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What is halite composed of?
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What are the 5 properties of minerals?
- Definite mineral composition
- Inorganic
- Occurs naturally
- Always a solid
- Has crystals
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What is crystal size determined by?
How and where magma cools
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How are small crystals formed?
Magma cools rapidly below the crust
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How are large crystals formed?
Magma cools slowly below the crust
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What is a mineral with no crystals?
Obsidian
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How can a mineral have no crystals?
The magma reaches the earth's surface and cools too quickly
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How is calcite formed?
By evaporating mineral liquids
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What is magma primarily composed of?
Oxygen and silicon
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What does evaporation speed determine?
Crystal size
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What 2 elements make up 75% of the Earth's crust?
- Oxygen (46%)
- Silicon (27%)
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what are the eight most common elements in the earth's crust?
- Oxygen
- Silicon
- Aluminum
- Iron
- Calcium
- Sodium
- Potassium
- Magnesium
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What is a sill?
Magma that pushes its way between layers of sedimentary rock without causing it to arch.
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Dike
Narrow, flat formation of igneous rock formed in cracks of rocks
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Extrusion
- Hardened lava
- May be in sheets
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What is significant about the Columbian plateau?
It is an example of an extrusion
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About ____ of the rocks on earth are sedimentary
75%
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What are each of the three main sediments composed of?
- Mud=clay
- Sand=Quartz, Minerals
- Gravel=Rocks
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Cementation
Pressure on the lower sediments turns them into rock
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Compaction
Pressure on the lower sediments turns them into rock
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How are sedimentary rocks classified?
By texture and composition
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Clastic Rocks
Rocks formed from broken rock pieces
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Conglomerates
Rocks made of rounded pebble pieces cemented by clay, mud, and sand
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Breccia
Sedimentary rocks with sharp fragments
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What is limestone?
A conglomerate formed with sand particles instead of pebbles
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What are sandstones commonly formed from?
Usually quartz, sometimes zircon, garnet, rutile
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Where are sandstones formed?
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Mudrocks
Clastic rocks formed from mud/clay minerals
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What are 2 mudrocks?
- Shale-mica flakes often
- Silstone-smaller grains than sandstone, clay
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What are 3 organic rocks?
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What is peat?
The layer above coal that is only partially coal
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Tell me about limestone.
It is calcium carbonate (calcite.)
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Tell me about chalk.
- It is a very soft type of limestone
- Calcium carbonate
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Tell me about coal
- Millions of years old
- Composed of dead ferns
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Evaporites
Water evaporates and leaves mineral deposits
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What are 2 rocks that are evaporites?
- Rock salt-NY, MI, KS
- Gypsum
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Where are rock salt and gypsum often found?
Between shale and limestone
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What are some limestones formed from?
Ocean water
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How are metamorphic rocks formed?
When other rocks undergo pressure, heat, and chemical reactions
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Contact metamorphism
Rocks heated by direct contact with lava or magma
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Regional metamorphism
- Rocks buried deep beneath the earth's surface are changed by increases in heat and temperature.
- Occurs over large areas
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Foliated Rocks
Mineral crystals are in bands
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Why are some rocks foliated?
Original crystals flatten, minerals of different densities seperate
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List 3 metamorphic rocks and what they came from and their texture.
- Slate-Shale/Fine
- Schist-Slate, Granite, Basalt/Medium Coarse
- Gneiss-Granite/coarse
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List 2 unfoliated rocks
- Quartzite (sandstone/quartz)
- Marble (limestone)
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What are 2 examples of large crystal formations?
- Beryl in Maine
- Quartz in Brazil
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Tell me about the Beryl in Maine
It was 82 m long, 8 m wide
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Tell me about the quartz in Brazil
It was 1000 kg
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What is individual crystal formation?
When the crystal faces are obvious
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What is massive crystal formation?
When the crystal faces grow together
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List the 3 igneous textures
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Tell me about mafic mineral content
- It is denser than continental crust
- Makes oceanic crust
- Darker
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What is mafic mineral rich in?
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Tell me about felsic mineral content?
- Granite-like
- Continental crust material
- Produces quartz and feldspar
- Light colored
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What is felsic mineral rich in?
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What are the cements?
