Earth Science - Review I

The student should be able to label correctly a picture of the Earth, from inner core to crust, including the following: inner core, outer core, mantle, mesosphere, asthenosphere, lithosphere, Moho, crust.

The student should be able to answer the following questions:

How do we know that part of the inside of the Earth is liquid?
What is the composition of the mantle and core?
What is a continental plate?  How have they changed positions over time?
Give four explanations that support plate tectonic theory.
Name five kinds of volcanoes and explain the differences among them.
What types of materials do volcanoes release?
What is the difference between lava and magma?
What are convergence, divergence, and subduction?
What is elastic rebound theory?
What is the difference between primary waves and secondary waves?

Explain how a seismograph works.

The student should be able to reproduce the geologic column and label it correctly, explaining how radioactive decay helps determine numerical age of rock strata.

Earth Science - Earth Structure - Microcontinents

The Earth Through Time by H. Levin

Vocabulary Added:
allochthonous: sediment that formed at a location other than its present one

Discussion:
Small bits of continental crust - ability to move vast distances
Methods of movement

Activity:
Use graham crackers and crumbs floating on honey to show how little bits can end up next to or inside of bigger bits

Earth Science - Earth Structure - Hot Spots

Shaping the Earth by DW Patent and William Munoz
The Earth Through Time by H. Levin

Discussion:
Movement of the plates and lava hot spots
Example of Hawaii

Earth Science - Earth Structure - Plate Tectonics

How the Earth Works by Michelle O'Brien-Palmer
Shaping the Earth by DW Patent and William Munoz
The Earth Through Time by H. Levin

Vocabulary Added:
convergence: continents pushing together
subduction: one plate slipping under another

Discussion:
Earthquake activity reveals location of plates
Example of India

Activity:
"Make a Model - Earth's Crust" from How the Earth Works

Earth Science - Earth Structure - Sea-floor Spreading

Shaping the Earth by DW Patent and William Munoz
The Earth Through Time by H. Levin

Vocabulary Added:
divergence: continents pushing apart

Discussion:
How upwelling sea-floor lava pushes plates apart, expanding the distance between continents

Activity:
Pour honey between two graham crackers.  Watch them push apart.

Earth Science - Earth Structure - Magnetism

Geology: A Self-Teaching Guide by Barbara Murck
The Earth Through Time by Harold L. Levin

Vocabulary:
paleomagnetism: magnetism of ancient rocks, showing continents' previous alignment
apparent polar wandering curves: lines on a map showing how a continent moved

Discussion:
How magnetism reveals where the poles are
How paleomagnetism reveals where the poles were relative to the position of the shifting continents

Activity:
Make a compass

Earth Science - Earth Structure - Continental Drift

Shaping the Earth by Dorothy Hinshaw Patent and William Munoz

The Earth Through Time by Harold Levin (textbook)

Discussion: 

How continents move on the lithosphere
Fossil record - how we can tell continents used to be joined together

Activity:
Draw Pangaea on a paper plate.  Cut into Laurasia and Gondwanaland.  Cut into present-day continents. Show how continents moved to present location.

Earth Science - Earth Structure - The Crust

Shaping the Earth by Dorothy Hinshaw Patent and William Munoz

The Earth Through Time by Harold Levin (textbook)

Vocabulary Added:
lithosphere: rock-ring; crust plus the top of the mantle

Moho: Mohorovicic discontinuity; boundary between crust and mantle

Discussion: 

Thinness of the crust relative to the rest of the innersphere
Continental crust and oceanic crust

Faults and folds

Activity:
Use blocks and origami paper to show how faults and folds form
Finish Earth's structure drawing

Earth Science - Earth Structure - The Mantle

Shaping the Earth by Dorothy Hinshaw Patent and William Munoz

The Earth Through Time by Harold Levin (textbook)

Vocabulary Added:
asthenosphere: weak-ring; uppermost part of the mantle
mesosphere: middle-ring; rest of the mantle

Discussion: 

Composition of the mantle, production of magma
Segments of the mantle
Wave behavior in the mantle

Activity:
Continue drawing of Earth's structure

Earth Science - Earth Structure - Inner Core

Shaping the Earth by Dorothy Hinshaw Patent and William Munoz

The Earth Through Time by Harold Levin (textbook)

Vocabulary Added:
seismic waves: waves of energy that travel through the Earth's layers
primary waves: seismic waves that vibrate in the direction they are traveling; they arrive first and can pass through liquid; not harmful
secondary waves: seismic waves that vibrate transversely to the direction they are traveling; arrive later, cannot pass liquid, cause damage

Discussion: 

Seismic waves and primary waves reveal the composition of the core

Iron and nickel - high density material

Pressure on the core - liquid to solid

Activity:
Make secondary waves with a slinky 

Refraction experiment - pencil in water, see how the pencil appears to be bent