AY 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 13: Plate Tectonics, Solar Wind, Terrestrial Planet
Document Summary
Plate tectonics, erosion, planetary magnetic fields, the jovian planets. A geological process where the thin lithosphere of a planet is broken into pieces called plates. It is believed that heat flowing inside the earth drives the movement of plates. The ea(cid:396)th"s su(cid:396)fa(cid:272)e has a(cid:271)out a doze(cid:374) plates. Flowing liquid, fast winds, and sheets of moving ice at the surface of a terrestrial planet can lead to erosion, or the slow disintegration of surface features. Is a significant geological process mainly on earth, but also on mars. Can wear down mountains, carve canyons, and sculpt bizarre features like th delicate. The pattern of field lines is called a dipole magnetic field. The ea(cid:396)th"s (cid:373)ag(cid:374)eti(cid:272) field is ge(cid:374)e(cid:396)ated (cid:271)y a dy(cid:374)a(cid:373)o a(cid:272)tio(cid:374), a(cid:374)d (cid:272)o(cid:374)(cid:448)e(cid:272)tio(cid:374) i(cid:374) a li(cid:395)uid (and electrically conducting) outer iron core lead to current loops deep inside. The solar wind disto(cid:396)ts the ea(cid:396)th"s (cid:373)ag(cid:374)eti(cid:272) field (cid:271)e(cid:272)ause (cid:272)ha(cid:396)ged pa(cid:396)ti(cid:272)les (cid:272)a(cid:374)(cid:374)ot (cid:272)(cid:396)oss field lines but can move along field lines.
