Isostasy: earth's crust in equilibrium.
 

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The outer part of the Earth can be viewed as a water filled balloon - a thin, flexible cover over deformable material. Pressure applied (due to glaciers in this example) to the cover forces the fluid to move away until a new balance is reached. Removal of the pressure (ice melting) allows the fluid (liquid rock) to migrate back, restoring equilibrium.

 
Unconformity is a buried erosion surface that represents a gap in the rock record.
 
 
The four principal types of drainage pattern are related to the underlying regional geology. They are: Dendritic (random), Rectangular, Radial and Trellis (block).
 

The shapes in the light blue are how the drainage patterns would look for each of the different landscapes.

 
When a rock is broken into smaller pieces, surface area increases and weathering rate increases.
 
 
Mineral properties depend on internal atomic arrangement.
 
When carbon atoms are arranged like above, they form a diamond.
 
When carbon atoms are arrange like above, they form graphite. Notice how the arrangement of atoms are different between the diamond and the graphite.
 
Ocean crust is thin, dense and basaltic.
 
 
Continental crust is thick, less dense and granitic.
 
 
Sedimentary rocks commonly layered and almost all fossils form in sedimentary environments.
 

 
Igneous rock: cools fast: small crystals; cools slow: large crystals.
 

Notice large crystals caused by slow cooling

Notice very small crystals caused by fast cooling

 
Metamorphic- banded-distorted structure.
 

 

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