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Earth Science
Latitude: Parallels, run east to west, equator = 0 degrees. Measured in degrees north or
south of the equator. You can determine your latitude by finding the altitude of polaris.
Longitude: Run North to south, intersect the poles, measured in degrees east or west of
the prime meridian. AM= ante meridian, PM = post meridian.
Great Circle: Shortest distance between two points on the globe is along great circles.
Minerals
Earth's Crust: 8 elements make up 98.5%
Visual Characteristics: Streak, Cleavage, Fracture, Hardness.
Specific Density: Density relative to water.
Rocks
Igneaous: Rock that has been melted and allowed to cool.
Extrusive Rock: If the magma reaches the surface and cools. Cools quickly-> Small
crystals.
Intrusive Rock: Magma does not reach surface. Cools slowly-> large crystals.
Felsic: Aluminum base
Mafic: Iron or Magnesium base.
Sedimentary Rocks: Rocks on the surface of the earth that have been weathered and
eroded.
Usually have similar size grains, layering, fossils. Often form Geodes.
Geode: Rock with cavity filled with quartz or calcite.
Metamorphic: Existing rocks that undergo large amount of pressure or heat. They do not
reach their melting point, but the crystals rearrange. Shale-> slate, Limestone->marble
Foliated: Layered mineral crystals. Non-foliated means no layering
Rock Cycle: Rocks can cycle between all different types.
Weathering: Breakdown from exposure to atmosphere
Physical:
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Frost action: water freezes and cracks rocks
Plant action: plants grow in rocks, cracking them
Exfoliation: peels off top layer of rock
Pressure Unloading: as top layer is removed, pressure decreases causing
expansion
Chemical
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Oxidation: Rusting of Iron
CO2: water dissolves calcite forming carbonic acid.
Acid Rain
Lichens
Soil: Made from weathered rocks and decay of plants/animals.
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Topsoil: top layer, most nutrients
Subsoil:
Partiallly weathered bedrock
Bedrock: solid rock, bottom layer.
Windbreak: Surrounding a field with trees so that soil is not lost from wind.
Rivers
Discharge: Amount of water passing- flux
Velocity of a stream: Flows fastest in the center of the stream, just below the surface.
Life of a stream:
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Youth: Flows steep, straight path.
Mature: Less steep and starts to meander due to erosion
Old age: Not very steep, lots of bends due to erosion
Glaciers
Glaciers: Once covered a third of the earth during the glacial period 10,000 years ago,
now cover 10%. Carved many features such as long island, the finger lakes, the great
lakes.
Valley Glacier: In mountain region, flows down hill into valleys, mostly in north
america.
Continental Glacier: Large area covered by a thick sheet of ice. Found in Greenland and
antarctica.
Formation: Snow piles up, which increases pressure.
Movement: Advancing- moving down hill; Recessing/Retreating- Melting faster than
forming.
Erosion By Glaciers: Causes abrasion between rocks and glaciers and frost action.
Waves
Fetch: length of open water abailable. Frequency of waves depends on fetch.
Tsunamis: Formed from an underwater earthquake. Not a tidal wave, has nothing to do
with tides.
Currents
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Undertow: Water returning from shore 'backwash' can be dangerous.
Longshore Current: Runs parallel to coast.
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Rip Current: Runs perpindicular to coast, usually 50-100 ft wide. Swin parallel
to current to get out of it, not against it.
Erosion by Waves: Abrasion with sea cliffs, caves arches etc.
Deposition: Rate depends on size, shape and density of particles.
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Running water: Sorts particles
Glaciers: does not sort the particles
Wind sorts particles
Landscape:
Relief: Elevation difference between lowest and highest point.
Mountains: have greatest relief.
Plateaus: Moderate relief, rolling hills.
Plains: Least relief.
Water
Water: 97% salt water, only .6% is drinkable.
Water Budget: Precipitation and evaporation of an area.
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Deficit: more evap than precip, usually occurs in august.
Recharge: takes levels back to normal, usually occurs in fall.
Surplus: more precip than evap, usually occurs in springtime.
Inflitration: Precipitation sinks into ground, depends on permeability of ground.
Capillary water: stuck to particles so it can move against gravity.
Earth
Layers
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Lithosphere: top layer, 12 major plates.
Crust: 10-65 km thick
Mantle: 2900km thick
Outer Core: 2250km thick, made of liquid iron and nickel
Inner Core: Made of solid iron and nickel.
