Download Our Dynamic Earth

Chapter 5
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Landform- a physical feature on Earth’s
surface.
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Abyssal Plain- wide, flat area of the ocean
floor.
Trenches- deepest parts of the ocean floor.
Rift Valley- indentation along tops of
underwater mountains.
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Atmosphere- includes all the gases around
Earth.
Hydrosphere- all of Earth’s water.
Crust- rocky layer of Earth.
Mantle- Earth’s interior below the crust.
Inner Core- deep inside Earth; made of solid
metals.
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Diagrams:
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Geologist- a scientist who examines rocks to
find out about Earth’s history and structure.
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Theory that the continents slowly moved to
the position where they are today.
Rock types- are the same in Eastern South
America and western Africa.
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Faults- deep cracks in the Earth’s crust.
Movement along these cracks can form
mountains.
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Folded mountains:
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The Himalayan Mountains
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Fault-block Mountains:
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The Sierra Nevada Mountains
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Volcano- an opening in Earth’s crust.
Most likely to form at plate boundaries.
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Tend to erupt when one plate is pushed under
another plate.
Rocks in the mantle melt and magma forms
in a chamber.
Pressure in the chamber grows and the
magma is forced upward through cracks.
Magma reaching the Earth’s surface is called
lava.
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Form when thick lava is thrown into the air
and falls as chunks or cinders.
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Hot Spot- a stationary pool of magma below
Earth’s crust. As the plate moves, new islands
are formed.
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Earthquake- sudden movement of the Earth’s
crust.
Waves move like ripples on a pond, making
the surface and anything on it move.
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Earthquakes happen along the boundaries of
tectonic plates.
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Magnitude- a measure of the amount of
energy released by an earthquake.
Richter Scale- measures the magnitude at
the epicenter.
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Mercalli Scale- measures what people felt
and what happened to objects at a specific
location.
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Tsunami- a huge wave, usually occurring
after an underwater earthquake.
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Chemical weathering- acid rain can wear
away at stone and metals.
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Erosion- weathered rock is moved from one
place to another place.
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As water is running faster, it can wash away
soil and rock.
When the water slows, the water will drop the
material in another place.