Homework 6 (even though it says 5 on MasteringAstronomy)

--- PROBLEM 1 ---

1. The slowly increasing distance between South America and Africa is due to seafloor spreading.
2. Old Faithful Geyser at Yellowstone National Park in the United States acquires its energy from a hot spot.
3. Layered sedimentary rock exposed by erosion can be seen when looking at the Grand Canyon in the United States.
4. Australia is composed of relatively old and thick continental crust.
5. The extremely deep ocean Marianas Trench is a result of subduction.
6. Seafloor crust found in the Atlantic Ocean between North America and Europe is composed of dense and relatively young rock.
7. The earthquakes that occur in Southern California generally occur above a fault.

--- PROBLEM 2 ---

Venus: runaway greenhouse effect, sulphuric acid clouds, almost no wind.

Earth: atmosphere composed primarily of nitrogen, ultraviolet-absorbing stratosphere.

Mars: extremely low density atmosphere, global dust storms.

--- PROBLEM 3 ---

Volcanism: smooth surfaces of the lunar maria, Big Island of Hawaii, Mars's Olympus Mons

Impact cratering: Mercury's many long, tall cliffs, old surface features of the lunar highlands

Erosion: Earth's Grand Canyon, Mars's Valles Marineris

Tectonics: current locations of Earth's continents

--- PROBLEM 4 ---

Shown below are the four terrestrial planets of our solar system. Assume that all the planets started out equally hot inside. Rank the planets based on their expected cooling rates, from fastest cooling to slowest cooling.

Mercury, Mars, Venus, Earth

Shown following are three terrestrial planets of our solar system. Rank the planets based on the amount of time the surface of the planet has had a moderate to high level of volcanic/tectonic activity, from longest to shortest.

Earth, Mars, Mercury