Earth's major systems

Essential Questions:

Chapter 4: Energy Transfer and Biomes

How does the unequal heating of the earth create different climates?

What phenomena are responsible for specific weather patterns on Earth's surface?

What are the characteristics of the major biomes of the Earth

Chapter 8: Plate tecntonics and soil

How does the theory of plate tectonics explain Earth's surface features?

What is happening at a subduction zone?

How does the rock cycle explain the creation of the 3 types of rocks on Earth?

What are the qualities of healthy soil?

Vocabulary

Distribution of energy around the globe Climate, weather, albedo,, troposphere, stratosphere,, latent heat, relative humidity, saturation point (dew-point)

Processes responsible for weather patterns Hadley cells, polar cells, ITCZ, desert belts, rain shadows, El Nino, coriolis effect, upwelling, thermohaline-circulation, adiabatic heating and cooling

Terestrial biomes
Tropical rain forest, temperate seasonal forest, boreal forest (tiaga), temperate rainforest, savanna, desert, tundra, cold desert/grassland, chaparral,

Earth's interior Lithosphere, Asthenosphere, mantle, outer core, inner core

Plate Tectonics divergent, convergent and transform boundaries, subduction zone, mantel convection, sea floor spreading, mid-oceanic ridges, ocean trenches, volcanic island arcs, hot spots, earthquakes, tsunamis

Rock cycle Igneous, metamorphic, sedimentary, uplifting and erosion, heat and pressure, melting and cooling, deposition, physical and chemical weathering and erosion

Soil horizons, texture, porosity, infiltration, cation exchange capacity, base saturation, soil pyramid, minerals (sand, silt, clay), organic matter, humus, parent material, degradation, primary and secondary succession

Mining Ore, metal, types of mining, composition of the earth's crust

Mining laws Mining law of 1872, Surface Mining Control and reclamation Act of 1977