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WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW FOR THE EARTH SCIENCE TEST

THE LITHOSPHERE

1. THE ROCK CYCLE--- Rock starts out as IGNEOUS ROCK—

lava and magma that cools down. At this point it can be
changed into METAMORPHIC ROCK, by heat and pressure.
Or, it can be weathered into smaller pieces by physical and
chemical weathering, then deposited and fused back into
rock by pressure into SEDIMENTARY ROCKS. Eventually all
rocks will melt back into magma and start over. A rock does
not have to go through every stage, so the cycle is more like
a web, with many different pathways

2. PLATE MOVEMENT- The lithosphere plates (Large areas

of the earth's crust) move by different ways—gravity can pull them, convection currents in the mantle magma in
the mantle, etc)

3. PLATE BOUNDARIES- Where plates meet.

A. DIVERGENT- plates pull apart and new magma comes up to form new
plate- Seafloor spreading, mid ocean ridges.

B. CONVERGENT BOUNDARIES- two plates come together. If they are

both continental plates they form mountains as they crumble up. If one
or both are oceanic crust, it will be driven down into the mantle and form
an ocean trench.

C. TRANSVERSE BOUNDARIES- two plates moving side to side—produces earthquakes

4. MAGMA AND LAVA—Magma is melted rock beneath the earth. Lava is melted rock on the earth's surface.

5. VOLCANOES- found where plates pull apart (divergent) or at convergent plates where heavy ocean crust gets
pushed under other crust

6. EARTHQUAKES- When large areas of the earth's lithosphere move, sending energy
in all directions. The FOCUS is where the earthquake actually occurs deep in the
earth. The EPICENTER is the place on the surface above the focus. It takes 3
seismographs to locate the actual epicenter of an earthquake, using S and P waves to
see how far away from the seismograph the earthquake was. Earthquakes can
happen at all boundaries except divergent ones but the worst come from transform
boundaries.

7- CHEMICAL VS PHYSICAL WEATHERING- Chemical weathering is when chemicals changes one substance into
another—acid eating away at limestone, for example. Physical weathering is simply breaking rocks into smaller
pieces. How much this happens can be due to things like climate (more rain means more weathering),
topography (rocks at the top of a mountain will be broken by gravity),
and rock composition (Some rocks are tougher than others).

8- FAULTS- You will likely find volcanoes at DIVERGENT BOUNDARIES

where the crust is pulled apart of CONVERGENT BOUNDARIES, where
crust is subducted under ground,

9- SOIL- Soil is the

result of weathering of
rocks and includes
weathered particles:
sand, silt and clay. You
can use the triangle soil graph to calculate what kind of soil you
have if you know the amounts of each of the 3.

10- EROSION- Water can move rock and soil and break rocks by
ice wedging—water gets in cracks, freezes, and expands, breaking
the rock. Wind can move soil and wear down rock by blasting it
with sand. Large blocks of ice (Glaciers) can move and deform
rock. Gravity can cause rocks to fall.

11- GEOHAZARDS- any of these natural forces can lead to loss of life. We can avoid sinkholes and groundwater
pollution by not draining out too much groundwater. Tsunami warnings can alert people early before disaster
strikes. Flooding can be limited by wise land management and not overdeveloping flood plains.

12- SHORELINE EROSION- ocean currents will wear away the shoreline. This is a natural process. Human try to
stop it by building barriers and replacing sand but these are only temporary solutions and could make things
worse.

13- MOUNTAIN STABALIZATION- to avoid rockslides we may try to put nets and other stabilization tools on rock
walls and cliffs.

14- OBTAINING ENERGY RESOURCES- A- Harvesting peat moss and wood—renewable

B- Mining coal and oil- Nonrenewable, can ruin land that is dug up
C- Drilling- destroys less land but spills can pollute land and water

15- WATER IS AN ENERGY AGENT- Water can spread heat around the world. Warm water can spread heat from
the equator to the poles by currents. Water also keeps places from getting too hot by absorbing the heat during
the day and releasing it at night.

16- WATER DENSITY- Hot water is LESS DENSE than cold water—so hot water rises. This is one reason the
currents form in the ocean.

17- WATER HAS A HIGH SPECIFC HEAT- That means it takes a lot f heat to get it hot and it can absorb a lot of
energy. If you live on the coast the winters and summers are milder than inland because the water absorbs heat
in the summer and releases it in winter.
 18- GROUND WATER- This is surface water that has been pulled by gravity underground to the aquifer.

