South American Plate: Tectonic Boundary and Movement
The South American plate is the smallest of all major plates that includes the continent of South America and a large portion of the Atlantic Ocean.
Articles
How Trees Grow from Carbon Dioxide and Water
For the most part, trees growth is from carbon dioxide and rain water. So most of the dry mass of trees is made from the contents of the air and water.
What Is a Geophysicist?
Geophysicists study the physical processes that relate to Earth. For example, they work in seismic, marine and gravity for subsurface investigations.
Coriolis Effect: Air Circulation in the Atmosphere
The Coriolis effect is the deflection of air due to Earth’s rotation. Air veers to the right in the northern hemisphere. And vice versa south of the equator.
Ecology Careers: What Do Ecologist Do?
Working in ecology is seeing conservation in action. These 7 questions and answers evaluate ecologists career for salary, job duties and potential employers.
What is a Cinder Cone Volcano (Scoria Cone)?
Cinder cones (also known as spatter cones) are the most common type of volcano in the world. But they are small in comparison to stratovolcanoes and others.
Shape of the Earth: The Oblate Spheroid
Earth is not a perfect sphere. In fact, it’s in the shape of an oblate spheroid. Earth shape bulges at the equator and flattens at the north and south pole.
Chandler Wobble: Why Earth Wobbles Like a Toy Top
Earth spins on its axis of rotation. But it doesn’t spin perfectly. Like a toy top, it wobbles when it spins. This displacement is the Chandler Wobble.
How Do Sedimentary Rocks Form?
Sedimentary rocks form from two key processes. First, compaction squeezes material together. Second, cementing glues the squeezed material together.
Proterozoic Eon: Eukaryotes to Multicellular Life (2500 to 541 million years ago)
In the Proterozoic Eon, key highlights are: ozone layer thickened, an oxygen crisis, Snowball Earth and eukaryotes and multicellular organisms evolved.
How the Rock Cycle Recycles Earth’s Crust
If you could speed up time, you would see rocks cycling from within the planet. Like a well-oiled machine, rocks are igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic.
What Do Meteorologists Do?
Meteorologists partake in weather prediction. They understand atmospheric chemistry and physics and how they relate to weather and climate patterns.
Chemical Weathering: Hydrolysis, Oxidation and Acidic Reactions
Chemical weathering is the process of transforming a rock’s composition through chemical reactions (by dissolving or converting them into other minerals)
Eurasian Plate: Tectonic Boundary and Movement
Sandwiched between the North American & African Plates, the Eurasian Plate consists of parts of Europe, Russia, Asia as well as the Atlantic & Arctic Ocean.
What is Earth’s Escape Velocity?
The escape velocity of Earth (11.186 km/s) is the speed at which a free object must travel to escape into space from the planet’s gravitational pull.