Assignment: Earth and Earth Materials I Worksheet
From Visualizing Earth Science, by Merali, Z., and Skinner, B. J, 2009, Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. Copyright 2009 by Wiley.Adapted with permission.
Part 1
Complete the WileyPLUS GeoDiscoveries Earth Drag and Drop from Chapter 1. Label and describe each letter in the space below.
A. ocean
B. continental crust
C. oceanic
D. Inner core
E. Outer core
F. mantle
G. crust
H. earth surface
Part 2
Resources:
Minerals Drag and Drop (Chapter 2)
Virtual Rock Lab (Chapter 2)
Complete the following WileyPLUS GeoDiscoveries and answer the following questions:
1. What is the difference between a rock and a mineral?
o A rock is an intergegrate of one or more minerals while a mineral is natural occurring substance with definite chemical, physical and crystalline composition.
2. What types of tests are used to identify minerals?
o Scratch test, fizz test, specific gravity, lustre, color,magnetism and radio activity.
Part 3
1. Label the part and mineral resource that compose each part of this lightbulb. Refer to the diagram in Chapter 2.
2. Choose two minerals and describe where these minerals are found in nature and the environmental impact of extracting these minerals from the earth.You may need outside resources.
o Surace mining of limestone have impacted surface landscape which leads to erosion, dust pollution and loss of habitat. Extraction of diamonds is through deep shafts that cut across the rocks. This results into tectonic stifts of the rocks leading to landslides, change of river channelsor even waste rocks leacghing chemocals into surrounding water.
Part 4
In the following table, summarize what scientists have learned from the fossil record. Include the type of fossil evidence scientists used in their research. Add one more type of evidence with a summary to the table.
Note. You may need to do outside research to complete the table. Cite any references used and provide a References page.
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Area of information
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Summary
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Climate change
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Through the greenhouse gases mainly carbon dioxide, the levels have resulted into global warming that are highly disruptive leading to melting of the arctic ice and rise in ocean beds.
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Continental drift
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The idea of continental drift was for the continental drift hypothesis. Mountain ranges in east Greenland, Ireland, great Britain and Norway were believed to form a single mountain range.
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Extinct species: dinosaurs, early mammals, and so on
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Dating the existing remains have shown that certain species have extincted between climates or chronological times example is the dinosurs associated with greenhouses phases (Foote &Sepkoski Jr, 1999).
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Evolution
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Research examines ancient organism remains with unique characteristics. The characteristics of newer organisms appear modifiedone is the interpretation of human evolution supporting the anatomy of humans over the years (Smith, F. H., & Spencer, 1984).
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Meteor strikes
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Scientists deduce that ancient rocks in southern Sweden and central china have exortic mineral grains found in meteorites leaving large craters that unleash larghe energies.
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Mass extinctions
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Mass extinction draws records from measuring the magnetic signature of layers of rocks. Reserachers deduce that larger asteroids hit earth leading to 40% of all species extinction (Alvarez etal., 1984)
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Wandering poles
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It was recognized that the direction of magnetization of many rocks do not correspond the present direction of geomagnetic field. Evidences show that the magnetic poles have slowly wandered across the globe respect to sections of crust.
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Other
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Insect diversity through the compiled researches have shown diversity of insects was not achieved by high orgination rates but low extinction rates. Great radiation was accelerated by expansion of angiosperm during the cretaceous period (Labandeira&Sepkoski, 1993).
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References
Alvarez, W., Kauffman, E. G., Surlyk, F., Alvarez, L. W., Asaro, F., & Michel, H. V. (1984).Impact theory of mass extinctions and the invertebrate fossil record. Science, 223, 1135-1142.
Smith, F. H., & Spencer, F. (Eds.). (1984). The origins of modern humans: a world survey of the fossil evidence. AR Liss.
Foote, M., &Sepkoski Jr, J. J. (1999). Absolute measures of the completeness of the fossil record. Nature, 398(6726), 415.
Labandeira, C. C., &Sepkoski, J. J. (1993). Insect diversity in the fossil record. Science(Washington), 261(5119), 310-315.