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GEO01 CO5
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GEO01 CO5
GEO01 CO5
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1
Question
What is Plate Tectonics?
Answer
Plate Tectonics is the unifying theory that describes the Earth's surface as composed of a few large, thick plates that move slowly and change in size. Plate boundaries involve plates moving away, toward, or past each other through intense geologic activity.
2
Question
What evidence supports the theory of Continental Drift?
Answer
Evidence for Continental Drift includes the puzzle-piece fit of coastlines of Africa and South America, the presence of identical late Paleozoic rocks and fossils in South America, Africa, India, Antarctica, and Australia, and fossil findings such as Glossopteris plant and Mesosaurus reptile fossils.
3
Question
Who proposed the concept of Pangaea and what does it consist of?
Answer
Pangaea was proposed by Alfred Wegener as a supercontinent consisting of Laurasia (northern supercontinent) and Gondwanaland (southern supercontinent) containing continents like North America, Asia (excluding India), South America, Africa, India, Antarctica, and Australia.
4
Question
What is Paleoclimate and Polar Wandering?
Answer
Paleoclimate belts suggest polar wandering as potential evidence for continental drift, where polar wandering is the apparent movement of the poles.
5
Question
What are the three ways to explain the evidence for polar wandering?
Answer
1. The continents remained motionless and the poles actually moved (polar wandering). 2. The poles did not move and the continents moved (continental drift). 3. Both occurred.
6
Question
What skepticism surrounded the theory of Continental Drift?
Answer
Skepticism included the idea that land bridges could explain the distribution of land-dwelling reptiles, winds or ocean currents could explain the distribution of fossil plants, and that polar wandering could be explained by moving poles rather than moving continents.
7
Question
What is Paleomagnetism?
Answer
Paleomagnetism is the study of ancient magnetic fields, which helps determine the direction and distance to the magnetic pole when rocks formed, using properties of the mineral magnetite.
8
Question
What evidence from Paleomagnetism supports continental drift?
Answer
Apparent polar wander curves for different continents suggest real movement relative to one another, and by reconstructing locations to form Pangaea, polar wandering paths are nearly identical, indicating that the continents were once joined together.
9
Question
What does seafloor spreading describe?
Answer
Seafloor spreading describes the concept that the sea floor is moving like a conveyor belt away from the crest of the mid-oceanic ridge until it disappears by plunging beneath a continent or island arc.
10
Question
What is the Driving Force of seafloor spreading as proposed by Harry Hess?
Answer
The Driving Force is Deep Mantle Convection, a circulation pattern driven by the rising of hot mantle rock and/or the sinking of cold material.
11
Question
What are the types of plate boundaries?
Answer
The types of plate boundaries include Divergent boundaries (plates move apart), Convergent boundaries (plates move together), and Transform boundaries (plates slide past one another).
12
Question
How can plate motion be measured?
Answer
Plate motion can be measured using satellites, radar, lasers, and global positioning systems.
13
Question
What is the composition of the Earth's crust?
Answer
The Earth's crust consists of oceanic crust, which has an average thickness of 7 km and is composed of mafic rocks like basalt, and continental crust, which has an average thickness of 30 to 50 km and is composed of felsic rocks like granite.
14
Question
What is isostasy?
Answer
Isostasy is the equilibrium of adjacent blocks of brittle crust floating on the upper mantle.
15
Question
What does the geothermal gradient refer to?
Answer
The geothermal gradient refers to the temperature increase with depth into the Earth.
16
Question
What tools are used to study the Earth's magnetic field?
Answer
Instruments used to measure local magnetic field strength include magnetometers, which can detect metallic ore deposits, igneous rocks, and thick layers of nonmagnetic sediments.
17
Question
What is the significance of the Core-Mantle Boundary?
Answer
The Core-Mantle Boundary is marked by great changes in seismic velocity, density, and temperature, and is crucial for understanding the structure and composition of the Earth's interior.
18
Question
What is the core composed of?
Answer
The core is primarily composed of an Iron-Nickel alloy mixed with small amounts of lighter elements, and has a density of approximately 10-13 grams per cubic centimeter.
19
Question
What is the significance of seismic shadow zones?
Answer
Seismic shadow zones provide primary evidence for the existence and nature of Earth’s core, indicating areas that do not receive seismic waves, suggesting the outer core is liquid.
20
Question
What is a Mantle Plume?
Answer
A Mantle Plume is a narrow column of hot mantle rock that rises through the mantle, which can form a volcanic hotspot at the Earth's surface.
21
Question
What is the lithosphere?
Answer
The lithosphere is the rigid outer layer of the Earth, influenced by pressure and temperature with depth, producing little melt except in the outer core.
22
Question
What is heat flow?
Answer
Heat flow is the gradual loss of heat through Earth's surface. Major heat sources include original heat and radioactive decay.
23
Question
Where is heat flow locally higher?
Answer
Heat flow is locally higher where magma is near the surface.
24
Question
What are geologic structures?
Answer
Geologic structures are dynamically-produced patterns or arrangements of rock or sediment that result from forces within the Earth and give information about those forces.
25
Question
What does structural geology study?
Answer
Structural geology is the study of the shapes, arrangement, and interrelationships of rock units and the forces that cause them.
26
Question
What is stress in geology?
Answer
Stress is defined as force per unit area. Basic types of stress are compressive, tensional, and shear.
27
Question
What is strain in geology?
Answer
Strain is a change in size or shape in response to stress.
28
Question
How do rocks behave when stressed?
Answer
Rocks behave as elastic, ductile, or brittle materials depending on the amount and rate of stress application, type of rock, and temperature and pressure.
29
Question
What is elastic deformation?
Answer
Elastic deformation occurs when deformed materials return to their original shape after stress is removed.
30
Question
What is the elastic limit?
Answer
The elastic limit is the point beyond which the rock will not return to its original shape and is permanently deformed.