Pradt Science 2/3_McClendon_3

Terms	Definitions
Control	to test or verify (a scientific experiment) by a parallel experiment or other standard of comparison.
Topographic Map	a map showing topographic features, usually by means of contour lines.
Lithosphere	the crust and upper mantle of the earth.
Plate Tectonics	a theory of global tectonics in which the lithosphere is divided into a number of crustal plates, each of which moves on the plastic asthenosphere more or less independently to collide with, slide under, or move past adjacent plates.
Convection Current	the transfer of heat by the mass movement of heated particles into an area of cooler fluid.
Plate Boundary	are found at the edge of the lithospheric plates and are of three types, convergent, divergent and conservative.
Convergent Boundary	a plate boundary where two plates move toward each other.
Divergent Boundary	a plate boundary where two plates move away from each other.
Transform Boundary	a plate boundary where two plates move past each other in opposite directions.
Sea-floor Spreading	when two oceanic plates pull apart, magma rises and new crust is formed.
Magma	molten material beneath or within the earth's crust, from which igneous rock is formed.
Lava	the molten, fluid rock that issues from a volcano or volcanic vent.
Weathering	the various mechanical and chemical processes that cause exposed rock to decompose.
Deposition	process in which sediment is laid down in new locations.
Erosion	the process by which the surface of the earth is worn away by the action of water, glaciers, winds, waves, etc.
Subduction	the process by which collision of the earth's crustal plates results in one plate's being drawn down or overridden by another, localized along the juncture (subduction zone) of two plates.
Metamorphic Rock	A type of rock that forms from an existing rock that is changed by heat, pressure, or chemical reactions.
Igneous Rock	a type of rock that forms from the cooling of molten rock at or below the surface.
Sedimentary Rock	A type of rock that forms when particles from other rocks or the remains of plants and animals are pressed and cemented together.
Rock Cycle	sequence of events in which rocks are formed, destroyed, altered, and reformed by geological processes.
Water Cycle	the continuous process by which water moves from Earth's surface to the atmosphere and back.
Watershed	the region or area drained by a river, stream, etc.; drainage area.
Aquifer	any geological formation containing or conducting ground water, especially one that supplies the water for wells, springs, etc.
Precipitation	the falling to earth of any form of water (rain or snow or hail or sleet or mist).
Condensation	the process of changing from a gaseous to a liquid or solid state.
Percolation	the filtration of a liquid for extraction or purification.
Mechanical/ Physical Weathering	no chemical alteration; just breakdown/disintegration into smaller fragments.
Chemical Weathering	the process in which rock is broken down by changes in its chemical makeup.
Ecosystem	a system formed by the interaction of a community of organisms with their environment.
Abiotic Factors	the nonliving parts of an ecosystem.
Biotic Factors	the living parts of an ecosystem.
Predator	any organism that exists by preying upon other organisms.
Prey	an animal hunted or seized for food, especially by a carnivorous animal.
Producer	organism that can capture energy from sunlight or chemicals and use it to produce food from inorganic compounds; also called an autotroph.
Consumer	an organism, usually an animal, that feeds on plants or other animals.
Scavenger	an animal or other organism that feeds on dead organic matter.
Detrivore	a scavenger, such as an earthworm, that feeds on dead plant and animal matter.
Parasite	an organism that lives on or in an organism of another species, known as the host, from the body of which it obtains nutriment.
Host	a living animal or plant from which a parasite obtains nutrition.
Herbivore	a herbivorous (organism that eats plants) animal.
Carnivore	an animal that eats flesh.
Omnivore	an organism that eats both meat and plants.
Food Web	a community of organisms where there are several interrelated food chains.
Food Chain	a series of steps in which organisms transfer energy by eating and being eaten.