Flashcards

Cycles inside Earth unit 1.4 -.-

Opal Khan English 20 cards

Cards in this deck (20)

1How do earthquakes, volcanoes and continental drift all occur?They occur because of energy flows within our planet.
2What is tectonic drift?Tectonic drift is the process by which enormous tectonic plates on the surface of the earth move and collide with each other.
3What are tectonic plates?Enormous plates of rock, the size of continents, that make up the Earth's crust and are very slowly moving.
4What would happen if the whole planet was solid?If the whole planet was solid, it would be even more difficult to move the plates, and require even more extreme forces.
5What is the state of the inner layers of the Earth?The inner layers of the Earth are liquid.
6What sort of liquid is the inner layer made up of?The inner layer is made up of molten rock.
7What is the crust?The crust is the uppermost thin layer of the Earth.
8How thick is the crust?The crust is between 5 and 70km deep over the whole surface of the earth.
9What is the mantle?A mantle is the layer of rock between the crust and the outer core of the earth.
10What is the state of the mantle?The mantle is almost solid, but is soft enough to allow the slow movement of the plates.
11What is the outer core?The outer core is the layer of rock between the mantle and the inner core of the Earth.
12What is the state of the outer core?The state of the outer core is liquid.
13What is the inner core?The inner core is the innermost layer of the Earth.
14What is the state of the inner core?The state of the inner core is solid.
15What would need to happen in order to melt this huge volume of rock?It would take enormous amounts of energy to melt this huge volume of rock.
16What are the two sources energy comes from?The true sources energy comes from include:
-ongoing decay of radioactive substances within the earth
-leftover heat from the time when the earth formed.
17What is the inner core believed to contain?The inner core of the earth is believed to contain a high proportion of iron as well s possibly large amounts of gold and other precious metals.
18What is the temperature of the inner core?The temperature of the inner core is about 5700 degrees.
19What is the outer core believed to do?The outer core is believed to rotate at a slightly different rate to the mantle above it, placing forces on the mantle.
20What else is believed to be within the outer core?There are also believed to be 'currents' of molten rock moving within the outer core.