1. Causes of earthquakes: plate tectonics (primary cause)- volcanism-meteorite impact-atomic explosions-dam building-injecting fluids into the ground (fracking)2. Types of seismic waves:- surface waves: long waves- body waves: below the surface- primary waves: get there first with most energy-compress&pull changing shape&volume of intervening material - 10mph in granite-2.5 mph in water-faster in solids than liquids- secondary waves: only changes shape of intervening material- won’t travel through fluids3. Which wave can’t travel through water? Secondary waves4. Which wave is fastest? Primary waves5. Epicenter: point on surface right above focus; most damage occurs hereFocus: earthquake’s point of center below ground where energy’s releasedTriangulation: gives us location of epicenter-where the lines from 3 seismographic locations intersect6. Richter Scale: Measures amplitude of wave and the increase in energy released- 1-9 scale with 30x increase7. Occurrences of earthquakes: at plate boundaries, shallow8. Tsunamis: underwater earthquakes9. Isostacy: greater stacking = deeper cuts into the athenosphereAthenosphere: semi-molten; below the lithosphereLithosphere: Earth’s crust; bedrock10. Dr. Suess: thought all continents were glued together due to distribution of fossils and plants around the worldAlfred Wegener: super-continent, Pangaea-South America and Africa puzzle pieces-evidence of glaciers, striations, and glacial landforms-same fossils and plants evidence-continental drift-climates, rock sequences, and geologic structuresSir Edward Bullard: mapped the continental shelf of South America and Africa11. Harry Hess: realized they mapped the topography of ocean floor using sonar in WW2-identified Mid-Ocean Ridges-seafloor spreading: magma oozes up along mid-oceanic ridges and the seafloor spreads away from active ridge crest and distal edges sink into deeper oceanic trenches12. Paleomagnetics: pattern of normal/reversed polarization that matches on both sides of the ridge-measure in igneous rock-supports plate tectonics-polar wandering13. 3 Types of Plate Boundaries:Divergent: rifting apart; mid-oceanic ridgeConvergent: plates collide; constructive or destructiveTransform: slip past each other; perpendicular to Mid-Oceanic Ridge ; strike-slip 14. Driving mechanism of plate tectonics: convection and gravity15. Correlation: matching up of strata from different outcrops in different regions16. Father of Modern Stratigraphy: William Smith17. Disconformity: period when deposition ceased, erosion removed previous deposited rock, and then deposition resumedNonconformity: break separates older metamorphic rock or intrusive igneous rocks from younger sedimentary strataAngular Unconformity: Hutton’s Hiatus-consists of tilted or folded sedimentary rock overlain by younger, more flat-lying strataLateral Continuity: Nicholas Steno-deposition extends laterally in all directions until it thins to zero18. C-14: incorporated into CO2-formed by reaction with Nitrogen-14 in upper atmosphere-organic material-half-life: 5730 years-40-40,000 years range19. Relative dating: chronological order-requires examining stratigraphic outcrops in spatial and temporal (correlation) formats- 132 years to describe geologic time scale using this datingAbsolute dating: numerical date to past event-based on decay rates of igneous rocks-metamorphism resets the atomic clock-radioactive decay of isotopes20. Half-life: when a half-life goes by you have half of the amount you started withC-14: 5730 years half-lifeK-Ar: 1.3 billion years half-life; big bang- 200,000 years ago range21. Phanerozoic: visible life22. Paleozoic: old life; invertabrates, fish, amphibians, reptiles23. Mesozoic: middle life; dinosaurs, birds, flowering plants24. Cenozoic: recent life; age of mammals25. Law of Superposition: the rock layer on top is always younger than the layer below it26. Law of Original Horizontality: rocks naturally form/order themselves in horizontal layers27. Walther’s Law and Lateral Continuity:- facies change based on depositional environment-beach, near shore, shallow seas28. Principle of Faunal Succession: animals change over time29. Principle of Floral Succession: plants change over time 30. Law of Cross Cutting: Charles Lyell- any event that cuts across existing rock is younger-unconformities, intrusions, faults31. Principle of Inclusions: rock mass containing inclusions is younger32. Mass extinction: 5 major extinctions-evidence in sedimentary rock33. Holocene Extinction: present-day; 6th