Major Concepts in The Dynamic Earth Unit:
What forces cause Earth's lithospheric plates to move?
- What are the observations that lead scientists to believe that the Earth's
surface is comprised of plates that are moving relative to each other?
- How does the age, thickness, composition, and density of continental crust compare to
oceanic crust?
- What evidence supports the idea of sea-floor spreading?
- What does the Hawaiian Island chain tell us about the rate of motion of
the Pacific Plate?
- How can convection in the upper mantle (asthenosphere) help explain the
motion of the lithospheric plates?
- What types of geologic activity occur as a result of the movement of
plates?
- EARTH SCIENCE REFERENCE TABLES - Page 10
How does the movement of Earth's crustal plates affect the development of
surface landforms?
- What are the characteristic landforms that are common in areas where
crustal plates are diverging?
- What are the characteristic landforms that are common in areas where
crustal plates are converging?
- How are the motions of plates linked to the formation of sedimentary,
metamorphic, and igneous rocks?
- What do the locations, ages of mountain ranges tells us about current or
past crustal movement?
- What is the connection between volcanic and seismic activity?
- EARTH SCIENCE REFERENCE TABLES - Page 5
How does the energy that is released during an earthquake move through the
Earth?
- What are the energy waves associated with an earthquake?
- How does the speed of P-waves compare to other waves?
- How can seismic wave arrival time be used to determine the origin time and
distance to an earthquake epicenter?
- How many seismic recording stations are needed to locate an earthquake
epicenter?
- What type of earthquake waves cannot travel through fluids?
- What can we infer about the interior of Earth by observing "shadow
zones" opposite earthquake epicenters?
- What happens to the temperature, pressure and density as depth below the
surface increases?
- How have scientists inferred the structure of Earth's interior?
- What is the composition of Earth's core?
- How should communities prepare for the possibility of tectonic activity?
- EARTH SCIENCE REFERENCE TABLES - Page 11
Dynamic Earth Practice Questions:
Click
here for a
practice test with answers!
Dynamic Earth Vocabulary:
Earthquake
Fault
Tectonic Plates
Volcano
Subduction
Mid-ocean Ridge
Convergent
Divergent
Epicenter
Earthquake Focus
Richter Scale
Ring of Fire
Primary (compressional) waves
Secondary (transverse) waves
Triangulation
Seismograph
Dynamic Earth Video Links:
Bill Nye: Earthquakes
Dynamic Earth Links:
Recent
Earthquake Activity from USGS
University at Buffalo Earthquake
Engineering Website
Public Seismic Network
Volcano World (sponsored by NASA)
Great feature here is the "Ask a Volcanologist" section!
Current Volcanic
Eruption Data
This Dynamic
Earth, a USGS publication that is a very nice introduction to plate tectonics!
A great earthquake and volcano plotting program (Seismic/Eruption)
The
Global Vulcanism
Program shows current activity reports, data files, and geologic information for all
volcanoes active during the Holocene Epoch (last 10,000 years).
click to play Bill Nye: Earthquakes : VS1318
|
