Earth and Space Science
What this domain tests
Earth and Space Science covers Earth's materials and systems, plate tectonics, weather and climate, the water and rock cycles, and astronomy. Questions emphasize cause-and-effect reasoning, geologic evidence, and scale.
Core rules
- Igneous rocks form from cooling magma or lava, sedimentary rocks from compaction and cementation of sediments, and metamorphic rocks from heat and pressure.
- Plate boundaries explain earthquakes, volcanoes, and mountain belts: divergent boundaries create new crust, convergent boundaries recycle or crumple crust, and transform boundaries slide.
- Earth's seasons result from axial tilt and changing solar angle, not distance from the Sun.
- Moon phases depend on the Moon's orbital position relative to Earth and Sun; they are not caused by Earth's shadow except during a lunar eclipse.
- Weather is short-term atmospheric condition; climate is long-term statistical pattern.
Worked example
A seismograph records P-waves arriving 4 minutes before S-waves. Because P-waves travel faster, the arrival-time difference increases with distance from the epicenter. A travel-time curve converts that difference into a distance from one station; a single distance gives a circle of possible locations. Three stations' circles intersect at the epicenter. The reasoning uses wave-speed differences and triangulation, not the amplitude alone.
Traps
Do not explain summer by closeness to the Sun; axial tilt is the cause. Do not claim the Moon's phases come from Earth's shadow. Avoid treating the rock cycle as one-way, and do not confuse weather with climate. For plate tectonics, identify boundary type before predicting hazards.