Geochemistry

These are a mountain range, along Zaire and Uganda in East Africa.

The rate of species depends on the time and particular species and environment at the time, therefore there is no one absolute figure that can be used.

However clearly the rate of species can be used to estimate where in transition each species is and when the next variations will come along.

Igneous rocks form in quite a different way to metamorphic rocks.

Igneous rocks form due to heat and volcanic activity specifically they form when molten rock cools and becomes solid.

However, metamorphic rocks are existing rocks – perhaps igneous ones – that have been changed by great pressure and often-great heat into metamorphic rocks.

The heat and compression deep within the earth’s magma are what cause these unique and interesting layers of striation.

Depending on the particular stresses and strains, heat and pressure applied, and the individual rocks and minerals there in that composed the material, they react differently and this is what causes the banding.

Generally, the relation is this – the further from the surface the colder the water.

This makes sense because of course as you go down further there is less and less sunlight, and therefore the temperature of the water drops.

Many carbonate minerals will do this. However since this is a chemistry homework question – I’m guessing for GCSE – then almost certainly the answer they are looking for is calcium carbonate, because this equation often needs to be learnt and then perhaps balanced in an exam question.

Earth’s mantle – what is it made of – well, many things indeed, but mainly the following:

Compounds of the following metals or semi-metals, along with oxygen compounds:

1) Iron compounds

2) Magnesium compounds

3) Aluminum compounds

4) Silicon compounds

The simplest way to answer this is to define each term, so you can see:

1) A canyon is a deep valley with steep sides thinks of the Grand Canyon most famously to visualize what this is.

2) A gorge is a deep ravine, which usually has a river running through it – though this does not have to be the case.

3) Finally, a valley is any depression, usually of a certain length, in the surface of the land and often contains a river.

Therefore, a canyon is a specific type of valley, with particularly steep sides. A gorge is a deep depression that will usually contain a river.

Ablation is a technical term for the loss of snow and ice from a glacier. The process occurs by a combination of the two physical processes, melting, and evaporation, caused by the warming of the relevant ice on the glacier. It may be thought this would be most prevalent at the top of a glacier, however actually it occurs more at the foot – for the simple reason that temperatures tend to be higher here.

Pangaea is used to describe the state where all the land on earth was one great big landmass and therefore there was just one ocean too which was everything that surrounded that land mass.

Therefore, before Pangaea or all the land was linked you are asking whether the land was previously split before it came together. That is possible – we do not know the answer. However, we read about it and current theory suggests that yes there have been break ups and come together forming super continents before, though this hardly seems set in stone.

Igneous rocks are formed through volcanic action and because of volcanic activity.

Sedimentary rock takes a long time to form and is dead bits of animals laid down in the sea and compressed over millions of years to form rock; anywhere you see sedimentary rock you are seeing the remains of creatures that were once in the ocean a long time ago.

Metamorphic rock is formed through a combination of heat and pressure inside the earth.

Igneous rocks are those that form from volcanoes and volcanic activity.

Sedimentary rocks are laid down over great time in oceans and are the results of compression on dead organic matter like small sea animals and so on.

Metamorphic rock is a change that occurs to igneous or sedimentary rock in the earth’s crust due to the immense heat and pressure there acting on those rocks and chemically and physically changing their properties.

Various ways and techniques can be used. With many mountains, the rock in the mountain can be sampled and then a dating technique applied to find the age.

For instance, radiometric dating may be used to find the age of the rock. These techniques exploit the half-life of naturally occurring radioactive isotopes of elements present in tiny quantities to help work out how old something is.

With some mountains other techniques may be used, for instance at a plate boundary scientists may be able to wind back time to work out when the plates must have collided and formed mountain ranges such as the Himalayas.

The earth has only very recently been accurately dated. Until astonishingly recently, the earth was thought to be anywhere between a few hundred thousand and a few million years old. Now it is thought that the Earth is 4.6 billion years old, and was formed by interstellar dust coming together and being attracted to an increasingly strong gravitational force. Incidentally, life is thought to have arisen relatively early in the earth’s existence – just 3.5 – 4 billion years ago!

Minerals or small particles of rocks, become rocks through pressure and temperature, often deep inside the earth’s core, or simply through pressure for instance on the seabed.

Wherever many small things become something big it is usually through compression, temperature, or pressure.

The opposite process – large things being worn into smaller particles – usually comes through another sort of force. Either weathering, erosion – action by wind, rain, and water – is responsible.

Gradually many rocks are eroded by movement of ice and water over them or the wind action also to become finer and finer and form little grains – e.g. of sand or of soil.

By offering more rights and giving better treatment, more freedom and better options it was hoped to reduce the conflict and pre-empt problems from occurring because of this.

There is no answer to this as it varies very much depending on the type of soil you are talking about and the conditions on earth at the time.

In places that are very warm or very wet with fast moving waters for instance then times are quicker than places where very little happens for thousands of years at a time.

However, the process is very slow indeed and therefore, you would be looking at hundreds of years to produce an inch of soil – and 1,000 years+ to get two or more inches.

A hypothesis is a postulation as to what could be the case; it is a suggestion as to something that accurately models and explains some aspect in reality.

Then the hypothesis can be tested by getting it to make a prediction, then performing the actual experiment it predicts the outcome of, and see if the outcome matches the prediction.

The more experiments in practice the hypothesis can model and explain the better it is seen to be.