19- THE WATER CYCLE see illustration

20- AQUIFERS are areas underground that hold

groundwater. Well water comes from aquifers. If
you take out too much it can go dry. If there is too
much groundwater no more can be added and
surface water will cause floods.

Polluted surface water can infiltrate the

groundwater

21- WATER USES- drinking, cooking, industry, cleaning, fishing, swimming, agriculture.

22- AQUIFER DEPLETION—Take out too much groundwater near the ocean and salt water will come in to take its
place—this is SALT WATER INTRUSION.

23- WATERSHED- the area of land that will feed a river is the watershed. So any pollution on the watershed land
will end up polluting the river

24- POTABLE WATER is water that can be safely used by human for drinking. By treating wastewater we can
safely make it potable again. The growing human population is reducing the amount of available potable water

25- A BIOTIC INDEX tells us how healthy a stream is because many animals can only live in clean water. Other
measures of health would include how many chemicals are in the water and how much oxygen.

26- NONPOINT POLLUTION is pollution that has MANY sources. It is hard to fix for this reason. It includes
sedimentation, storm water runoff, naturally and human induced occurrences
of arsenic in groundwater.

ATMOSPHERE

27- LAYERS OF THE ATMOSPHERE- From lowest to highest—TROPOSPHERE

(has weather). STRATOSPHERE (has ozone), MESOSPHERE, THERMOSPHERE

28-HIGH PRESSURE SYSTEMS move toward LOW PRESSURE SYSTEMS

29- HOT AIR IS LESS DENSE and will RISE (low pressure)

30- ACID RAIN is formed when certain gasses—sulfur dioxide (SO2)

and nitrogen oxides (NO) -- interact with rain, lowering the pH to
below 7. This has a bad effect on soil and water, killing fish and
plant life. Caused by burning fossil fuels.
31- CHLOROFLUOROCARBONS, (CFCs) from aerosol spray cans, can damage the ozone layer, allowing UV
radiation to get through.

Switching to non-burning energy sources (solar, wind) can reduce our effect on the atmosphere

32- CLIMATE- Average temperature and rainfall over time (many years). WEATHER is just what is happening that
day or week

33- TYPES OF CLIMATE- TEMPERATE (has seasons) TROPICAL- (warm), POLAR- (cold)

34- NATURAL EFFECTS ON CLIMATE- The earth has changed many times due to volcanoes, shifts in the Earth's
orbit, sunspots and El Nino/Nina. We have no control over that.

35- MAN-MADE EFFECTS ON CLIMATE- CO2 is a greenhouse gas that can warm the climate and is produced by
cars and factories. It is the one thing we CAN control. There are other greenhouse gasses but CO2 is the easiest
one for us to reduce by using alternative
fuels

36- WHY ARE CO2 LEVELS INCREASING—We

are cutting down trees (deforestation) and
producing more CO2 by burning fossil fuels.

37- HEAT ISLANDS- Building cities results in

areas of increased heat that can contribute
to global temperature increases.

38- EFFECTS OF GLOBAL WARMING ON THE

BIOSPHERE- if the climate temperature
increases we can expect changes in the
weather, ocean levels rising, the ocean becoming more acidic, unbalanced ecosystems and decreases in
biodiversity

39- OCEAN ACIDIFICATION- as the ocean absorbs CO2 it will lower the pH, becoming acidic. This would cause
damage to coral reefs and affect fish life. Warmer water will become more acidic so this is another bad effect of
climate change.

40- SEA LEVELS- as the earth warms, ice caps melt and the ocean rises. This could have severe effects on
coastlines. During ice ages, a lot of ocean water is trapped as ice so sea levels drop. During warming times, the
ice melts so sea levels rise. A rising sea level will cause shorelines to go inland and possibly cause barrier islands
to go beneath the sea.

41- BIOTIC FACTORS- the living things that affect an ecosystem-

the types of plants that grow will determine what animals can live
there. ABIOTIC FACTORS- Nonliving but important- how much
rain, average temperature, how far from the equator you are.
These will determine what plants can grow there.

42- Changing any of the important biotic or abiotic factors in an

ecosystem will probably decrease the biodiversity.
43- the BIOSPHERE is the prat of the earth that contains life—All of the ocens, the first 100 feet or so of earth and
the atmosphere up a few miles.?

44- BIODIVERSITY is the number of DIFFERENT KINDS OF LIVING THINGS in an ecosystem. A desert is more
biodiverse than New York city even if there are more living creatures in New York City because there are not
many KINDS of living things in a city.

45- What happens to ecosystems when they lose biodiversity? – They tend to collapse. Each living thing plays a
role in the ecosystem and losing one may kill off others.

