What is the circumference of the Earth?
25,000 miles around
How much of our planet is water?
3/4 water
Explain one theory behind the formation of Earth?
Millions of meter collisions
What created most of early Earth's heat?
Radiation from the core
Where are some of the Earth's oldest rocks?
South Africa
What is the name of these rocks? How were they formed?
Pillow lava they form from eruptions of volcanoes under water
Explain one theory behind the making of the water on earth?
Meteorites and comets
Describe the earth 4 billion yrs. ago?
90% of earth was water and was over 200*F with large amounts of air pressure
What color was the ocean? Why?
Green, amount of iron in the water
What color was the sky? Why?
Red, amount of carbon dioxide in the air
Why is granite so special?
Has a very low density, therefore it floated over the ocean crust
What is a stromatolite?
Bacterial algae, produced large amounts of oxygen
Where can they be found today?
Shark Bay, Australia
What happened to the oxygen that was released into the ocean?
It rusted out the iron in the ocean
What happened to the oceans?
The oceans turned blue
What causes mantle material to move convection current?
Convection currents
What was the name of the first super continent?
Rodina
What happened to earth 700 mya? How?
Earth became frozen. Rodina blocked warm water currents from going the south. The southern pole froze. The frozen, white south pole reflected the suns light and earth became cold
What caused this to end?
Volcanic activity released large amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and created a greenhouse effect. The planet got warmer. Volcanoes also released ash that colored the ice black. The black ice absorbed light from the sun instead of reflecting
What happened in the earth's atmosphere that enabled life to develop onto land?
Ozone formed and blocked out a lot of the uv light
Describe the earth 300 mya?
Covered with tropical swamps
Why were these swamps important for humans today?
Coal formed from these swamps
What happened 250 mya?
Volcanoes occurred all around the earth for 1 million years
How much lava was released by these volcanoes?
Plenty of food for each. Luke warm blooded
What happened to 95% of the life on the planet at the time?
The earth went extinct
What does dinosaur mean?
Terrible lizard
Why were the dinosaurs so large?
Plenty of food for each, Luke warm blooded
How were diamonds formed?
Eruption of very explosive volcanoes
What percentage of the Earth's species became extinct 65 mya?
Over 70%
What element did Dan Durda and his father find in the rock layer?
They found iranian
Where does this element originate?
It originates from space rock called meteors
How large was the meteor that struck the Earth 65 mya?
6 miles in diameter
What other event occurred during this period?
Massive global volcanic eruptions
What group of organisms became dominate after dinosaurs went extinct?
Mammals
What is responsible for all of earth's major mountain ranges?
Plate tectonics
How deep is the Grand Canyon? How Long?
1 mile deep, 277 miles long
What caused the "Ice Ages"?
Volcanic eruptions in central America blocked ocean currents from keeping the planet warm
What type of evidence was found in New York City for the existence of an Ice Age?
It contained glacier groves in Central Park
When did the last Ice Age start?
10,000 yrs ago
When might the next Ice Age start?
15,000 from now
Many scientist have hypothesized that life on earth will not be possible in 2 billion years. What will be the major event that causes life on earth to stop?
The core of the Earth will cool down. This will cause the magnetosphere to stop. Earth will be bombarded by solar wind.