Processes and Interactions of the Earths Systems

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Unit 4

• Processes and Interactions of the Earths Systems

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Landforms

• Three types of Landforms
• Plains
• Large, relatively flat areas
• Coastal plains near the oceans
• Can be called lowlands
• Characterized by swamps, marshes, and low rolling
  hills
• Examples Atlantic coastal plains Gulf coastal
  plains

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Coastal Plains
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Landforms

• Interior plains middle of the land
• Large center portion of the U.S. is called the
  Great Plains or High plains due to their
  elevation
• covered with grass and few trees

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Plains
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Landforms

• Plateaus
• Relatively flat, raised areas
• Made of nearly horizontal rocks that have been
  uplifted by Earth processes
• Differ from plains because they rise sharply from
  their surroundings
• Example Colorado Plateau has been cut through
  by the Colorado River to form the Grand Canyon

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Plateau
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Colorado Plateau
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Landforms

• Mountains
• tallest mountain Mount Everest 8800m above
  sea level (28,871 feet)
• Four types of mountains
• Folded
• Upwarped
• Fault-block
• Volcanic

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Landforms

• Folded Mountains
• Resemble a rug pushed against a wall
• Earth processes cause the land to be pushed
  together causing it to fold
• Example Appalachian mountains

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Landforms

• Upwarped Mountains
• Earths crust pushed up by forces inside Earth
• Composed of exposed metamorphic and igneous rocks
• Example southern Rocky Mountains

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Landforms

• Fault-Block Mountains
• Huge tilted blocks of rocks that are separated
  from surrounding rock by faults
• fault a large crack in rocks along which
  there is movement
• one block of rock is pushed up while the other
  is pushed down
• characterized by sharp jagged peaks
• Example Sierra Nevada Mountains

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Landforms

• Volcanic Mountains
• Begin when magma reaches the Earths surface
  through a weak area in the crust
• One layer builds on another until a cone is
  formed

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Weathering

• Evidence of weathering
• Sediments provide evidence for weathering
• Natural elements break down rocks
• Can lead to the formation of sedimentary rocks
  and soil
• Weathering is the process that breaks down rocks
  into smaller and smaller fragments
• Two types of weathering
• Mechanical weathering
• Chemical weathering

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Weathering

• Mechanical Weathering
• Breaks apart rocks without changing their
  chemical composition
• Each piece will retain the same composition as
  the original rock
• Causes of mechanical weathering
• Growing plants, expanding ice, growing crystals,
  lightning, and expansion and contraction with the
  freezing and thawing

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Weathering

• Chemical Weathering
• Water, air, and other substance react with the
  rock to change the chemical composition of the
  rock fragments
• Water
• The oxygen and hydrogen in water react with
  chemicals in some rocks to form new compounds

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Weathering

• Acids
• Water can mix with carbon dioxide to form
  carbonic acid
• This is the same acid produced when soft drinks
  are carbonated
• This is a weak acid
• The weak acid breaks down the limestone and
  dissolves it

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Weathering
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Erosion

• Erosion and Deposition
• Erosion the movement of surface materials from
  one location to another
• Major erosional forces
• Gravity
• Glaciers
• Wind
• Water
• All require energy to move materials

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Gravity erosion
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Wind Erosion
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Water Erosion Grand Canyon
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Erosion

• Deposition the dropping of sediments
• Occurs when the erosional force has lost its
  energy
• Final stage of an erosional process
• Erosion and Deposition by Gravity
• Mass movement moves materials down slopes
• Some are slow and some are very fast

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Earthquakes

• Earthquake focus
• Focus the point in Earths interior where the
  energy waves are produced
• Seismic waves
• Seismic wave - the energy waves that move outward
  from the earthquake focus and make the ground
  quake
• Epicenter
• The point on Earths surface directly above the
  earthquake focus

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Using Seismic Waves to Map Earths Interior

• The speed of the waves changes as the depth
  changes
• The speed changes in accordance to the density of
  the layers of Earth

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Using Seismic Waves to Map Earths Interior

• Structure of Earth
• Inner core
• Solid and very dense
• Composed of mostly nickel and iron
• Outer core
• Liquid layer that surrounds the inner core
• Composed of nickel and iron

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Using Seismic Waves to Map Earths Interior

