7

When did James Ussher believe the Earth was created?

Back 7

4004BC

Front 8

What did James Hutton write?

Back 8

Theory of the Earth in 1780

Front 9

What was the main idea of this book?

Back 9

Uniformitarianism

Front 10

What is Uniformitarianism?

Back 10

the processes that operate today have operated in the past

Front 11

Who was Lord Kelvin and what did he believe?

Back 11

the greatest physicist of his day and siad that the Earth cannot be more than 100 million years old.

Front 12

What was his assumption based on?

Back 12

a simple convective cooling model

Front 13

What did Mark Twain believe?

Back 13

that scientific research has shed considerable darkness on teh subject of teh Age of the EArth and if they continue at their present pace, wel'll soon know nothing about it

Front 14

What did Sir Charles Lyell write and think?

Back 14

Principles of Geology - The present is the key to the past

Front 15

What do Uniformitarianist today believe?

Back 15

That Earth's geological history can be interpreted through processes we see operating today.

Front 16

We can also understnad Earht's present by...

Back 16

interpreting its past

Front 17

Relative dating

Back 17

dates are placed in their proper sequence or order without knowing their age in year

Front 18

What are a few important markers of relative time...

Back 18

Fossils of pre-existing life -such as fish and amphibians

Front 19

The principle of _______is useful for dividing PHanerozoic time

Back 19

faunal succession

Front 20

What is the magnitude of geologic time?

Back 20

millions or billions of years

Front 21

Science assumes the natural world is...

Back 21

consistent and predictable

Front 22

What is one goal of scientists?

Back 22

to discover patterns in nature and use the knowledge to make predictions

Front 23

How do scientist collect data?

Back 23

Through observation and measurements

Front 24

How or why things happen is explained by using what?

Back 24

The scientific method

Front 25

Hypothesis

Back 25

a tentative or untested explanation

Front 26

Theory

Back 26

a well-tested and widely accepted view that the scientific community agrees best explains certain observable facts

Front 27

Scientific Laws

Back 27

porvide brief - usually mathmatical - statements to describe nature

Front 28

Are scientific laws superior to theories?

Back 28

no

Front 29

What does the scientific method involve?

Back 29

Gathering facts through observations

Formulation of hypotheses, theories, and laws

Front 30

What are Earth's four spheres?

Back 30

HYdrosphere, Atmosphere, Biosphere and Solid earth

Front 31

What does Earth's system science aim to study?

Back 31

Earth as a system composed of numerous interacting parts or subsystems

Front 32

What type of feedback mechanisms do systems have?

Back 32

negative and positive

Front 33

The hydrologic cycle is one of Earth's _____?

Back 33

subsystems

Front 34

The Earth's system is powered by ______?

Back 34

Solar energy

Front 35

What does Solar engery drive?

Back 35

most of the external processes in the Atmosphere, hydrosphere and at the earth's surface

Front 36

What drives the processes in the Earth's interior?

Back 36

Radioactive decay of isotopes U 234, U 235, K 40 etc

Front 37

What is the earth's interior comprised of?

Back 37

Lithosphere, Asthenosphere, Mesosphere, and Core?

Front 38

Concerning the origin of planet Earth what do most researchers blieve about when Earth and the planets formed?

Back 38

They believe they all formed at essentially the same time.

Front 39

What is the solar nebula?

Back 39

A rotating cloud composed of hydrogen and helium

Front 40

When did it begin to contract?

Back 40

about 5 billion years ago

Front 41

What is the Nebular hypothesis?

Back 41

Assumes that a flat, disk shape cloud (nebula) with the protosun in the middle began to form inner planets and outer planets

Front 42

What were the inner planets formed from?

Back 42

metallic and rocky substances

Front 43

What were the larger planets formed from?

Back 43

fragments of ices - h2o co2 and others

Front 44

what are Chondrites?

Back 44

contain spherical aggregates of high-temperature minerals condensed from the solar nebula mixed with some pre-solar grains

Front 45

What aggregates of high-temperature minerals do Chondrites contain?

Back 45

olivine and pyroxene ---called chondrules

Front 46

What pre-solar grains are in Chondrites?

Back 46

Fe-Ni Meteorites, Lunar samples, Martian meteorites

Front 47

Chondrites generally give radiometric ages of ______?

Back 47

~4.5 Ga (billion years)

Front 48

Regarding the formation of Earth's layered structure what happened with the metals?

Back 48

They sank to the center - esp Fe and Ni

Front 49

What happened to the molten rock?

Back 49

it rose to produce a primitive crust

Front 50

What does the chemical segregation in Earth establish?

Back 50

Three basic divisions of Earth's interior
-core
-mantle
-crust

Front 51

What did the primitive atmosphere evolve from?

Back 51

gases in the Earth's interior

Front 52

What are the Geophysical Divisons of the Earth?

Back 52

-Lithosphere
-Asthenosphere
-Mesophere
-Outer Core
-Inner Core

Front 53

Layers defined by composition...

Back 53

-Crust
-Mantle
-Core

Front 54

Layers defined by physical properties...

Back 54

-Lithosphere
-Astehnosphere
-Mesosphere
-Inner and outer core

Front 55

Have we ever sampled the mantle directly?

Back 55

No

Front 56

Where have we been able toe xamine slivers of the uppermost mantle and overlying oceanic crust?

Back 56

Cyprus, Turkey
Newfoundland
Oman

Front 57

Where can you find an oceanic crust section?

Back 57

Antakya. Turkey

The Syrian Antioch