Earth Science: Continents and Layers

What are the large landmasses on Earth's surface called?

What is the solid rock portion of Earth's surface called?

What is the thin layer of gases surrounding Earth called?

What is the term for all the water at and near the surface of the earth?

What consists of all life on Earth and all parts of the Earth in which life exists, including land, water, and the atmosphere?

What is the hypothesis that the continents slowly move across Earth's surface called?

What is the term for the sun, planets, and all the other objects that revolve around the sun?

What is the Earth's core made of and where is it?

What is the layer of hot, solid material between Earth's crust and core called?

What is the thin and solid outermost layer of the Earth above the mantle called?

What is the cycle through which water in the hydrosphere moves called?

What is a large stream of moving water that flows through the oceans called?

What are swells and ridges produced by winds in water called?

What is the regular rise and fall of the ocean's surface influenced by the moon's gravity pulling on earth called?

What is the area from which a single stream or river and its tributaries drains all of the water called?

What is the term for water held underground in the soil or in pores and crevices in rock?

What is the upper level of the saturated zone of groundwater called?

What is a natural feature of the earth's surface called?

What is the earth's surface from the edge of a continent to the deep part of the ocean called?

What is the combination of the surface shape and composition of the landforms and their distribution in a region called?

What are the sections of the Earth's crust that move due to convection currents called?

What is a plate boundary where two plates move away from each other called?

What is a tectonic plate boundary where two plates collide, come together, or crash into each other called?

What is a plate boundary where two plates move past each other in opposite directions called?

What is a break in the earth's crust called?

What is a device that measures the strength of an earthquake called?

What is the point on Earth's surface directly above an earthquake's focus called?

What is a giant wave usually caused by an earthquake beneath the ocean floor called?

What is magma that reaches Earth's surface called?

What is a major belt of volcanoes that rims the Pacific Ocean called?

What is the breaking down of rocks and other materials on the Earth's surface called?

What are small, solid pieces of material that come from rocks or living things called?

What is the breakdown of rock into smaller pieces by physical means called?

What is the process in which rock is broken down by changes in its chemical makeup called?

What are the processes by which rock, sand, and soil are broken down and carried away (i.e. weathering, glaciation) called?

What is a landform made of sediment that is deposited where a river flows into an ocean or lake called?

What is a wind-formed deposit made of fine particles of clay and silt that produce fertile soil called?

What is a large mass of moving ice and snow on land called?

What is a process by which glaciers form and spread called?

What are piles of rocky debris left by melting glaciers called?

What is organic, dark material remaining after decomposition by microorganisms called?

What is the third planet from the Sun in the solar system called?

What is the distance from the Sun to Earth?

What are ice and dust spheres leaving vapor trails called?

What are large rocky materials found in space called?

What is the region between Mars and Jupiter's orbits called?

What is the approximate circumference of the Earth?

What is the approximate diameter of the Earth?

What is the liquid layer surrounding the inner core called?

What is the solid center of the Earth called?

What is the layer surrounding the core containing most mass called?

What is molten rock formed in the mantle called?

What is the thin outer layer of rock on Earth's surface called?

What is the name of the supercontinent that existed before continental drift?

What is the ocean surrounding the supercontinent Pangaea called?

What is the exact location of a place on the earth described by global coordinates called?

What is the position of a place in relation to another place called?

What describes the features of the earth's surface, such as landforms, water systems, climate patterns, and plant and animal life?

What includes a variety of factors such as history, government, social groups, economic systems, language, religion, clothing, housing, food, or art forms?

What describes the distinctive features, attributes, and qualities of a place?

What examines the interactions between people and their environment?

What describes the ways in which places are connected through the movement of people, ideas, or goods?

What describes how common geographic characteristics help us describe/understand a place?

What is a region defined by government or administrative boundaries called?

What is a region defined by some function or reason called?

What is a region defined by what people think and the perceptions of the region called?

What is a map that shows geographic locations on Earth's surface, such as the locations of cities or oceans (topographic) called?

What is a type of map that displays one or more variables-such as population, or income level-within a specific area called?

What is a map that tells you how to get from place to place (aeronautical and nautical maps) called?

What involves observing, measuring, and recording data that will be used for map accuracy?

What is a database of information called?

What is the distance north or south of the equator called?

What is the distance east or west of the prime meridian, measured in degrees called?

What is either of the two times of the year when the sun is at its greatest distance from the celestial equator called?

What is the time or date (twice each year) at which the sun crosses the celestial equator, when day and night are of equal length (about September 22 and March 20) called?

What is the condition of Earth's atmosphere at a particular time and place called?

What is the overall weather in an area over a long period of time called?

What is the formation of precipitation due to surface heating of the air at the ground surface called?

What is precipitation which results when two air masses of different temperatures meet and the warm air is forced over the cooler air called?

What is precipitation caused by winds blowing warm, moist air toward coastal mountains; results when warm air rises over the mountains and cools enough to form clouds that release rain and snow called?

What is a dry region on the side of a mountain that is sheltered from wind called?

What is a climate located along the equator that experiences rain every day of the year called?

What is a climate located along the equator that has a dry season with little to no rain, usually in the winter called?

What climate has hot, dry summers and cool, dry winters?

What climate has very dry weather conditions?

What is a climate marked by warm, dry summers and cool, rainy winters called?

What is a moderate climate with cool summers and mild winters that is heavily influenced by maritime conditions called?

What climate is located on the east coast of continents; warm humid summers, mild to cool winters?

What is the climate located in the middle latitudes, the agriculturally productive, true four-season climate called?

What is the climate with limited precipitation, cool summers, and very cold winters called?

What is a vast treeless plain in the arctic regions between the ice cap and the tree line called?

What is the cold area near the North or South pole called?

What is a climate found in mountains and on high plateaus, with cool to cold temperatures that change with altitude called?

What are broadleaf trees that lose leaves in the cold season called?

What is the name for broadleaf trees that stay green year-round?

What are needle leaf trees with cones that stay green year-round called?

What is a scrubland biome of dense, spiny evergreen shrubs found at midlatitudes along coasts where cold ocean currents circulate offshore; characterized by mild, rainy winters and long, hot, dry summers called?

What is a grassy plain in tropical and subtropical regions, with few trees called?

What is the name for temperate grasslands?