Unit study guide: Refer to previous snow days power point for help with this one
This will serve as a study guide and as additional support for following up EOG prep tests.
Read through the following then answer the questions at the end. This is comprehensive and will cover
the material from January until today.
Exploring Earth’s Surface:
Earth’s topography is made up of landforms that have elevations and relief.
Three common types of landforms are plains, mountains and plateaus.
The atmosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere surround Earth’s rocky outer layer, the lithosphere.
Key Words:
Topography
plain lithosphere
elevation
mountain
atmosphere
relief
mountain range
hydrosphere landform
plateau
biosphere
landform region
Model of Earth:
Maps and globes are drawn to scale and use symbols to show features on Earth’s surface as seen from
above.
The grid of latitude and longitude lines can be used to locate points on Earth’s surface.
Map projections enable map keepers to show Earth’s curved surface on flat map.
Key Words:
Map
key
degree globe equator
latitude scale
symbols
prime meridian map projection.
hemisphere
longitude
Maps in the computer Age
Instruments carried aboard satellites in orbit around earth make pictures of the surface called satellite
images.
Satellite images contain information about Earth’s surface in a form that can be stored on computers as
a series of 0’s and 1’s.
Computers are used to store and display the information use in making maps.
Key words
Satellite
image digitizing
pixel
Topographic Maps:
Topographic maps portray the elevation, relief, and slope of the landforms in an area.
Contour lines are the symbols used on a topographic map to show elevation and relief.
The contour interval of a topographic map is the amount that elevation increases between contour
lines’.
In addition to showing elevation and relief, topographic maps use symbols to show a wide variety of
other natural and human made features.
The global positioning system is a network of satellites and ground-based units that can be used to
pinpoint locations on Earth’s surface.
Key Words:
Topographic map
contour intervalcontour line
global positioning System
Questions:
1. A landform that has high elevation but low relief is a
a. Coastal plain c. mountain belt
b. Mountain
d. plateau
2. Of Earth’s four “spheres,” the one that extends into all the others is the
a. Lithosphere
c. biosphere
b. Hydrosphere
d. atmosphere
3. Latitude is a measurement of distance north or south of the
a. Hemisphere
c. axis
b. Equator
d. prime meridian
4. The show the continents without distorting their relative sizes and shapes, a map maker would
choose a
a. Mercator Projection
c. depression
b. Level area
d. valley
Guide Two
Rocks and Weathering
Rock weathers, or wears down, when it is exposed to air, water, weather, and living things at Earth’s
surface
Mechanical weathering break rock into smaller pieces. The agents of mechanical weathering include
freezing and thawing, heating and cooling, growth of plants, actions of animals, and abrasion.
Chemical weathering changes the mineral content of rock. The agents of chemical weathering are water,
oxygen, carbon dioxide, living organisms, and acid rain.
Climate nad rock type determine how fast weathering occurs.
Key terms:
Weathering
abrasion
Permeable
ice wedging
erosion
chemical weathering
mechanical weathering
Soil Formation and composition
Soil is made of small particles of rock mixed with the decaying remains of organisms
Soil forms gradually in layers called horizons as bedrock weathers and organic materials build up.
The three soil horizons are the A horizons, the B horizon, and the C horizon. The A horizon is made up of
topsoil, which is rick in humus. The B horizon consists of clay and other particles washed down from the
A horizons, but little humus. The C horizon is made up of partly weather rock without clay or humus.
Plants and animals break up and mix the soil, and also add the organic materials that form humus.
Soil Conservation:
Soil is a valuable resource because life on land depends on it, yet it forms very slowly.
Soil can be eroded away and its fertility can be decreased by improper farming practices.
Plowing the Great Plains caused the Dust Bowl by removing the sod covering that kept the soil from
blowing away during thoughts.
Soil can be conserved and its fertility can be maintained by using various methods of soil conservation.
Key words:
Sod
contour plowing
Dust Bowl
conservation plowing
Contours go with the layout of the
land to prevent erosion and runoff
Soil was so dry that with every wind it continued to erode
away. This is a picture of a large wind moving through in
Oklahoma. This Dust bowl took place in the mid-west.
Some of this dust ended up in North Carolina.
soil conservation
The dust bowl began when farmers did not
protect the land, left it open to weathering and
erosion, drought hit, all fertile topsoil was blown
away.
Contour farming Is a type of farming in which you plant
ground cover around the crop to prevent runoff and soil
erosion. With this erosion vital nutrients are lost, crops
to not grow.
