Exam 1: An Introduction to Geology

__________was the highly influential, ancient Greek philosopher noted for his writings and teachings on natural philosophy and on the workings of the Earth.

The__________ is the solid, rocky shell between the crust and outer core.

Catastrophism obviously influenced seventeenth and eighteenth century thought by implying that Earth only needed to be a few thousand years old in order to explain landscapes and geologic features. However, catastrophic and often sudden changes are at least a part of the rock record that geologists attempt to interpret. List three geologic catastrophes that would most likely affect landscapes or features on Earth and be recorded in rocks. How might these events be explained in the rock record using only uniformitarianism (or the implication of slow, gradual change)?

__________is the process by which rocks break down in place to produce soils and sediments.

What are the basic differences between the disciplines of physical and historical geology?

The asthenosphere__________ .

A(n)__________system is one in which energy moves freely in and out, but no matter enters or leaves the system.

All of the following are possible steps of scientific investigation EXCEPT for __________.

The__________ forms the relatively cool, brittle plates of plate tectonics.

In correct order from the center outward, Earth includes which units?

Compared to the age of the Earth accepted as correct today, how did seventeenth and eighteenth century proponents of catastrophism envision the Earth's age?

__________was an important eighteenth century English geologist and proponent of uniformitarianism.

__________, a popular natural philosophy of the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, was based on a firm belief in a very short geologic history for Earth.

The __________is the relatively rigid zone above the asthenosphere that includes the crust and upper mantle.

The__________ division of the geologic time scale is an era of the Phanerozoic eon.

The continental shelf is located__________ .

The most prominent feature on the ocean floor are the__________ .

__________is often paraphrased as "the present is the key to the past."

Moving from the shoreline towards the deep- ocean basin, the continental margin may include the__________ ,__________ , and the__________ .

The statement, "the present is the key to the past," describes what basic geologic concept or doctrine?