Social Studies September Vocabulary

the layer of gases surrounding the earth

• Atmosphere

• Hydrosphere

• Biosphere

• Lithosphere

the physical and chemical processes that change the characteristics of rock on or near the earth's surface

• steppe

• fault

• weathering

• atmosphere

a zone around the rim of the Pacific Ocean that is the location of a majority of active volcanoes

• Seismograph

• Hydrologic cycle

• Ring of Fire

• Continental Shelf

a giant wave in the ocean created by an earthquake

• ring of fire

• tsunami

• weathering

• fault

a special device that measures the size of waves created by an earthquake

• seismograph

• tectonic plates

• tsunami

• ocean

a fracture in the earth's crust

• mantle

• glacier

• tsunami

• fault

enormous moving pieces of the earth's lithosphere

• hydrologic cycle

• continential shelf

• tectonic plates

• ring of fire

a wide, treeless grassy plain

• glacier

• steppe

• fault

• tsunami

a large ice mass that moves slowly down a mountain or over land

• glacier

• steppe

• fault

• tsunami

the earth's surface from the edge of the continent to the deep part of the ocean

• ring of fire

• seismograph

• continental shelf

• hydrologic cycle