Study Guide ~~ Science!

Plate Tectonics
o Earths Interior
Lithosphere
Mantle
Inner Core
Outer Core

To learn about Interior: geologists use direct evidence from rock

samples and indirect evidence from seismic waves.
Pressure inside Earth increases as you go deeper.
Mantle: layer of hot rock
The core is made our of nickel and iron
Outer core= melted, but inner core is hotter but cannot melt
because the pressure stops it from melting
Convection currents cause the tectonic plates to move

Convection and the Mantle

Convection: heat transfer by the movement of currents within a
fluid
Convection currents continue as long as heat is added.
Without heat, convection currents eventually stop.

Drifting Continents
Supercontinent: Pangaea All Lands
Evidence from Land features & fossils & Climate
Hypothesis made by Alfred Wegner
Sea-floor-spreading
Continually adds new material to the ocean floor.
Sea floor spreads apart along both sides of a mid-ocean ridge as
new crust is added
Divergent Boundaries
Evidence from molten material, magnetic stripes, drilling
samples
Ocean floor spreads the continents along its edges move
As Subduction occurs, crust closer to a mid-ocean ridge and
moves away from the ridge and toward a deep ocean trench
The theory of Plate Tectonics
Movement of convection currents in the mantle is the major
force of plate motion.

As plates move, they collide, pull apart, or grind past each other.
(changes include volcanoes, mountain ranges, and deep ocean
trenches)
Convergent boundary: when two plates collide, the density of
the plates determines which one comes out on top.
Divergent boundary: Sea floor spreading and two plates move
apart.

Earthquakes
o Forces in Earths Crust
o Earthquakes & Seismic Waves
P waves: compress and expand: fastest
S waves: seismic waves that vibrate: slowest.
Surface Waves: Combination: most damaging, slower than P and
S
o How to measure earthquakes
Mercalli Scale
The Richter Scale
The moment magnitude Scale
Focus- where waves start & epicenter: point in the earths
surface right above the focus.

Rocks
o Classifying Rocks
Composition, color and texture
o Igneous Rocks
Igneous Rocks: Forms from the cooling of magma or lava
Extrusive rock- igneous rock formed from lava that erupted onto
Earths surface
Basalt: Most common extrusive rock
Intrusive Rock: igneous rock formed when magma hardened
beneath the Earths surface
Heat and Pressure
o

Sedimentary
Forms when particles of other rocks or the remains of plants and
animals are pressed and cemented together.
Weathering and Erosion and Deposition how sedimentary
rocks form
Weathering: breaking rocks down
Erosion: moving from A to B by wind or water
Deposition- You set them down, process by which sediment
settles out of the water/wind carrying it.

Integrating Life Science: Rocks from Reefs

Coral Reefs

Limestone from Coral Reefs

Organic Limestone deposits that began as coral reefs provide
evidence of how plate motions have changed Earths Surface
Metamorphic Rocks
Metamorphic forms from other rocks that are changed by heat
and pressure.
Heat + Pressure deep beneath Earths surface can change any
rock into metamorphic rock.
Metamorphic can form out of igneous, sedimentary, or other
metamorphic
Foliated Rocks Metamorphic Rocks that have their grains
arranged in a parallel layers or bands are said to be foliated.
Describes most of the thin flat layering found in most
metamorphic rocks, like slate, schist, and gneiss.
None foliated Rocks The mineral grains are arranged randomly.
Dont split in layers
Marble & Quartzite = two examples
Quartzite forms out of sandstone.

The rock cycle

Weathering and
erosion

Lava

Igneou

Magma
Meltin

Melting

Weather and
Heat and
pressure

Meltin

Metamorph
ic

Sedimenta
ry
Heat and
Pressure