Erth 101 Final Exam Study Guide.
Basalt - Answer✔✔A dark, dense, igneous rock with a fine texture, found in oceanic crust
Peridotite - Answer✔✔Dense, dark igneous rock that makes up the mantle.
Granite - Answer✔✔A usually light-colored rock that is found in continental crust
atmosphere - Answer✔✔gaseous layer of the earth that consists of 78% N2, 21% O2, and minor
amounts of Ar, CO2, and other gases
Hydrosphere - Answer✔✔water layer of the earth, includes water in the oceans, rivers, lakes,
glaciers
continetal crust - Answer✔✔thick crust (average 45 km) of the earth; an overall, rigid solid:
composed of many types of rocks, but has overall "granitic" or silicic/felsic composition (rock
high in silica, but low in iron and magnesium; a light-colored rock with a low density); the low
density is why it sits higher in the earth than the oceanic cru
oceanic crust - Answer✔✔thin crust (average 5 km) of the earth; an overall rigid solid; mafic or
"basaltic" composition (rock low in silica, but high in iron and magnesium; a dark-colored rock
with a high density); high density is why it rides lower in the earth than continental crust
Mantle - Answer✔✔that portion of the earth beneath the crust and above the core; composed of
peridotite or ultramafic rock (rock low in silica and very high in iron and magnesium, a green to
dark-colored rock, denser than oceanic crust); very thick portion of the earth (2885 km); due to
its thickness and the wide range of pressure and temperature changes over that distance, it has
several physical or phase changes in it;
core - Answer✔✔the deepest portion of the earth is composed of iron and nickel, due to its
thickness (3450 km) and the wide range of pressure and temperature changes over that distance,
it is physically zoned into an upper liquid core and lower solid core
moon rocks - Answer✔✔Rock samples brought back from the moon, including meteorites from
the moon also date to approx. 4.6 billion years old
Anorthosite - Answer✔✔A rock composing the light, rough highland areas of the moon's surface
According to the nebular hypothesis of planet formation - Answer✔✔the Earth and Sun formed
from the same cloud of dust and gas
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Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are larger than the terrestrial planets because -
Answer✔✔They formed in cooler parts of the solar nebula where the most abundant elements
could condense
Evidence in support of continental drift comes from - Answer✔✔The locations of glacial
deposits worldwide
Paleomagnetic studies
The jigsaw puzzle-like fit of the continents
same species of dinosaur bones on different continents
Evidence of seafloor spreading includes - Answer✔✔magnetic reversal recorded in basalts
higher heat flow along the ridge axis
sediment thickness increases away from the ridge
Tectonic plates consist of - Answer✔✔either oceanic or continental lithosphere, or a
combination of both
By comparison to continental lithosphere, oceanic lithosphere is typically - Answer✔✔more
dense and thinner
The following is an example of a geologic feature at a convergent boundary -
Answer✔✔accretionary prism
At subduction zones, the overriding plate - Answer✔✔may be composed of either oceanic or
continental lithosphere
If a tectonic plate were moving east over a fixed hot spot, the youngest volcano in the hot spot
chain would be located - Answer✔✔on the west end of the chain
Tectonic plates move at a speed of about - Answer✔✔1-10 centimeters per year
ocean layers thickness - Answer✔✔~4-5 km
oceanic crust layer thickness - Answer✔✔~7-10 km
old oceanic lithosphere thickness - Answer✔✔~100 km
continental crust thickness - Answer✔✔~35 km
continental lithosphere thickness - Answer✔✔~150 km
not a mineral - Answer✔✔propane
plastic
sugar
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