Exam 4: The Habitability of Earth

The Earth is able to recover from a snowball phase by

Igneous rocks subjected to heat and pressure beneath the surface of the Earth (assume no melting occurs) transform into

Limestone is a common type of

The end of the last snowball Earth phase roughly coincides with

A radioactive isotope is

The radioactive isotope ¹³¹I (atomic number 53) decays to the isotope ¹³¹Xe (atomic number 54). What type of radioactive decay is this?

What do we mean by the half-life of a radioactive isotope?

When an igneous rock is eroded and then becomes deposited at the bottom of an ocean it turns into

Severe, long-term cooling periods during the Earth's history are known as

How are the "geological record" and the "fossil record" related?

During the Hadean Eon, large impact events were separated by periods of

Plate boundary faults occur where plates are

Subduction on the Earth is the process by which

The most recent snowball Earth phase ended about

Differentiation is a process by which

A fossil is found in a layer of strata above one layer dated at 2 million years. From this we can deduce the age of the fossil to be

Tiny grains of zirconium silicate (zircons) found embedded in sedimentary rocks have been radiometrically dated to what age?

The Earth's lithosphere has broken up into plates because of

Granite is a common type of

The extent of thermal escape in a planetary atmosphere is dependent