- Silica-Quartz
- Iron Oxides-Hematite
- Calcium Carbonate-Calcite
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Precipates
When minerals fall out of solution due to water's composition, not evaporation
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What else can affect precipitates?
- Microorganisms
- Temperature
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What are 3 precipates?
- Limestone-Calcite
- Rock Salt-Halite
- Gypsum-Dolomite
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Liguite
A type of coal that includes brown coal and soft coal
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Anthracite
Type of coal that includes black coal, hard coal
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What are the 3 types of change matter undergos?
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What is nuclear change?
The atoms nuclei changes
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Fusion
- Fusion combines nuclei
- Process that fuels stars
- Nuclear bombs
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Fission
- Fission splits nuclei
- Commercially used
- Atomic bombs
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What happens during Alpha Decay?
- The parent atomic mass # drops by 2
- The parent mass number drops by 4
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Explain why the mass number does not change in beta decay?
Because the beta particles come from neutrons that turn into protons
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What are beta particles?
Electrons kicked out of neutrons
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What is half life used for?
To date rocks
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What is the half life of uranium?
238
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What is the half life of polunium?
214
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What happens during alpha decay?
2 neutrons and 2 protons are kicked out
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What creates fission tracks?
When the atom splits in half and sprays atomic parts everywhere
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The shorter the half life, the ________ the particle speed
Faster
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What is all land on the earth surrounded by?
Oceans
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What are the 4 major land masses?
- Asia, Europe, Africa
- Americas
- Antarctica
- Australia
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What are the 7 continents?
- Asia
- Africa
- N America
- S America
- Antarctica
- Europe
- Australia/Oceania
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What is a shield?
A very large area of old exposed rock.
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What are the 3 main landscape regions?
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What is relief?
The rate of elevation change
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What classifies something as having high elevation?
At least 600m above surroundings
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What is teh tallest mountain in the world?
Mt Everest, 8 km
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What is the tallest mountain in N America?
Mt McKinley, 6 km
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What is tectonic force?
Folding, faulting
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What are examples of fault block mountains?
The Grand Tetons, an example of normal faulting
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What does tectonic force usually produce?
Groups of mountains
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How are mountains usually produced?
Volcanic activity
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What are 3 examples of volcanic mountains?
- Mt Fuji, Japan
- Mt Kilimanjaro, Africa
- Mt St Helens, USA
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What is a ountain range?
A group of mountains that runs parallel to other groups nearby
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What are 3 examples of mountain ranges?
- Tetons
- Cascades
- Sierra Nevadas
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What is a mountain system?
A group of mountain ranges in one area
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What are 2 mountain systems?
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What is a mountain belt?
A transcontinental group of mountain systems
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What are the 3 main mountain systems on the earth?
- Circum-Pacific
- Eurasian-Melanesian
- Mid-Ocean Ridge
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What are 2 characteristics of plains?
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What are the twon mian types of plains?
- Coastal plains
- interior plains
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Where are coastal plains found?
From Louisiana 1000km to Illinois
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What is the elevation change of coastal plains?
150m
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What were coastal plains covered by?
Ocean water
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Coastal plains are good _________
Farm land
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What is characteristic of most interior plain's elevation?
Can be up to 450m in the US
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What are interior plains formed from?
Hills and mountains
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What do hills and mountains undergo that causes them to become interior plains?
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What are characteristics of plateaus?
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How high of elevation do most plateaus have?
600+m above sea level
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What is the surface of a plateau generally like?
High and dry
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How are plateaus formed?
- Tectonic stress
- Volcanic Activity
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Where is an example of a plateau formed by tectonic stress?
- In Colorado
- The four corners region of CO, AZ, UT, NM
- Colorado River
- Grand Canyon
- Appalachians
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Where are examples of plateaus formed by volcanic activity?
- Columbian plateau
- The states
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Where is the columbian plateau?
WA, OR, ID
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What are some characteristics of the Columbian plateau?
- Has 300+ volcanoes
- Fissures over 150mi long
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What is the Columbian plateau formed from?
- Flood basalt that cooled at 1100 degrees Celsius
- It can be up to 1 mile thick!
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Where are the Appalachian Mountain tectonic uplifts found?
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What are the three main types of stress?
