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Earth Systems Final Exam Review Unit One: Introduction, Mapping, Minerals,Rocks (Chapters 1, 2, 4, 5, 6) 1.

List and describe each of Earths four systems. 2. List and describe the layers of the earth. 3. Describe how latitude changes as you move away from the equator. 4. Describe the significance of the prime meridian. What city is located on the prime meridian? 5. Describe what contour lines show. 6. List the characteristics of minerals (all of them). 7. Describe at least 7 methods used to identify minerals. 8. Describe how to determine the density of an object. 9. How are igneous rocks formed? 10. Contrast the two general types of igneous rocks. 11. Describe how cooling rates affect the grain size of igneous rocks. 12. Describe each step of the formation of sedimentary rocks. 13. Describe each of the three types of sedimentary rocks. 14. Describe how metamorphic rocks form. 15. Describe the two types of textures of metamorphic rocks. 16. What does the rock cycle show? Unit Two: Surface Processes on Earth (Chapters 7-10) 1. Contrast mechanical and chemical weathering. 2. Describe the relationship between surface area and weathering. 3. Describe how gravity affects erosion. 4. List and describe the four types of erosion. 5. Describe how soil forms in a minimum of three sentences. 6. Describe each of the four soil horizons. 7. Describe at least three factors that affect soil formation. 8. Describe what a mass movement is. 9. Describe the underlying force behind all forms of mass movement. 10. Describe at least two examples of mass movements 11. Describe what glaciers are and where they are found. 12. Describe at least three factors that affect runoff. 13. What is the significance of the process of rejuvenation? 14. Describe the process of eutrophication. 15. Draw a diagram and label the following: zone of saturation, zone of aeration, water table. 16. Describe aquifers. 17. How does pore size created by varying sizes of grains influence permeability? 18. Describe artesian wells. Unit Three: The Atmosphere and the Oceans 1. Contrast permanent and variable atmospheric gases. Give examples of each. 2. List and describe each of the five layers of the atmosphere. 3. Contrast conduction, convection, and radiation. 4. Describe temperature inversion and why it occurs. 5. Write three sentences about relative humidity. Be sure to use the terms dew point and latent heat. 6. What is the importance of condensation nuclei? 7. Contrast low, middle, high, and vertical clouds. Give examples of each and the type of weather associated with each. 8. Explain how precipitation forms. You should use the term coalescence in your response. 9. Contrast weather and climate. 10. Describe at least three air mass types. 11. What is the importance of the Coriolis Effect? 12. Describe each of the four fronts and the weather associated with each. 13. Contrast high-pressure and low-pressure systems and the weather associated with each. 14. Describe at least three instruments used to gather weather data. 15. Draw a station model and label the wind speed and direction, dew point temperature, temperature, barometric pressure, and cloud cover. 16. Using the terms moisture, lifting, stability explain how thunderstorms form. 17. Describe the three stages of the life cycle of a thunderstorm. 18. Describe how lightning forms. Use the terms stepped leader and return stroke. 19. Describe supercells and the type of weather they produce. 20. Explain how tornadoes form.

21. What types of conditions are needed for tropical cyclones to form? 22. What are some limitations of normal? 23. Describe the 3 causes of climate. 24. Describe a heat island. 25. Describe an example of a long-term climatic change. 26. Describe two examples of short-term climatic changes. 27. Explain how the greenhouse effect occurs. 28. Describe global warming. Unit Four: The Dynamic Earth (Chapters 17, 18, 19) 1. Describe Pangea and continental drift. 2. What evidence supports Wegeners theory of continental drift. 3. How are magnetic patterns important to the study of seafloor spreading? 4. Explain the process of seafloor spreading. 5. What are tectonic plates? 6. Compare and contrast the three types of plate boundaries and the features associated with each. 7. What is the process of convection? How is it related to plate tectonics? 8. Define volcanism. 9. How does plate tectonics lead to the formation of volcanoes? 10. Identify the two zones of volcanism. 11. Describe how both converging and diverging plates create volcanoes. 12. Describe hot spot volcanoes and how they form. 13. Draw and label the parts of a volcano. 14. List and describe the three types of volcanoes. 15. Describe the role of pressure and dissolved gases in how explosive an eruption is. (Use the term pyroclastic flows in your response. 16. What is a pluton? 17. Define the terms stress and strain. 18 Contrast elastic deformation and plastic deformation. 19. List and describe the three types of faults (reverse, normal, and strike-slip). 20. Describe the three types of seismic waves. 21. Which type of wave causes the most damage and why? 22. Describe how a seismometer detects an earthquake. 23. Describe how to determine where the epicenter of an earthquake is. 24. What is the Richter scale based on? 25. How are magnitude and amplitude related? 26. How are the moment magnitude scale and modified mercalli scale different than the Richter scale? 27. Describe tsunamis and how they are formed. Unit Five: History of Earth (Chapters 21 and 22) 1. What is the geologic time scale and why is it important to scientists? 2. Describe mass extinctions. 3. Describe uniformitarianism. 4. Contrast absolute-age dating and relative-age dating. 5. Describe how scientists date rocks and other objects using radioactive elements. 6. Define evolution. 7. Describe at least four ways fossils are preserved. 8. What is the significance of index fossils? 9. Describe how crustal rock and solar system evidence are used to estimate that Earth is 4.56 billion years old. 10. How does differentiation occur on Earth? What is the result? 11. How was Earths earliest crust formed? 12. Describe how continents were formed. Be sure to use the terms microcontinents, craton, Precambrian shield, and Canadian shield. 13. Summarize how Earths atmosphere was formed in a minimum of four sentences. 14. Describe experimental evidence showing how life might have begun on Earth in a minimum of three sentences.

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