Geology 101 Chapter 1 Study Questions

What is the Moho? Describe the difference between continental crust and oceanic crust.

A moho is the boundary between the Earth's crust and the underlying mantle

What are the principal layers of the Earth?

Crust. Lithosphere. Asthenosphere. Upper Mantle. Lower Mantle. Outer Core. Inner Core.

Difference between Geocentric and Heliocentric Universe concepts?

Geocentric= Earth at the center of the Universe Heliocentric= Sun at the center of the Universe

What is the core composed of? How do the inner and outer cores differ? Which produces the magnetic field?

Iron-Nickel Alloy. It is solid whereas the outer core is liquid.

Why isn't the Earth homogenous?

Melting and Planetary Differentiation

What is the Big Bang, and when did it occur?

The big bang theory is an effort to explain what happened during and after that moment. According to the standard theory, our universe sprang into existence as "singularity" around 13.7 billion years ago.

What is the eclptic, and why are the orbits of the of the planets within the ecliptic? Why is Pluto no longer considered to be a planet?

The ecliptic is an imaginary line that marks the path of the sun. he orbits of the planets are co-planar because during the Solar System's formation, the planets formed out of a disk of dust which surrounded the Sun. Pluto has not cleared its orbit of other objects.

What is Earth's atmosphere composed of?

Troposphere, Stratosphere, Mesosphere, Ionosphere.

What is the mantle composed of? Is there any melt in it?

silicate rocks, (magnesium, silicone, olivine, garnet, spinel and pyroxene) there is probably partial melting within.

Explain the expanding universe theory.

there is a direct relationship between the speeds of distant galaxies and their distances from Earth. This is now known as Hubble's Law.