Based on the diagram, which of the following is a possible sequence of events within the rock cycle?

Source: https://opentextbc.ca/geology/chapter/3-1-the-rock-cycle/

Mercury is 0.39 AU from the Sun. How many miles is Mercury from the Sun?

Size and Distance of the Solar System

The solar system extends much farther than the eight planets that orbit the sun. The solar system also includes the Kuiper Belt that lies past Neptune's orbit. This is a sparsely occupied ring of icy bodies, almost all smaller than the most popular Kuiper Belt Object, dwarf planet Pluto.

And beyond the fringes of the Kuiper belt is the Oort Cloud. This giant spherical shell surrounds our solar system. It has never been directly observed, but its existence is predicted based on mathematical models and observations of comets that likely originate there.

The Oort Cloud is made of icy pieces of space debris the size of mountains and sometimes larger, orbiting our sun as far as 1.6 light years away. This shell of material is thick, extending from 5,0005,000 astronomical units to 100,000100,000 astronomical units. One astronomical unit (or AU) is the distance from the sun to Earth, or about 93 million miles (150 million kilometers). The Oort Cloud is the boundary of the sun's gravitational influence, where orbiting objects can turn around and return closer to our sun.

Source: https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/solarsystem/indepth

Suppose there are 25 g of carbon-14 in an organism.

How much carbon-14 will be present 5,730 years after the organism dies?

Carbon-14 Dating

Dr. Jonnes, an expert archeologist, was giving a presentation about his most recent dig site in Egypt. He showed pictures of mummies, seed samples, and papyrus scrolls and said they were between four and five thousand years old.

As Levi listened to the presentation, he wondered how Dr. Jonnes knew for sure how old the samples were. He decided to ask his chemistry professor since they had recently had a lesson about how carbon makes up all living things.

Levi and his professor then had the following conversation:

Levi: “Professor, how did Dr. Jonnes know that the artifacts were between four and five thousand years old?”

Professor: “That is a great question! They use a process called carbon-14 dating.”

Levi: “Oh - we’ve learned about carbon in this class! Is it the same thing?”

Professor:"It's very similar. The carbon we have talked about is carbon-12. It has an atomic number of six and a mass number of 12. Remember that an element’s atomic number tells the number of protons in one atom and the number of protons is equal to the number of electrons. An element’s mass number tells the sum of the protons and neutrons. Carbon-14 has the same atomic number, but a different mass number. In carbon-14, the mass number is 14 instead of 12.”

Levi: "How does carbon-14 dating work?”

Professor:"Well, as we learned in our recent lesson, all living things are made of carbon. What we didn’t discuss is that there are different types of carbon. Almost all of the carbon that makes up living organisms is carbon-12, but there is also a very tiny amount amount of carbon-14. As long as a plant or animal is alive, it will have a fairly constant amount of carbon-14. This is because even though carbon-14 slowly decays over time, the living organism will also ingest more carbon-14 at about the same rate. Plants absorb carbon-14 during photosynthesis and animals absorb carbon-14 when they eat plants.”

Levi: “But what happens when plants, animals, and people die?”

Professor:“When living organisms die, they stop ingesting more carbon-14. Every 5,730 years, the amount of carbon-14 is cut in half as it slowly decays. Scientists can then measure the amount of carbon-14 left in an organism and use the half-life to approximate when it died.”

Levi: “Ah, so that’s how Dr. Jonnes came up with that date! Thanks, Professor!”

Neptune is 30.06 AU from the Sun. How many miles is Neptune from the Sun?

Size and Distance of the Solar System

The solar system extends much farther than the eight planets that orbit the sun. The solar system also includes the Kuiper Belt that lies past Neptune's orbit. This is a sparsely occupied ring of icy bodies, almost all smaller than the most popular Kuiper Belt Object, dwarf planet Pluto.

And beyond the fringes of the Kuiper belt is the Oort Cloud. This giant spherical shell surrounds our solar system. It has never been directly observed, but its existence is predicted based on mathematical models and observations of comets that likely originate there.

The Oort Cloud is made of icy pieces of space debris the size of mountains and sometimes larger, orbiting our sun as far as 1.6 light years away. This shell of material is thick, extending from 5,0005,000 astronomical units to 100,000100,000 astronomical units. One astronomical unit (or AU) is the distance from the sun to Earth, or about 93 million miles(150 million kilometers150 million kilometers). The Oort Cloud is the boundary of the sun's gravitational influence, where orbiting objects can turn around and return closer to our sun.

