The Dynamic Earth

1. The Dynamic Earth Review Guide for the Chapter Test and the Final Exam

2. Into what four parts do scientists divide the Earth? • The geosphere, the atmosphere, the hydrosphere and the biosphere • The solid part of the Earth. Most is located in the Earth’s interior. • The geosphere

3. The average radius of the Earth is _______. • 6,372 km • The _________ is the mixture of gases that makes up the air that we breath. • Atmosphere • Nearly all of the atmosphere may be found in the first ____ km above the surface. • 30

4. The _______ makes up all of the water on or near the Earth’s surface. • Hydrosphere • 97% of the water on the Earth is located in the _______. • Oceans. • The _______ is the part of the Earth where life exists. • Biosphere

5. By what method do scientists study the interior of the Earth? • Scientists study seismic waves. • What are the three layers into which scientists divide the earth’s interior? • The crust, mantle, and core • The lightest, thinnest layer of the Earth is the ______. • crust

6. This layer of the Earth is composed of the densest materials. • The core • For 19 years, the Russians drilled a hole to a depth of 12 km on the Kola Peninsula. How old were the oldest rocks that they discovered? • 2.7 billion years old • The Earth’s lithosphere (part of the crust) is divided into pieces called _______________. • Tectonic plates

7. Alfred Wegener developed the theory of continental drift and proposed that all of the continents were once joined to a landmass called _________. • Pangaea • Most of the Earth’s geologic activity at the surface is located at the boundaries between the _______________. • Tectonic plates

8. The forces produced at the boundaries of tectonic plates can cause • Mountains to form, earthquakes to shake the crust, and volcanoes to erupt. • A break in the Earth’s crust along which blocks of the crust slide relative to one another. • A fault • A scale used by scientists to quantify the amount of energy released by an earthquake. • The Richter scale

9. Each increase of magnitude by one whole number indicates a release of how much energy? • 31.7 times • Concentric oceanic waves created by oceanic volcanic eruptions or undersea landslides. • Tsunamis • A mountain built from magma. • A volcano

10. What is the significance of the Ring of Fire? • It is a region that contains 75% of the world’s active volcanoes. • What evidence do scientists have that points to volcanic eruptions as the cause of the Dark Ages? • Tree ring and ice core data point to an eruption of a volcano called Krakatau in Indonesia that sent vapor and ash into the stratosphere causing global cooling. • (agricultural failures and the bubonic plague killed millions during this time)

11. The removal and transport of surface material. • Erosion • What gas makes up most of the atmosphere? • Nitrogen (78%) • What percentage of the atmosphere is oxygen? • 21% • What purpose does the atmosphere serve for the planet? • Keeps the temperature stable. Insulates.

12. Why does air pressure decrease as you go higher up in the atmosphere? • Gravity pulls gas molecules in the atmosphere downward. As a result, there are more gas molecules at the surface than higher up. As you go up there are fewer particles per cubic meter. • Why must airplane cabins be pressurized? • There is a lack of oxygen higher up in the atmosphere.

13. What are the three methods by which the energy from the sun is transferred to the atmosphere? • Conduction, radiation, and convection • The transfer of heat by air currents. • Convection • The transfer of heat across space. • Radiation • The transfer of heat by direct contact. • Conduction

14. Air that is constantly moving upward, downward, or sideways caused by energy from the sun causes Earth’s _________. • Weather • As air rises in the atmosphere it _______. • Cools • The process in which gases trap heat near the Earth is known as the ________________. • Greenhouse effect

15. The continuous movement of water into the air, onto land, and then back to water sources is known as the ____________. • Water cycle • The process by which water is heated by the sun and rises into the atmosphere as vapor. • Evaporation • In this process, water forms droplets on dust particles. • condensation

16. Large droplets of water that collects in clouds and falls down in the form of rain, snow, sleet, or hail. • Precipitation • The deepest point on the Ocean Floor is in the Pacific and is called _____________. • Challenger Deep • Openings in the ocean floor where super-hot, mineral rich waters stream into the ocean. • Hydrothermal vents

17. The concentration of the dissolved salts in the ocean water is called __________. • Salinity • How does the absorption and release of heat by the ocean differ from the absorption and release of heat by land and air? • The world ocean absorbs over half of the solar radiation that reaches the planet’s surface. As a result, the temperature of the atmosphere changes slower than it would if there were no oceans on Earth. The temperature of land changes rapidly in comparison.

18. A network of streams that drains an area of land. • River system • Smaller streams that flow into larger ones. • Tributaries • A rock layer that stores and allows the flow of groundwater. • An aquifer • The surface of the land where water enters an aquifer. • Recharge zone

19. The ozone layer is located in the ____________. • Stratosphere • All of the organisms living together in an area with their physical environment. • Ecosystem • What are the basic components necessary for an ecosystem to survive? • Energy, nutrients, carbon dioxide, water, oxygen, living organisms

20. The living and once living parts of an ecosystem. • Biotic factors • The nonliving parts of an ecosystem. • Abiotic factor • An individual living thing. • An organism • A group of organisms that can mate and produce fertile offspring. • species

21. All of the members of the same species that live in the same place at the same time. • Population • A variety of species that live in the same area and interact with each other. • Community • The place an organism lives. • habitat

22. An English Naturalist who in 1859 observed that organisms in a population differ slightly from each other in form, function, and behavior. • Charles Darwin • Traits passed from parent to offspring. • Hereditary • A concept that explains how some individuals, because of their traits, are more likely to survive and reproduce than other individuals. • Natural Selection

23. A change in the genetic characteristics of a population from one generation to the next. • Evolution • An inherited trait that increases an organisms chance of survival and reproduction in a certain environment. • Adaptation • The selective breeding of organisms by humans for specific characteristics. • Artificial Selection

24. The ability of one or more organisms to tolerate a particular chemical designed to kill it. • Resistance • Energy from the sun enters an ecosystem when a plant uses sunlight to make sugar molecules in a process called _________________. • Photosynthesis • What are the reactants for photosynthesis? • Carbon Dioxide and water

25. What are the products of photosynthesis? • Sugar and Oxygen (you could say carbohydrates in place of sugar) • An organism that makes its own food. • Producer • An organism that gets its energy by eating other organisms. • Consumer

26. A consumer that gets its food by breaking down dead organisms. • Decomposer • The chemical process by which animals break down food to obtain energy. • Cellular Respiration • Silent Spring was a book written to educate the population about the potential overuse of chemical pesticides like ______. • DDT

27. A sequence in which energy is transferred from organism to the next as each organism eats another organism. • Food chain • A graphic organizer that shows the many feeding relationships that are possible in an ecosystem. • Food web • Each step through which energy is transferred in a food chain. • Trophic level

28. __________ form the base of an energy pyramid. • Producers • When we burn fossil fuels, ________ is released into the atmosphere. • Carbon • A gradual process of change in an ecosystem. • Succession • The first species to colonize any newly available area. • Pioneer species

29. What converts nitrogen in the air into a form plants can use? • Bacteria