Mastery Astronomy Assign 5-Chapter 7

Using your answers from Part AC, list the following features in order from oldest to youngest.

1. crater 1a 2. the smooth floor of crater 1b 3. the tectonic ridge from 3a to 3b

At this rate, how long would it take for two continents 3300km kilometers apart to collide?

3.30×108 years

Layered ________ exposed by erosion can be seen when looking at the Grand Canyon in the United States.

sedimentary rock

The rise of life on the planet Earth some 4 billion years ago was made possible, in part, by the plentiful oxygen in Earth's early atmosphere.

False

Which describes our understanding of flowing water on Mars?

It was important once, but no longer.

Which of the following Mars surface features provides dramatic evidence that volcanism has played a role in shaping the surface of Mars?

Olympus Mons

What do we conclude if a planet has few impact craters of any size?

Other geological processes have wiped out craters.

_______ found in the Atlantic Ocean between North America and Europe is composed of dense and relatively young rock.

Seafloor crust

Seismic studies on Earth reveal a "lost continent" that held great human cities just a few thousand years ago but is now buried beneath the Atlantic seafloor.

This is not plausible. Plates move only a few centimeters per year, so a continent could not be subducted in a few thousand years. Neither could erosional processes bury a continent on the time scale of human civilization.

Which terrestrial world has the most atmospheric gas?

Venus

Listed following are characteristics of the atmospheres of Venus, Earth, and Mars. Match each atmospheric characteristic to the appropriate planet.

Venus: *sulfuric acid clouds *almost no surface winds *runaway greenhouse effect Earth: *atmosphere composed primarily of nitrogen *ultraviolet-absorbing stratosphere Mars: *extremely low density atmosphere *global dust storms

Which of the following is the most basic definition of a greenhouse gas?

a gas that absorbs infrared light

The extremely deep ocean Marianas Trench is a result of _______.

subduction

Australia is composed of relatively old and thick ________.

continental crust

Label 1a lies on the rim of a large crater, and 1b lies on the rim of a smaller one. Which crater must have formed first?

crater 1a

The earthquakes that occur in Southern California generally occur above a ______.

fault

Old Faithful Geyser at Yellowstone National Park in the United States acquires its energy from a _______.

hot spot

When you zoom in on the section labeled "Southern Highlands," which geologic processes are most clearly evident?

impact cratering and erosion

The oxygen in Earth's atmosphere was released by

life.

Where is the most CO2 that has outgassed from Earth's volcanoes?

locked up in rocks

The slowly increasing distance between South America and Africa is due to _________.

seafloor spreading

How many of the five terrestrial worlds are considered "geologically dead"?

two

Which of the following is a strong greenhouse gas?

water vapor

The region around 2b has far fewer craters than the region around 2c. The crater floor at 2a is also flat and smooth, without many smaller craters on it. Why are regions 2a and 2b so smooth?

Lava flows covered craters that once existed in these regions.

Assuming that features you see on Mars are similar to features found on Earth, what would a casual inspection of the interactive photo of Mars lead you to suspect about water on Mars?

Surface water only exists as frozen ice.

Listed below are geographic features of the terrestrial worlds. In each case, identify the geological process: impact cratering, volcanism, erosion, or tectonics (where tectonics is any large-scale processes affecting the structure of the planetary crust), most responsible for the feature described. Match the geographic feature to the appropriate geologic process.

Volcanism: *big island of hawaii *smooth surfaces of the lunar maria *mars's olympus mons Impact Cratering: *old surface features of the lunar highlands Erosion: *earth's grand canyon Tectonics: *current locations of earth's continents *mars's valles marineris *mercury's many long, tall cliffs

Suppose we represent Earth with a basketball. On this scale, most of the air in Earth's atmosphere would fit in a layer that is _________.

about the thickness of a sheet of paper

A tectonic ridge appears to connect points 3a and 3b, crossing several craters. From its appearance, we can conclude that it must have formed

after the area was cratered.