Processes That Shape the Earth
Tip: Print this page out and use it as a checklist; check off the topics you're sure you know and study the ones you haven't checked.
| What you need to know: | Benchmark | Check List |
| The student knows that mechanical and chemical activities shape and reshape the Earth’s land surface by eroding rock and soil in some areas and depositing them in other areas, sometimes in seasonal layers. | SC.D.1.3.1 | |
| The student knows that over the whole Earth, organisms are growing, dying, and decaying as new organisms are produced by the old ones. | SC.D.1.3.2 | |
| The student knows how conditions that exist in one system influence the conditions that exist in other systems. | SC.D.1.3.3 | |
| The student knows the ways in which plants and animals reshape the landscape (e.g., bacteria, fungi, worms, rodents, and other organisms add organic matter to the soil, increasing soil fertility, encouraging plant growth, and strengthening resistance to erosion). | SC.D.1.3.4 AA | |
| The student understands concepts of time and size relating to the interaction of Earth’s processes (e.g., lightning striking in a split second as opposed to the shifting of the Earth’s plates altering the landscape, distance between atoms measured in Angstrom units as opposed to distance between stars measured in lightyears). | SC.D.1.3.5 | |
| The student knows the positive and negative consequences of human action on the Earth’s systems. | SC.D.2.3.2 |
Bold = Questions on this topic are asked EVERY year!