46- LOSS OF HABITAT is the number 1 reason most animals become extinct.

47- INVASIVE NONNATIVE SPECIES (plant or animal) – living things form one ecosystem brought to another one.
Without natural enemies they often grow out of control and may cause the natural populations to decrease.

48- What is an example of an invasive nonnative species?—Fire ants, kudzu, starlings

49- What Alternative Energy source might work best at the coastline?-- Wind, tidal energy

50- Which alternative energy source might work best on the mountain tops?- Wind

51- What are some ways that we could make agriculture more SUSTAINABLE? Why is sustainability something we
want?- Sustainability means that we can continue to use a resource, as opposed to just using it up. We can plant
crops in a way that keeps the soil fertile. That way we will not run out of useable farmland.

52- CARRYING CAPACITY. - The maximum population that can be supported. If the population grows beyond
this number, the death rate will increase and many will die off until it is
below carrying capacity

53- What are some limiting factors to human population growth?-- Food
supply, disease, clean water

54- As the population grows what will happen to available natural

resources in North Carolina?- They will likely decrease as more and
more people compete for limited resources.

56- How does recycling reduce your ecological footprint?- Since you are reusing metals and paper there is less
need to mine or cut down trees.

ASTRONOMY

57- TH E EARTH'S MOTION IN SPACE- The Earth rotates around the sun. The solar system started as a gas
NEBULA. Most of the gas went to the center, becoming the sun. The rest orbited around the sun, becoming the
planets.

58- From Smallest to largest--- PLANETSOLAR SYTEMGALAXYUNIVERSE

59- Every star is a sun, most with their own solar systems

60- KEPLER'S LAWS—The planets orbit the sun in ELLIPSES. The planets move fastest when they are closer to
the sun. Far away planets take longer to orbit the sun than those close to the sun
61- The solar system and the galaxies are all moving, expanding away from each other as the universe expands

62- The 365 days it takes to orbit the sun = 1 year. The 24 it takes for the earth to rotate on its axis is 1 day.

63- The Earth has a 23 degree tilt. This is what causes the
SEASONS. Summer for NC is when the sun is facing North of
the equator and winter is when south of the equator is
getting more sun.

64- PRECESSION—change in direction of the axis, but without

any change in tilt—this changes the stars near (or not near)
the Pole, but does not affect the seasons (as long as the angle
of 23.5 degrees stays the same)

65- NUTATION—wobbling around the axis (This is a change in the angle—½ degree one way or the other. This
occurs over an 18 year period and is due to the Moon exclusively. This would very slightly increase or decrease
the amount of seasonal effects.)

66- BARYCENTER—the point between two objects where

they balance each other (For example, it is the center of
mass where two or more celestial bodies orbit each other.
When a moon orbits a planet, or a planet orbits a star, both
bodies are actually orbiting around a point that lies outside
the center of the primary (the larger body). For example,
the moon does not orbit the exact center of the Earth, but a
point on a line between the Earth and the Moon
approximately 1,710 km below the surface of the Earth,
where their respective masses balance. This is the point about which the Earth and Moon orbit as they travel
around the Sun.

67- the Sun is not stationary in our solar system. It actually moves as the planets tug on it, causing it to orbit the
solar system's barycenter. The Sun never strays too far from the
solar system barycenter.

68- TIDES- tides are caused by the gravity pull of the moon and
sun. Because the moon is closest, it has the most effect. When the
moon and sun are lined up we have the SPRING TIDES, which are
the strongest tides

69- SHAPE OF THE EARTH- the Earth has a slight bulge in the
middle due to the effect of the spin • Develop a cause and effect
model for the shape of the Earth
explaining why the circumference
around the equator is larger than that
around the poles.
70- NUCLEAR FUSION is the process the sun uses to produce energy. Small atoms are fused into larger ones
71- NUCEAR FISSION is the
exact opposite—large
atoms are split to produce
energy

72- THE SUN'S ENERGY is

transferred to the Earth by
RADIATION. Radiation
allows energy to go
through empty space at the speed of light.

73- ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVES are the forms of energy that the sun produces from fusion. They include radio
waves, visible light, UV light, X-Rays and Gamma Rays.

74- Some of these dangerous rays like gamma rays, X-Rays and Cosmic rays are filtered out of the atmosphere by
the ozone layer and the Magnetic Field.

75- The tilt of the earth controls how much solar energy the surface gets.

76- Because some parts get more energy than others, this creates effects such as weather, winds and currents

77- Water areas can absorb and release heat better than land areas, affecting climate

78. solar energy is transformed into chemical energy through photosynthesis.