Questions
1. The most important force of mechanical weathering in cool climates is
a. Oxidation
b. freezing and thawing
c. animal activity
d. abrasion
2. The most chemical weathering Is caused by
a. Acid rain
b. water
c. oxygen
d. carbon dioxide
3. The B horizon consists of
a. Subsoil
b. topsoil
c. rock particles
d. bedrock
4. One of the best types of soil for farming is
a. Forrest soil
b. mountain soil
c. tropical soil
d. prairire soil
5. Mos of the work of mixing humus into the soil is done by
a. Fungi b. bacteria
c. earthworm’s
d. mites
(remember soil is humus is composed to decomposed organic matter. Look at the one
that is contact with soil especially located in topsoil all the time)
Guide Three
Changing Earth’s Surface
Weathering, erosion, and deposition act to wear down and build up Earth’s surface
Gravity pulls sediment downhill in the process of mass movement. There are four main types of mass
movement: landslides, mudslides, slump, and creep
Key Words:
Erosion
depositions
sediment
mass movement
Water Erosion
Moving water is the major force of erosion that has shaped Earth’s land surface
A river may form V-shaped valleys, water falls, meandors, oxbow lakes, and flood plains.
When a river slows down, it deposits some of the sediments load it carries, forming features such as
alluvial fans and deltas
Key Words:
Runoff
draining basin
delta rill
stalactite
stream meander
alluvial fan
divide groundwater
stalagmite
river
gully flood plain
oxbow lake
tributary
The force of Moving Water:
When gravitiy pulls water down a slope, water potential energy changes to kinetic energy, and it does
the work.
Most sediment washes or falls into streams, or is eroded from the streambed by abrasion.
The greater a river’s slope or volume of flow, the more sediment it can erode
Key words
Energy
abrasion
friction
potential energy
load
turbulence
Glaciers
The two kinds of glaciers are valley glaciers and continental gaciers
Glaciers erode the land through two processes, plucking and abrasion
Melting glaciers deposit sediment, dropping the rocks and soil that they have eroded
Key words:
Glacier
moraine
valley glacier
continental glacier
ice age plucking
till
Waves:
The energy of ocean waves comes from wind blowing across the water’s surface and transferring energy
to the water.
Ocean waves hitting land cause erosion through impact and abrasion. Waves also move and deposit
sediment along the shore.
Key Words:
Beach longshore drift spit
Wind Erosion
Wind causes erosion mainly through deflation, the blowing of surface materials
The major landforms created by wind deposition are sand dunes and loess deposit
Key words:
Deflation
sand dune
loess
Questions:
1. The eroded materials carried by water or wind are called
a. Stalactites
b. desert pavement
c. sediment
d. moraines
2. The downhill movement of eroded materials is known as
a. Mass movement
b. abrasion
c. deposition d. deflation
3. A mass of rock and soil deposited directly by a glacier is called
a. Load b. till c. loess d. erosion
4. When waves strike a shoreline, they concentrate their energy on
a. Beaches
b. cirques
c. sand dunes d. headlands
5. The erosion of sediments y wind is
a. Deposition
b. deflation
c. abrasion
d. glaciation
Guide Four
Fossils
Most fossils form when living things die and are quickly bured by sediments. Those sediments eventually
harden and preserve parts of the organisms
The major kinds of fossils include petrified remains, molds, casts, carbon films, trace fossils, and
preserved remains
The fossil record shows that many different organisms have living on Earth at different times and that
groups of organisms have changed over time.
Key words:
Fossil
paleontologist
sedimentary rock
petrified fossil
mold
carbon film
trace fossil
scientific theory
evolution
cast
extinct
Finding the relative ages of rocks
The law of superposition can be used to determine the relative ages of rock layers
Scientists also study faults, intrustions, and extrusions to find the relative ages of rock layers
Index fossils are usedful in dating rock layers because they are easily recognized, occur in many different
areas, and represent organism that lived during only one short period of Earth’s history.
Key terms
Relative age
absolute age law of superposition
extrusion
inde fossil
unconformity
fault
intrusion
Radioactive dating
During radioactive decay, the atoms of one element decay into atoms of another element.
Scientists use radioactive dating to determine the absolute ages of rocks
Atom
radioactive decay
element
half-life
The geologic time scale
Scientist use the geologic time scale because the time sand of Earth’s history is so great
The basic divisions of the geologic time scale are eras, periods and epochs
Key words:
Geologic time scale
invertebrate
epoch eras
period
Earth’s History
A great number of different kinds of living things evolved during the “Cambrian explosion” at the
beginning of the Paleozoic Era.
During the Permaian Period. Earth’s continents join together and formed the supercontinent called
Pangaea
The extraction of the dinosaurs at the end of the Mesozoic Era created an opening for mammals, which
evolved to live in most environments on land, in water, and in the air
Key terms
Vertebrate
reptile
mammal
amphibian
mass extinction
Questions:
1. A hollow are in sediment in the shape of all or part of an organism is called a
a. Mold
b. cast.
C. trace fossil
d. carbon film
2. A gap in the geologic record formed when sedimentary rocks cover an erosion surface is called
a(n)
a. Intrusion
b. unconformity
c. fault
d. extrusion
3. When a radio active element decays, it releases
a. Atoms
b. potassium-4o
c. particles of energy d. carbon-14
4. Eras of geologic time are subdivided into
a. Epochs
b. centuries
c. invertebrate
d. amphibian
5. What is an animal that doesn’t have a backbone called
a. Vertebrate
b. mammal
c. invertebrate
d. amphibian