• Mantle
• Largest layer located above the inner core
• Composed of silicon, oxygen, magnesium, and iron
• Crust
• Outermost layer
• Solid and similar in composition to the mantle

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Using Seismic Waves to Map Earths Interior

• Moho Discontinuity
• Boundary between the crust and the mantle
• Seismic waves speed up as they reach this area
• Seismic waves speed up as they reach more dense
  areas and slow down when the reach less dense
  areas
• The more solid the layer the more dense

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Weather

• What is weather and what are the factors that
  affect it?
• Weather
• The present daily atmospheric conditions
• Factors that affect weather
• Air pressure, wind, temperature, and air moisture

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Weather

• Describe what causes lightning and thunder during
  a thunderstorm.
• Lightning
• Occurs when a rapid uplift of air builds up
  electric charges in the clouds and there is flow
  of current between the regions of positive areas
  and negative areas
• Can be cloud-cloud, cloud-ground, or ground-cloud
• Thunder
• The rapid expansion of air due to the rapid
  warming of the air caused by lightning then it
  cools rapidly making a noise

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Weather

• Explain how a tornado forms.
• Wind shear occurs, which is wind at different
  altitudes blow in opposite directions and at
  different speeds
• A strong updraft causes the wind shear to tilt,
  which causes rotation
• If the rotation gets fast enough the funnel will
  reach the ground, which is then a tornado

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Weather

• Describe how a hurricane forms.
• SE trade winds meet with the NE trade winds
  causing a low pressure system to form
• Air masses begin to rotate counterclockwise in
  the northern hemisphere around 5-20 north
  latitude
• Warm air rises and water vapor condenses
• The longer the low pressure system is over warm
  water the stronger the hurricane

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Climate

• Define climate and list what is used to determine
  climate.
• Climate is the weather averages over several
  years in a given area
• Temperature, precipitation, air pressure,
  humidity, and days of sunshine

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Climate

• List and describe the factors that affect
  climate.
• Latitude determines the amount of direct
  sunlight
• Topography mountain windward side receives more
  rain due to the warm air rising and cooling
• Location of lakes and oceans water warms and
  cools slower than land
• Availability of moisture the more moisture in
  the air the wetter the area remains
• Global wind patterns does the wind blow onto
  land or out to sea (onto land wet out to sea
  dry)

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Climate

• Ocean currents warm oceans cause warmer
  climates cooler oceans cause cooler climates
• Location of air masses large cities heat up the
  air more than surrounding areas and cause the
  climate to be different

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Atmosphere

• The atmosphere is divided vertically into four
  layers on the basis of temperature
• Troposphere
• Stratosphere
• Mesosphere
• Thermosphere

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Troposphere

• Layer in which we live, where nearly all weather
  occurs
• Temperature decreases with an increase in
  altitude
• Environmental lapse rate name given to the
  temp. decrease
• (normal lapse rate- 6.5o per kilometer)

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Stratosphere

• The boundary between the stratosphere and
  troposphere is called the tropopause
• Temperatures rise through the stratosphere
• This is due to ozone absorbing UV rays
• Although the ozone is thinner at top of strat.,
  it absorbs enough energy to keep the warmer temp

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Mesosphere

• Stratopause marks the end of the stratosphere
• Temp begins to decrease with height after
  stratopause
• The coldest temps in the atmosphere occur in the
  mesosphere

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Thermosphere

• The mesopause marks the end of the mesosphere and
  the beginning of the thermosphere
• No well-defined upper limit
• Although the temp is hot, it would not feel hot
  because there are very few air molecules

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Ionosphere

• Lower portion of the thermosphere
• Here molecules of nitrogen and oxygen are ionized
• Electrons are then free to travel as electric
  current
• The aurora borealis and aurora australis are
  found here

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Plate Tectonics
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Evidence for Pangaea

• Climate Clues
• Rock Clues
• Glacial Clues
• Fossil Clues

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Fossil Clues
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Seafloor Spreading

• The floor spreads at a divergent
• boundary
• this boundary is also known
• as a rift or mid ocean ridge

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Plate boundaries

• 3 types
• divergent boundaries
• convergent boundaries
• transform fault boundaries

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Divergent Boundary

• Divergent Boundary is where
• 2 plates are moving away
• from each other

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Convergent Boundary

• Convergent Boundary is where 2 plates collide

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Transform fault boundaries

• Plates slide past each other no
  production/destruction of material

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