STAAR Reporting Category 3 Earth and Space

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STAAR Reporting Category 3Earth and Space

• Middle School Science
• Science STAAR Need to Know

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Rock Cycle
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Sedimentary
Igneous
Metamorphic
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Plate Tectonics
Plate tectonics explains the movement of large
sections of Earths crust called tectonic plates.
The force behind tectonic plate movement is
thought to be currents of magma flowing in
Earths mantle.
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PLATE TECTONICS
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Plate boundaries

• Tectonic plates slowly collide against one
  another along plate boundaries. Sections of the
  plates may break off and be pushed down, up, or
  to the side. Mountain ranges, ocean trenches,
  earthquakes volcanic activity are all common
  along plate boundaries.

Pacific Plate is the largest
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San Andreas fault
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Changes in the Earth over time
Weathering- the process of rocks being broken
down into smaller pieces.
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Two types of Weathering

• Mechanical
• Rocks break into smaller pieces by physical means
  
• Water, ice, wind, gravity, organisms changing
  temperatures

• Chemical
• Rocks break into smaller pieces by chemical
  reactions Air, water, acid salts react with
  minerals in rocks to form new substances

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Erosion
Destructive

• The movement of particles from one location to
  another is erosion
• Weathered particles of rock are transported by
  gravity, living organisms, water, glaciers wind.

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Deposition
Constructive

• The settling (depositing) of eroded particles as
  sediments wherever they are transported by wind
  or water.

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LAND EROSIONAL FEATURES
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• All the land that drains into a specific body of
  water.
• Groundwater and surface water both contribute to
  the water in a watershed.
• Surface water becomes groundwater by soaking into
  the sand and soil or by traveling through cracks
  in rock.

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Two important ways that oceans affect climate on
land

1. Land heats up faster than water because land has
   a lower specific heat than water does. This
   causes the air over land to heat faster than the
   air over water. The warm air rises, starting a
   convection current that pulls air toward land
   from the ocean. This keeps air over the land
   from getting too hot and brings moist ocean air
   inland.
2. Warm air holds more water vapor than cold air
   does. When warm, moist air is cooled, clouds
   form and can produce precipitation. This warm
   air can be cooled by rising into the colder upper
   atmosphere, by moving over cold ocean or lakes,
   or by mixing with colder air. (Ex. Front
   boundary- the edge where cool, dry air meets
   warm, moist air. Often causes stormy weather)

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WEATHER SYSTEM
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WEATHER SYSTEMS
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WEATHER CLIMATE
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WEATHER CLIMATE
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Nitrogen Cycle
Nitrogen changes back forth from nitrogen gas
to the nitrogen compounds used by plants
animals.
Nitrogen is passed from plants to other organisms
through food webs in the ecosystem. Once plants
animals use the nitrogen it returns to the
atmosphere as a gas, completing the cycle.
Some fertilizers contain nitrogen compounds
because plants need nitrogen to grow. Though
there is plenty of nitrogen gas in the
atmosphere, plants cant use this form. In
nature nitrogen can be changed from a gas to a
form that plants can use by lightning or by soil
bacteria and fungi in a process called nitrogen
fixation.
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Problems if too much Nitrogen in environment
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Carbon Cycle
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Effects of carbon on environment
One of the biggest ways humans affect the carbon
cycle is by burning fossil fuels. Burning fossil
fuels transforms carbon into carbon dioxide.
Higher levels of carbon dioxide cause the
atmosphere to hold more heat energy. This may be
the cause of warmer temperatures measured in
recent years on Earth. (Called The Greenhouse
Effect) This could affect the climate in many
places. The kinds of plants and animals in these
climates may change if the warming continues.
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Without the carbon and nitrogen cycles, there
would be no life on earth!
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Catastrophic events affect the earth
Earthquakes
Floods
Meteorite crater
Volcanoes
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Ways humans affect the earth

• Two common forms of pollution
• Gases released into the atmosphere
• Chemicals that are carried by water into a
  watershed

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Humans can cause extinctions

• Human can change
• The quality of the air, water soil we use
• Ecosystems by removing plants animals by
  introducing new species, such as invasive plants
  pets
• Invasive species dont naturally live in the
  ecosystem where they are introduced.
• Invasive species compete with/or drive out native
  species (species that live naturally in an
  ecosystem)

FIRE ANTS- invasive species- accidentally
introduced to North America from South America.
They have few predators in NA aggressively
attack kill many kinds of native plants
animals. They have upset the balance of
ecosystems in many southern states.
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Renewable
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Non renewable
Fossil Fuels
Natural Gas
Oil
Coal
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Inexhaustible