BTHS Geography Chapter 2 – Flashcards

Consists of the sun and nine known planets, as well as other celestial bodies that orbit the sun.  The solar system also contains comets, spheres covered with ice and dust that leave trails of vapor as they race through space.

Asteroids - large chunks of rocky material are found in space as well.

The thin layer of rock at the earth's surface.

19 - 37 miles thick

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(ATMOS meaning ;uncut; or ;indivisible)

(Sphere - ball or circle)

Contains the oxygen we breathe, protects the earth from radiation and space debris, and provides the medium for weather and climate.

Approximately 19 miles thick

(Lith = stone)

(Sphere = Circle or ball)

Includes the crust and the uppermost mantle.

Under the ocean, the lithosphere forms the ocean floor

(30 - 90 miles thick)

(Hydro = water)

(Sphere = circle or ball)

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made up of the water elements on earth, which include oceans, seas, rivers, lakes, and water in the atmosphere

(bios "life, way of living")

(sphere - ball or circle)

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the part of the earth where plants and animals live.

Hypothesis that maintained that the earth was once a supercontinent that divided and slowly drifted apart over millions of years.

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(; Greek hupothesis "foundation, base" ; thesis "placing"]

an irregularly shaped rock that orbits the Sun, mostly occurring in a band asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.;Asteroids range in size from the largest, Pallas, with a diameter of 480 km;(300 mi), down to dust particles.

; Greek asteroeidēs "starlike" ; astēr "star"]

Level at which the rock is saturated.;

The water table can rise or fall depending on the amount of precipitation in the region and on the amount of water pumped out of the ground

naturally formed features on the surface of the earth.

See pages 34 and 35 .

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A good quiz question... how many landforms are shown on pages 34 and 35?

Enormous moving pieces of the earth's lithosphere

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See Page 37

The San Andreas Fault, unlike most faults that stay below the ocean, emerges from the Pacific Ocean and traverses hundreds of miles of land. It runs through California for about 600 miles from Point Arena to the Imperial Valley. The fault marks the boundary between the North American and Pacific tectonic plates; earthquakes are caused by these plates sliding together.

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Tectonic plates that move apart, spreading horizontally.; This plate movement can be observed in Iceland.

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Tectonic Plates colliding, causing either one plate to dive under the other or the edges of both plates to crumple.

An example can be founed in South Asia.;

India is crashing into the Asian continent and building up the Himalayas.

Tectonic Plate movement where plates slide past one another.

One of the most famous examples of a transform boundary is in North America - the San Andreas Fault in California.

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The location on the earth where an earthquake begins is called the focus.

The point directly above the focus on the earth's surface is the epicenter.

A giant wave of water caused by an earthquake in the ocean.; Tsunami waves can travel at speeds up to 450 miles per hour producing waves of 50 to 100 feet high.;

Dude... you don't wanna be catching this wave!

Magma that has reached the earth's surface.

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A zone around the rim of the Pacific Ocean, is the location of the vast majority of active volcanoes.

See page 37

Occurs when a rock is changed into a new substance as a result of interaction between elements in the air or water and the minerals in the rock.

Some minerals react to oxygen, such as when iron rusts.

Occurs when weathered material is moved by the action of wind, water, ice, or gravity.

For erosion to occur, a transporting agent, such as water or wind, must be present.