Source: https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/solarsystem/indepth

Which of the following areas of the map is associated with the lowest surface salinity levels?

Salinity of the World Oceans

Source: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/aquarius/multimedia/gallery/pia14786.html

Based on the graph, about how many Chinook salmon were reported in the Salish Sea for the year 1993?

Chinook Salmon in the Salish Sea

The Salish Sea is home to seven different species of Pacific Salmonids, including the Chinook. Chinook are the largest salmon and play a critical role in supporting and maintaining ecological health.

Salmon provide food for a variety of wildlife, from bald eagles to killer whales to grizzly bears. Because salmon die after spawning, their carcasses also provide abundant food and nutrients to plants and animals, including tiny aquatic insects and other invertebrates that in turn provide food for other animals.

During their life cycle, salmon transfer energy and nutrients between the Pacific Ocean and freshwater and land habitats. Since Chinook are the largest salmonid, they contribute the largest amount of biomass (organic matter) per fish to the ecosystem. In fact, in areas that have experienced dramatic declines in salmon, there is a measurable deficit of nutrients to help support the ecosystem.

Source: https://www.epa.gov/salish-sea/chinook-salmon

Choose the phrase that best completes the following sentence:

Asteroids can be found orbiting the Sun between _____.

Asteroids

Asteroids, sometimes called minor planets, are rocky remnants left over from the early formation of our solar system about 4.6 billion years ago.

Most of this ancient space rubble can be found orbiting the sun between Mars and Jupiter within the main asteroid belt. Asteroids range in size from Vesta - the largest at about 329 miles (530 kilometers) in diameter - to bodies that are less than 33 feet (10 meters) across. The total mass of all the asteroids combined is less than that of Earth's Moon.

Most asteroids are irregularly shaped, though a few are nearly spherical, and they are often pitted or cratered. As they revolve around the sun in elliptical orbits, the asteroids also rotate, sometimes quite erratically, tumbling as they go. More than 150 asteroids are known to have a small companion moon (some have two moons). There are also binary (double) asteroids, in which two rocky bodies of roughly equal size orbit each other, as well as triple asteroid systems.

The three broad composition classes of asteroids are C-, S-, and M-types. The C-type (chondrite) asteroids are most common, probably consist of clay and silicate rocks, and are dark in appearance. They are among the most ancient objects in the solar system. The S-types ("stony") are made up of silicate materials and nickel-iron. The M-types are metallic (nickel-iron). The asteroids' compositional differences are related to how far from the sun they formed. Some experienced high temperatures after they formed and partly melted, with iron sinking to the center and forcing basaltic (volcanic) lava to the surface. Only one such asteroid, Vesta, survives to this day.

Source: https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/asteroids/indepth https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asteroid#/media/File:(253)_mathilde.jpg

What causes the mantle to flow?

The Mantle of the Earth

The Earth is made up of four distinct and unique layers: crust, mantle, outer core, and inner core. The crust of the Earth is the outermost layer and is made of solid rock. The mantle is beneath the crust and is made of very hot, dense rock. At 1800 miles thick, the mantle of the earth is the largest of Earth’s four layers. Because it is so thick, it has a large variation in temperature. The outermost portion of the mantle (the part that is closest to the crust) has a temperature of 500 to 900 degrees (Celsius). The interior of the mantle (the part closest to the outer core) reaches more than 4000 degrees (Celsius). At this temperature, some of the rocks melt, creating a semi-molten rock called magma.

Because part of the mantle is magma, it has semi-liquid properties. Continents, which float on the mantle, end up moving over time due to the movement of the mantle below. This phenomenon is referred to as plate tectonics.

Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/07/Earth_poster.svg/350px-Earth_poster.svg.png

Tides are the twice-daily rise and fall of water along the shores of the oceans. Tides aew caused mainly by the gravitational pull of the moon, and secondarily by the gravitational pull of the sun. The highest tides, called spring tides, occur when the sun, moon, and Earth are in line. Other high tides, called neap tides, occur when the sun and moon are at right angles with respect to the sun.

Which of the following statements is supported by the information above?