Science Test Study Sheet

By: Iram Liu and his friends from 603

General Facts About Earth's

The Earth is the 3rd planet from the sun.
The Earth is not a perfect sphere but an Oblate Spheroid or it is slightly
bulging out at the equator.
The Earth formed 4.6 billion years ago
The circumference from the North pole to the south pole is 40,007
kilometers(km).
The circumference around the equator is 40,074 kilometer(km)
The Earth is made up of mostly rock. 71% of it is covered by the global
ocean, a large mass of water consisting of all the Oceans.
The distance between the highest mountain and lowest trench is about 20
km which is fairly small considering the size of the planet.

Layers Of The Earth

The Earth is made up of 3 major layers which are Core, Mantle, and Crust.
The Earth can also be separated into 5 more specific layers which are the
lithosphere, asthenosphere, mesosphere, outer core, and inner core.
The Core is the innermost layer,most dense layer and makes 33% of Earths
mass. It is split into 2 sections, inner and outer.
The Inner Core is solid and the Outer Core is liquid.
The core consists of mostly Iron, with some Nickel,Sulfur, and Oxygen.
The Mantle is the middle layer of Earth, made of extremely hot liquid
magma, which makes up 67% of Earths mass.The mantle is split 2 sections.
Mesosphere is the larger section of the Mantle and contains more liquid than
the Asthenosphere.
The Asthenosphere is found closest to the crust and crustal plates move
along the Asthenosphere.
The crust is the outermost layer of a planet.
The crust of the Earth is composed of a great variety of igneous,
metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks. It is less than 1% of the Earths mass.
The continental crust is mostly made of granite and the oceanic is made
mostly of basalt.
The continental crust is thicker but less dense than the oceanic crust.

Plate Tectonics Theory

Plate tectonics sit on top of the asthenosphere.

 The current continental and oceanic plates include: the Eurasian plate,
Australian-Indian plate, Philippine plate, Pacific plate, Juan de Fuca plate, Nazca
plate, Cocos plate, North American plate, Caribbean plate, South American plate,
African plate, Arabian plate, the Antarctic plate, and the Scotia plate. These plates
consist of smaller sub-plates.
Seafloor spreading is the movement of two oceanic plates away from each
other (at a divergent plate boundary), which results in the formation of new oceanic
crust (from magma that comes from within the Earth's mantle) along a mid-ocean
ridge. Where the oceanic plates are moving away from each other is called a zone
of divergence.
When two plates collide (at a convergent plate boundary), some crust is
destroyed in the impact and the plates become smaller. The results differ,
depending upon what types of plates are involved.
Oceanic Plate and Continental Plate - When a thin, dense oceanic plate
collides with a relatively light, thick continental plate, the oceanic plate is forced
under the continental plate; this phenomenon is called subduction.
Two Oceanic Plates - When two oceanic plates collide, one may be pushed
under the other and magma from the mantle rises, forming volcanoes in the vicinity.
Two Continental Plates - When two continental plates collide, mountain
ranges are created as the colliding crust is compressed and pushed upwards.
3 driving forces are convection currents, slab pull, and ridge push
The 3 types of boundaries are convergent- plates colliding forming
mountains, divergent-plates moving apart and transform or strike slip-plates sliding
past each other.
Scientists use the GPS or Global Positioning System to measure the rate of
tectonic plate movement.
The movement of tectonic plates is based on the density of the layer.

Alfred Wegener and His Theory

In 1915, the German geologist and meteorologist Alfred Wegener (18801930) first proposed the theory of continental drift, which states that parts of the
Earth's crust slowly drift atop a liquid core. The fossil record supports and gives
credence to the theories of continental drift and plate tectonics.
Wegener hypothesized that there was an original, gigantic supercontinent
200 million years ago, which he named Pangaea, meaning "All-earth".
Pangaea was a supercontinent consisting of all of Earth's land masses. It
existed from the Permian through Jurassic periods.

 It began breaking up during the Jurassic period, forming continents

Gondwanaland and Laurasia, separated by the Tethys Sea.
The one ocean is called Panthalassa.
His theory was supported by 5 different evidence: fossils, mountain ranges,
rock types, and glacial grooves.

Magnetic Reversals And Sea-Floor Spreading

Geographic north doesnt change only magnetic north changes.
Magnetic reversals supports the idea of seafloor spreading. Sea-floor
spreading is the process of plate tectonics. New oceanic crust is created as
large slabs of the Earth's crust split apart from each other and magma wells
up to fill the gap. The large slabs of rock that make up the Earths crust are
called tectonic plates. As they slowly move away from each other beneath the
ocean floor, hot magma from the Earths mantle bubbles to the surface.
Scientists discovered that the rock that makes up the ocean floor lies in a
pattern of magnetized stripes.
Sea-floor spreading happens at mid ocean ridges - example mid atlantic
ridge

Folding And Faulting

Deformation of rock involves changes in the shape and/or volume of
these substances. Changes in shape and volume occur when stress and strain
causes rock to buckle and fracture or crumple into folds. A fold can be defined
as a bend in rock that is the response to compressional forces. Folds are most
visible in rocks that contain layering.
Examples of folding: anticline and syncline and monocline

Anticline is the tip

of a hill
Syncline is the
bottom
Monocline is a step
There are 3 types of faults: normal faults-causes the hanging wall to

move down, reverse faults-causes the hanging wall to move up, and strike slip
faults-opposing forces cause rocks to break and move horizontally

Mountains
Tectonic plates are responsible for creating mountains

 There are 2 types of mountains: folded mountains- mountains that are

squeezed together and pushed upward and volcanic mountains- form when
molten rock erupts onto the earths surface

Vocabulary
crust-the thin, outermost layer of the Earth, or the uppermost part of the
lithosphere
mantle-the layer of the earth between the crust and the core
core-the central, spherical part of the Earth below the mantle
lithosphere-the outermost, rigid layer of the Earth that consists of the crust and the
rigid upper part of the mantle
asthenosphere-the soft layer of the mantle on which pieces of the lithosphere move
mesosphere- literally the middle sphere- the strong, lower part of the mantle of the
mantle between the asthenosphere and the outer core
outer core-the liquid layer of the Earths core that lies beneath the mantle and
surrounds the inner core
inner core-the solid, dense center
tectonic plates-a piece of the lithosphere that moves around on top of the
asthenosphere
continental drift-the theory that continental can drift apart from one another and
have done so in the past
sea-floor spreading-the process by which new oceanic lithosphere is created at mid
ocean ridges as older materials are pulled away from the ridge
plate tectonics-the theory that the Earths lithosphere is divided into tectonic plates
that move around on top of the asthenosphere
convergent boundaries-the boundary between two colliding tectonic plates
subduction zone-the region where an oceanic plate sinks down into the asthenosphere
at a convergent boundary, usually between continental and oceanic plates
divergent boundary-the boundary between two tectonic plates that are moving away
from each other
transform boundary-the boundary between two tectonic plates that are sliding past

each other horizontally

stress- the amount of force per unit area that is put on a given material
compression-the type of stress that occurs when an object is squeezed
tension-the type of stress that occurs when forces act to stretch an object
folding-the bending of rock layers due to stress in the Earths crust
fault-a break in the Earths crust along which blocks of the crust slide relative to one
another due to tectonic forces
normal fault-a fault in which the hanging wall moves down relative to the footwall
reverse fault-a fault in which the hanging wall moves up relative to the footwall
strike-slip fault-a fault in which the two fault blocks move past each other
horizontally