Plate Boundaries:
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Diverging: plates moving away from each other
Sliding: Friction between the two plates.
Concerging:
1. Collisions: crumble upward.
2. Subduction: Continental and oceanic plates collide, oceanic goes under.
Hotspots: Weak or thin areas where magma rises up, can form land, such as Hawaii.
Pole Reversals: Earth's magnetic poles can switch places.
Earthquakes
Earthquake Waves: When plates crack, waves are formed. This is seen when breaking a
pencil, and each end wavers.
P-wave: Primary wave, fastest, is a compressional wave and can travel through solids,
liquids or gasses.
S-wave: Secondary wave, slower but does more damage. Is a shear wave, moves
perpindicular to the motion and can only travel through solids.
L-wave: Longitudinal wave, moves the slowest.
Focus: location of the earthquake, underground. Shallow focus = intense damage to
concentrated area.
Epicenter: Location on surface directily above focus.
Richter Scale: logarithmic scale where each number is 32x stronger.
Volcanoes
Active: Erupted in recorded history. About 500 active volcanoes. Most located near plate
boundaries. Correlation between locations of volcanoes and earthquakes is high.
Magma: rises to the surface and melts rock in its path.
Lava: Magma that has reached the surfaces and undergone chemical changes due to the
air.
Rift Eruption: Alond a narrow crack in the crust.
ExplosiveEruption: Occur at convergent, subduction boundaries. Thicker magma and
steep cones.
Hot Springs: Magma heats ground water.
Mountains
Mountains: Can result from plate collisions.
Active continental margin: Area where plates are moving, creating mountains.
Passive continental margin: Region of water where sediments are deposited creating
mountains.
Plate Collisions and mountains:
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Continental-Oceanic: mtn range along coast, often volcanic.
Continental-Continental: Creates folded mtns- himilays, alps. Still Growing.
Direct correlation between plate boundaries and mountain formation.
Fault: Break or crack in rock. Normal- sliding down incline, Reverse- up incline, Stike
slip- Horizontal.
Energy
Transfer
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Radiation: Waves, sunlight
Convection: Transfer by fluids
Conduction: Touching
Advection: Flow of air- applicable in meteorology.
Absorbtion of Energy:
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Color: Black absorbs better
Texture: Rough has more surface area and absorbs better.
Reflectivity: Less shiny is better.
Good absorbors are also good radiators. Bad absorbers make good insulators.
Deposition: When water goes from gas to solid i.e. Snow cloud formation.
Sublimation: going from solid to a gas
Inolation: Incoming solar radiation
Weather
Atmosphere:
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Troposphere: Lowest, known as the weather sphere due to water vapor in the air
Tropophase
Stratosphere
Stratophase
Mesosphere
Mesopause
Thermosphere: Uppermost level
Ionosphere: later where an abundance of ions accumulate due to UV radiation
Specific humidity: How much water is in the air
Relative Humidity: amount of water in air divided by amount of water the air can hold.
Amount of water air can hold doubles with every 11 degree C increase.
Dew point: Temperature at which water vapor condenses to a liquid. If it is less than 0 it
is the frost point.
Clouds
Formation: air cools as it rises away from surface of earth causing vapor to condense.
Cirrus: Highest clouds, made of ice crystals.
Stratus: Layered sheetlike clouds at a lower altitude
Cumulus: puffy
Precipitation: Air must cool down and condensation nuclei(dust, nitrate, sulfate) must be
present.
Wind
Anemometer: Measures wind speed.
Wind: differences in pressure caused by heating and cooling (hot air has lower pressure)
cause air to move
Global Circulation: caused be unequal heating and cooling and the coriolas effect.
Seabreeze: Land heats faster than water
Landbreeze: Land cools faster than water.
Jet Stream: at the top of the troposphere, air is moving 300-500km/hr
0, 60 degrees latitude: low pressure= air rising and rainy.
30, 90 degrees latitude: High pressure = air sinking and drier air.
Air Mass: area of air in the lower part of the troposphere
Front: when 2 air masses meet
Stationary Front: Cold and warm fronts meet and dont combint. Cold air goes south, hot
air goes north, coriolas effect causes then to spin.
