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It undergoes a transition from the olivine structure to the spinel structure. These transitions account for the discontinuous increase of the Earth's mantle as observed by seismic instruments.
6. How do mountains in the ocean basin differ from those on land?
Mountains in the ocean basins are perpetually being "recycled" through subduction zones. Therefore, the rock that they are made of differs in composition to mountains on land because of their younger age and mineral composition. Many of the mountains on land were created through uplifts in the crust, where rock from the crust was pushed upward and folded over time and time again. These types of rock have more metamorphic qualities while the ocean-bottom mountains tend to be more volcanic in nature and are more igneous. Also, the oceanic crust is made of basalt vs. The continental crust made of granite.
7. Why are continents so much higher than ocean basins?
The continents are higher than the ocean basins because of their crust density. The oceanic crust is mainly made up of basalt, which has high iron and nickel content and is therefore thinner and denser. The continental crust is thicker because it is made up of mostly granite which has high levels of silicate and aluminum. The continental crust is of lower density.
8. Why are some mountains belts so much higher than others?
Some mountain belts are much higher than others because of the forces that created them. The Himalayas, Earth's highest mountain range, is a product of plates...
The mountains grow each year because as the plates push together, parts of the crust are lifted up over others. As the wrinkles increase, the mountains are pushed higher and higher. Other mountain ranges are formed through smaller crustal impacts or even through subduction zones. Hawaii is a great example of a mountain range being created near a subduction zone.
9. How does the average composition of continents differ from that of oceans?
The average composition of continents differs from that of the oceans in that continents are far less dense being made out of mostly granite and granitic compounds. This is also why they tend to be thicker. The ocean bottom is made up of mostly iron and nickel-based rocks that are igneous in nature and far denser.
10. How do passive continental margins differ from active continental margins?
Active continental margins are those margins found on the leading edge of a continent where it is colliding with an ocean plate. These active margins are more active geologically as well as seismologically. They are also the sight of formation for new igneous rock. Mountains and other geologic features are more common in the active margins. Passive continental margins are the margins where no collision or subduction is taking place. These margins are weathered down by erosion and other natural forces since they remain little changed due to the lack of activity. This leads to lots of flat land areas protruding from these areas.
Alien Life on Earth Scientists believe that all known life forms descended from a single common ancestor, a microbe that lived approximately 3.5 -- 3.8 billion years ago. Their belief is based on an understanding that all life forms have liquid water as their foundation, and they contain the same "building blocks" (Toomey 26). Researchers in the new field of synthetic biology have raised questions about another kind of living
Here, the mass of water is being pulled upward toward the atmosphere by its attraction to the moon. As it does so, the tide is pulled inward from the coastlines contained the body of water. As the moon moves closer to the earth during its daily rotation, the magnetic pull lessens. The diminished pull causes the bulge to decline, pushing the body of water outward and extending the coastlines. It
Earth Science Probably one of the biggest and longest fought wars between science and religion has been on the subject of whether the earth was created, as science says, with a massive explosion known as the big bang or within a span of six days as religion teaches us. Science looks into and probes at what is majorly unknown and religion has always done better than that. This paper will discuss
Earth Science Ring of Fire Ring of Fire originally aired on the National Geographic Channel in August, 2007 as part of the Naked Science series produced by Ben Fox and Ian Hunt. The hour-long Ring of Fire program focuses on scientific efforts to understand the danger posed by the 25,000-mile long chain of volcanoes and earthquakes that makes up the Ring of Fire. The video explores scientific explanations for a rise in
On Earth, volcanic eruptions trigger the carbon cycle that accounts for the eventual concentration of calcium carbonate wherever water once existed. On Mars, the absence of calcium carbonate and, even more importantly, the presence of jarosite suggests that the element sulfur may have played a comparable role to that of carbon on Earth. Specifically, Martian volcanoes apparently ejected vast quantities of sulfur dioxide (instead of carbon dioxide released in volcanoes
Earth's Moon The Moon is the only natural satellite of Earth. It has no formal name other than "The Moon" although it is sometimes referred to as Luna (Latin for moon) to distinguish it from the generic "moon." The average distance from the Moon to the Earth is 384,403 kilometers (238,857 miles). The Moon's diameter is 3,476 kilometers (2,160 miles). The rotation of the Moon is synchronous. As a result, one side