- Compression
- Tension
- Shearing
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What does stress cause?
Rocks to change in shape or volume
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'What are joints?
Fractures along flat parallel surfaces
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How are plateaus formed?
- Tectonic stress
- Volcanic activity
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How large are plateus generally?
Thousands of square km
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What are faults?
Fractures along which rocks move
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What makes a hanging wall? A foot wall?
- Rock above a fault=hanging wall
- Rock below a fault=foot wall
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What is compression stress?
The squeezing of crustal rocks
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What happens in compression stress?
The crust thickens and is pushed higher and deeper
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What happens during tension stress?
- Crustal rocks are pulled
- The crust thins
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What happens during shearing stress?
Crustal rocks shift
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What are the 4 types of faults?
- Normal fault
- Reverse fault
- Lateral fault
- Thrust fault
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What are normal faults due to?
Tension stress
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What do tension stress and normal faults create?
Hanging wall falls
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Where are rift valleys formed from?
Hanging wall falls
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Where are 2 examples of rift valleys?
- Death Valley in California
- Great Rift Valley of Africa
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What kinds of faults and stress do fault block mountains form from?
- Normal faults
- Tension stress
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What is an example of a fault block mountain? (2)
- Sierra Nevadas
- Grand Tetons
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What is a reverse fault due to?
Compression stress
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What happens in a reverse fault with compression stress?
The hanging wall rises
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What kind of fault is a thrust fault?
A special kind of reverse fault, due to compression stress
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How are thrust faults formed?
The hanging wall rises and slides over the foot wall.
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What is a lateral fault?
Land moves horizontally past other land.
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What is an anticline?
An upward fold in rock
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What is a syncline?
A downward fold in rock
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When are rocks more likely to fold than fault?
At a high temperature or pressure
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Brittle rocks are more likely to___
Break
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Ductile rocks are more likely to _____
Bend
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What is important when deciding if a rock folds?
- Rock type
- How force is applied
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What is likely to happen if gradual forces are applied? A sudden force?
- The rock will bend.
- The rock will fault.
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What are earthquakes caused by?
Sudden movements of the Earth's crust
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What is the most common cause of earthquakes?
Faulting
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Where does faulting usually occur?
From the surface to 74km below ground
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How deep and long is the San Andreas fault?
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In a lateral fault, the east side moves _______ and the west side moves ___
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What are some causes for tsunamis?
- Faulting under the ocean
- Volcanic eruption
- Landslide
- Extra terrestrial impact into the ocean
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What is the most common cause for a tsunami?
Faulting under the ocean
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What is an example of when a volcanic eruption caused a tsunami?
Krakatoa
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Where is an example of a possible landslide into the ocean that could cause a tsunami?
- The Hawaiian islands
- The canary islands
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Where is an example of a possible landslide into the ocean that could cause a tsunami?
The US continental shelf on the East Coast
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What are three extraterrestrial things that could make a tsunami?
- Asteroid
- Comet
- Really big UFO
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What is the focus of an earthquake?
The place of origin
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Where are the foci usually?
Underground
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What is the epicenter?
The point on the surface above the focus
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What do earthquakes form?
Seismic waves
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What do seismic waves do?
Transfer energy
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What are the 3 types of seismic waves?
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What are primary (p) waves?
Compressional (longitudinal) waves that are the sound waves of the earthquake
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What is transmission speed of p waves dependent on?
Density
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Which waves travel fastest?
P waves--they travel faster through solids than liquids or gas and are transmitted faster through denser materials
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What kind of waves are P waves?
- Push-pull waves
- Particles are dislocated in a back and forth motion
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What are secondary waves?
Transverse waves that follow the P waves in terms of speed
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What materials do S waves travel through?
Solids only
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What is true of S waves?
- Transmission speeds up with the media's density
- They do not pass straight through the earth
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In what way is material displaced in S waves?
Displaced up and down
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What is the slowest seismic wave?
The L (surface) wave
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Where do L waves originate?
The epicenter
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How are particles displaced with L waves?
- In a circular path that is the same as water
- The surface appears to rise and fall like water
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Which seismic wave causes the most damage?
The L waves
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How much stronger is a 5 earthquake compared to a 2?
1,000 times stronger
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