Astronomy

• erosion
• tectonics
• volcanism
• meteor impacts

movement of the surface of the crust (mountain building, earthquakes)

volcanoes and volcanic eruptions (almost every planet and moon)

• one process most important for shaping surface of planets
• craters

evidence of water once flowing and erosion

can wear a surface smooth

counting amount of craters in an area and dividing that number by the area (tells you how old a surface is)

• Callisto- oldest surface in solar system
• Io- youngest and most volcanically active

form 20 times bigger than object that caused crater

• punch bowl/simple crater
• central-peaked crater
• multi-ringed impact basin

• smallest
• usually caused by objects less than 1 mile in diameter

• group of mountains in middle of crater
• created by objects 1-5 miles wide

• largest
• multiple rings spread out from center
• at least 5 mile wide impacter

asteroids we worry about hitting earth

• largest volcano in solar system (on mars)
• shield volcano

• most common in solar system
• least violent eruptions
• large craters in center (caldera) irregularly shaped unlike impact craters

largest volcano on earth

• lava plains (largest volcanic feature)
• flood basalt

• the planet's year
• amount of time to go once around the sun

time it takes planet to rotate once on its axis

time between consecutive sunrises or sunsets

• 3:2
• tidal locking

size

• heat from formation- small = gone
• radioactive material- less = small amounts of heat = no heat now (cold)
• geological activity- dead (geologically)

• heat from formation- lots = some left
• radioactive material- more = some left, large amounts of heat = still hot inside
• geological activity- active (geologically)

initally: CO2 and H2O vapor (terrestrial planets)

• size- mass = gravity
• temperature = average speed

• minimum velocity an object needs to escape a planet's gravity
• earth = 11 km/s or 7 miles/s
• mars = 5 km/s or 3 miles/s
• mercury = 4 km/s or 2.5 miles/s
• moon = 2 km/s or 1 mile/s

• temp = 500 degress celsius (greenhous effects)
• no water in atmosphere

• temp = -60 degrees celsius
• weak gravity
• lost most of atmosphere due to ablation

• stripping away of an atmosphere by impacts
• collisions strip away part of a planet's atmosphere

giant (mile high) cliff on Mercury and the moon (no internal heat)

• coronae
• regio
• maxwell montes (only male name on venus)

• only planet with water
• composition: 36% Fe, 28% O, 14% Si
• silicate crust and mantle
• liquid outer core
• solid inner core

the region of space surrounding a planet where its magnetic field deflects away the solar wind

• aurora borealis (northern lights)
• aurora australis (southern lights)
• solar wind, planet's magnetic field, and planet's atmosphere

• made of granite (light, buoyant)
• relativiely think, but light

• made of basalt (denser/heavier than granite, sinks into earth)
• makes up 2/3 of earth's crust

slide around on earth's surface and collide with each other or bounce off each other and separate

helps push plates around on surface

• the key to the existance of the asthenosphere is water
• plate tectonics would not exist without the asthenosphere
• *therefore, without water, there are no plate tectonics and no life

• 1. plates separate- divergent plate boundary (mid-oceanic ridge/spreading center), sea floor grows and spreads at divergent plate boundary
• 2. colliding plates- convergent plate boundary (subduction zone), sinking plate (subducts), volcanic arc
• 3. plates sideswipe- transform plate boundary

CO2 and H2O to 80% N2 and 20% O2

plants combine CO2 + sunlight + H2O