Physical Geography Quiz 3

The Earth rotates on its own axis and it is tilted at an angle of 23.5° with respect to its orbital plane; this causes the occurrence of seasons.

Magma contains dissolved gases and lava does not. Gas gives magmas their explosive character because the volume of gas expands as pressure is reduced. The composition of the gases in magma are: mostly H₂O (water vapor) and some CO₂ minor amounts of sulphur, chlorine, and fluorine gases.

Tsunami is a Japanese word meaning 'harbor wave', and is sometimes called seismic sea wave.

Barometers are used to predict the weather. A barometer measures air pressure. Sudden fall in barometer reading indicates stormy weather. Storms are created when a centre of low pressure develops with a system of high pressure surrounding it.

Fog is an aerosol, a type of colloid consisting of a liquid (water) dispersed in a gas (air).

Mohorovicic Discontinuity is the boundary that separates the Earth's crust from the subjacent mantle at depths of 30–50 km below the continents and 5–10 km below sea level in the oceans.

The Earth is covered with 71% of water and remaining 29% is land. Deserts make up about 33% or 1/​3rd of earth's land area.

El Nino is a warm ocean current. El Nino condition occurs when surface water in the equatorial Pacific becomes warmer than average and east winds blow weaker than normal. The opposite condition is called La Nino.

A supernova is the biggest explosion that humans have ever seen. Each blast is the extremely bright, super-powerful explosion of a star.

The tundra climate region occurs between 60° and 75° of latitude, mostly along the Arctic coast of North America, Eurasia (Europe and Asia) and on the coastal margins of Greenland.