What are the differences between the disciplines of physical and historical geology?
historical is the study of rocks, strata, fossils, geologic events utilizing the geologic time scale as a reference, and physical is the study of how rocks form and how erosion shapes land surface
Who was the highly influential, ancient greek philosopher noted for his writings and teachings on natural philosophy and on the workings of Earth?
aristotle
Compared to the Age of Earth accepted as correct today, how did 17th and 18th century proponents of catastrophism envision the Earth's age?
they believed Earth to be much younger than current estimates
Which observation and inference is consistent with the idea of uniformitarianism?
sand rolling along a stream bottom shows that sediment is moving downstream
Who was an important 18th century English geologist and proponent of uniformitarianism?
james hutton
The currently accepted age of Earth is how old?
4.6 billion
What best describes the fundamental concept of superposition?
any sedimentary deposit accumulates an older rock or sediment layers
The ___ division of the geologic time scale is an era of the Phanerozoic eon.
Paleozoic
The ___ forms the relatively cool, brittle plates of plate tectonics.
lithosphere
A ___ is a well tested and widely accepted view that best explains certain scientific observations.
Theory
All of the following are possible steps of scientific investigation except for
assumption of conclusions without prior experimentation or observation
___ rocks form by crystallization and consolidation of molten magma
igneous
___ rocks always originate at the surface of the solid earth
sedimentary
During the late 19th...Swtiz...Sci way?
the melting rate of ice in glacier exceeded the rate at which new snow and ice were added
In correct order from the center outward, Earth includes which units?
inner core, outer core, mantle, crust
The ___ refers to the sum total of all life on Earth.
biosphere
A ___ system is on in which energy moves freely in and out, but no matter enters or leaves the system.
closed
___ is often paraphrased as "the present is key to the past".
uniformitarianism
___ a popular natural philosophy of the 17th and 18th centuries, was based on a firm belief in a very short geologic history for Earth
catastrophism
The ___ proposes that the bodies of our solar system formed at essentially the same time from a rotating cloud of gases and dust
astrosphere
___ is the process by which rocks break down in place to produce soils and sediments.
weathering
Which of the following statements is not correct?
metamorphic rocks may melt to magma
The comp of the core of Earth is thought to be made of
solid iron-nickel alloy
The asthenosphere is actually part of the ___ of the Earth.
mantle
The ___ is thought to be a liquid, metallic region in the Earth's interior
outercore
The ___ is the thinnest layer of the Earth
crust
All of the following provide evidence or clues to the composition of Earth's interior except for ___
comets
The relatively stable interior portion of a continent is known as a ___.
craton
Active mountain belts are most likely to be found___.
along the margins of continents
The continental shelf is located___.
landward of the continental slope
The most prominent feature on the ocean floor are the ___.
ocean ridges
In sedimentary rocks, lithification includes___.
compaction and cementation