8th Grade Earth Science Study Guide
1.
Where’s is most of Earth’s water located?
2.
What are meteorologists?
3. What are air masses? Fronts?
4.
What are droughts?
5.
What are tornados?
6.
Where do climate conditions cause hurricanes to become larger and more powerful?
7.
Which contributes to the formation of hurricanes during the late summer?
8. What would happen if fertilizer would runoff into a lake? What would happen to the water?
9. Where does water vapor come from in the atmosphere?
10. ¾ of Earth’s surface is covered by water. Which of these describes nearly 97% of the water on
Earth’s surface?
11. Where is most of Earth’s freshwater?
12. Which technology best monitors temperature changes in Earth’s ocean?
13. Humans throughout the world compete with other organisms for water resources. Why would
restricting irrigation be a good way to manage water resources and allow all components of the
environment to share them?
14. Why is industrial factors a major source of air pollution created by humans?
15. What is an earthquake? What piece of technology is used to measure earthquakes?
16. Why would an uplifted mountain be a feature most likely formed at converging continental
tectonic plate boundaries?
17. Why would a volcanic island arc be a landform most likely created when two oceanic plates
converge?
18. What evidence do we have that the Earth’s continents were once in vastly different positions
than they are today?
19. Why is sea-floor spreading evidence of plate tectonics?
20. What does the Richter scale measure in regards to earthquake characteristics ( intensity,
magnitude, frequency, or probability)?
21. What causes the movement of Earth’s tectonic plates (think about the layers of the Earth)?
22. What is the convection current? Where does it occur?
23. Earthquake waves are recorded by seismograph machines. What does an earthquake wave
transmit?
24. Two plates composed of rock and similar density meet along a convergent boundary. What will
happen where the two plates meet?
25. What happens at the mid-ocean ridge?
26. Why do earthquakes tell scientists about the history of the planet?
27. What are Earth’s five spheres?
28. What is included in the atmosphere? Biosphere? Geosphere? Hydrosphere? Cryosphere?
29. Which scale is used to determine the strength of a tornado?
30. Which two elements primarily make up the atmosphere?
31. What happens to the Earth’s pressure and temperature as you move from the crust to the core?
32. What is Pangea?
33. What is subduction?
34. Why do earthquakes occur more frequently in California than Kentucky?
35. How do natural disasters interact with Earth’s spheres?