Earth Science Vocabulary
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A landform is a natural structure found on the surface of the Earth.
A volcano is a mountain made from hardened lava, rocks, and ash.
3. An earthquake is the shaking of the Earth’s crust.
A glacier is a huge piece of ice that slowly moves across the Earth.
Weathering is the breaking down of rock on the Earth’s surface. Weathering is caused
by water, wind, and ice.
6. Erosion is the movement of weathered particles. Erosion carries weathered materials
away from a place by water, wind, or ice.
7. Deposition is the dropping off of eroded particles in a new place.
8. Delta is a triangle-shaped (deposit) landform at the mouth of a river as it empties into
another body of water.
9. A canyon is a deep gorge in the surface of the Earth formed by the erosion of moving
water and sand.
10. Natural Resources are materials in the environment that are useful to people. They
come from the Earth.
11. Renewable Resources are natural resources that can be replaced or produced again.
Example: trees
12. Inexhaustible Resources are resources that humans can use and never use up. Example: solar
energy
13. Nonrenewable Resources are resources that will be used up and can never be replaced.
Example: fossil fuels
14. Fossil Fuels are nonrenewable flammable materials made from the remains of plants and
animals buried in the Earth’s crust for millions of years. They are used to produce heat and
power. Fossil fuels: coal, oil and natural gas
15. Alternative Energy Resource – energy generated by natural processes that are renewable.
16. Wind Energy is energy that comes from changing the power of moving air into a useful form.
17. Solar Energy is energy that comes from the Sun.
18. Bio Fuel is fuel made from plants and plant waste.
19. Weather describes the condition of the air outdoors, such as temperature, cloud cover, wind
speed and rainfall.
20. Climate is the average weather conditions of a region year after year.
21. Rotation – a 24 hour period, or the time it takes Earth to make one complete rotation on its axis.
22. Orbit – the path one object takes as it revolves, or goes around, another object is space.