Lightning: Water droplets are pulled apart forming = and – ions, charge is stored until it
discharges
Tornado: Cold front meets warm front, measured on the fujita scale
Hurricane: formed when a cluster of thunderstorms over a warm ocean ear begins to
rotate. Measured on the sampson/suffir scale.
Blizzard: less than 20 degrees, winds of 35 mph and snow
Isotherms: lines of = temp
Isobars: Lines of = pressure:
Oceans
Mariannas trench: Deepest point
Salinity: concentration of salts.
Mixed Layer: top layer of water
Thermocline: line between top and deep where a rapid temperature change occurs.
Deep water zone:
Rotation: Water rotates clockwise in northern hemisphere and CCW in southern.
Continental Shelf: shallow region, slopes down until continental slope, steep drop.
Sea mounts: underwater mountains, volcanic origin.
Climate
Factors: latitude, altitude, topography, bodies of water, ocean current.
Temperature decreases with altitude 1degree C ever 160 km
Inversion: Warm air traps cold air in a valley region which leads to poor air quality.
Water has a greater specific heat than all minerals so it heats and cools slowest.
El Nino: prevailing winds push warm water to western side of oceans, when winds stop,
warm water comes back. La Nina is the opposite.
The Universe
Milky Way: spiral galaxy- bands of stars revlove around central point. Has about 200
billion stars
Galaxies: Sprial, elliptical, irregular.
Electromagnetic Spectrum: in order of increasing wavelength: Gamma rays, x-rays, UV
rays, Visible Light, IR, Microwaves, Radio Waves.
Doppler Shifts:
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Blue Shift: blue = 400nm. When source is coming toward you, causes shift
toward blue
Red Shift: Red = 700nm. When souce is moving away.
Astronomical Unit:1.5 x 10^8 km
Apparent Magnitude: Brightness on Earth.
Absolute Magnitude: Brightness from 32.6 lightyears away.
Luminosity: Actual brightness.
Size of stars: White dwarf> Red giant> Super Giant
Nebula: Collection of clouds of gas. A nebula contracts and starts to burn forms a star.
Supernova: A star that has collapsed.
White Dwarf: A star that collapses on itself.
Photosphere: Outer, yellow colored layer.
Chromosphere: Reddish outer layer.
Corona: Outer Edge
Solar Prominences: extend out from corona.
Sun Spots: Cooler areas of sun, still very hot.
Auroras: Charged particles from sun interacts with earths electric and magnetic fields.
Planets
Retrograde Motion: when planet appears to move west because it has a different orbit.
(2 athletes running on track in different lanes.)
Terrestrial planets: Mercury, Venus Earth Mars, have rocky surfaces.
Jovian Planets: Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto. Rocky Core, liquid mantle.
Moon: Rotates about its own axis at the same rate as it orbits around the earth.->
darkside. It's orbit is at a 5 degree angle to the earth's orbit.
Perigee: Closest point to earth of the moon's orbit.
Apogee: Furthest point in the moon's orbit.
Spring Tides: Sun earth and moon in line cause greatest effect.
Neap Tides: When sun earth and moon are perpindicular to each other causing smallest
effect.
Eclipses: Umbra: darkest spot of shadow, Penumbra: Gray area surrounding umbra.
Lunar Eclipse: The moon passes through earths shadow, Partial- in penumbra, total- in
umbra.
Solar Eclipse: Moon passes between sun and earth and lunar shadow reaches earth.
Asteroid Belt: Band of rocks that orbits the sun.
Meteoroid: piece of rock orbiting in the solar system.
Meteor: Meteoroid that has entered the earth's atmosphere.
Meteorites: Meteors that have reached the ground.
Altitude: Angle above the horizon.
Azimuth: Direction you have to face.
Zenith: The point directly above.
The earth rotates CCW and its axis always points in the same direction.
Perihelion: Closest point in the elliptical orbit. For Earth it occurs on January 1st.
Aphelion: Furthest point in elliptical orbit, for Earth it occurs July 1st.
Foucalt Pendulum: Giant pendulum which stays in the same plane when observed from
space but appears to change planes on earth.
Parallax: Apparent position of stars changes as earth moves.
Kepler:
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First Law: Planets move in elliptical orbits with the sun at one of the focal points.
Second Law: Planets sweep constant area/time during elliptical orbit. Speed
increases when it is closer to the sun.
Third Law: P^2=D^3 P=period(Years) D=distance from sun(AU)