Download document

Friday April 6, 2012
FCAT workbook
Page 67 questions 1-4
BR 4.6.12
Processes that shape the Earth
Strand D
Weather
• Due to 4 atmospheric factors
–Heat energy
–Air pressure
–Winds
–Moisture
Fronts
• Cold front – brings violent storms that are
followed by fair, cooler weather
• Warm front – brings rain and showers
followed by warmer, more humid weather
• Occluded front – produce light rain or other
precipitation
• Stationary front – brings many days of almost
continuous precipitation
Theory of Continental Drift
• Earth’s continents were once joined in a
single large landmass (Pangaea) that broke
apart and drifted to their current locations
(and are still moving)
Theory of Plate Tectonics
• Explains the way the continents broke apart;
including rocks, fossils, measurements, and
ocean-floor structures
Lithospheric Plates
• Large portions of the crust that ride on
top across Earth’s surface
• Two kinds of crust
–Continental crust (less dense)
–Oceanic crust (more dense)
Plate Boundaries
• Where the edges of plates meet
• Convergent boundary
–Forms where plates collide
• Divergent boundary
–Forms when two plates move away
from each other
• Transform boundary
–Where two plates slide past each
other
Earthquakes
• A violent shaking of the Earth’s crust
• Movement occurs along faults (large
cracks in the Earth’s crust)
• Seismic waves (earthquake waves)
• Magnitude – strength of an earthquake
measured using a seismograph
• Richter scale – range from 1 to 9
Volcanoes
• Form when material inside Earth reaches the
surface
• Cinder cone volcano – sudden, violent eruption;
formed from ash, cinders and dust; Mount Isalco,
Mexico
• Shield volcano – slow, gentle eruption; formed
from layers of cooled lava; Mauna Loa in Hawaii
• Composite cone volcano – both violent and
gentle eruptions; formed from alternating layers
of ash and lava; Mount St. Helen’s in Washington
Weathering
• Breaks up rock into smaller pieces
• Mechanical weathering – also called physical
weathering; rocks are broken apart by a physical
force (ice wedging, abrasion, plant action)
• Chemical weathering – changes the chemical
makeup of rocks and minerals (oxidation,
dissolving by acids)
Erosion and Deposition
• Erosion – takes away land in one place
and builds land in another
• Deposition – when moving water, ice,
wind, or gravity drops a load of Earth
materials in a new places
• Gravity is the underlying force of
erosion and deposition
Fossils
• Remains or evidence of organisms in layers
of rock
• Petrified fossil – forms when minerals
replace the bone or shell that was trapped,
turning it into rock
• Trace fossil – include footprints, tracks,
trails and burrows made by living things
Relative and Absolute Age
• Relative Age Dating – a way to describe
the age of one object or event
compared to another object or event
(based on comparisions – before, after,
earlier, later, older, younger)
• Absolute Age – describes the actual age
of an object or event
• Time for Strand D: Processes that
shape the Earth
• Monday – Review Earth and Space
• Tuesday – Strand E – Earth and
Space