GEOL 101 TAMU Exam 1 questions with correct answers

age of earth CORRECT ANSWER our understanding of radioactivity helps us accurately determine numerical dates for rocks that represent important events in earth's past. Earth is about 4.6 billion years old. Asthenosphere CORRECT ANSWER "weak sphere" 400km deep, small amount of melting, mechanically detached from lithosphere, which can move independently craton CORRECT ANSWER interior of a continent, oldest part density CORRECT ANSWER defined as mass per unit of volume, determines how plates react at subduction zones. differentiation CORRECT ANSWER all of the processes by which earth came to its present interior structure earth's spheres CORRECT ANSWER hydrosphere, atmosphere, geosphere, biosphere geologic hazard CORRECT ANSWER natural processes that become hazards only when people try to live where these processes occur hypothesis CORRECT ANSWER tentative or untested explanation for how or why things happen in the manner observed