Thermal because you have to melt rocks for rocks to become other types of rocks.
Haiti, Mexico, Argentina, and Colombia all gained their independence in the early 1800’s. (there are more like Venezuela, Panama, etc.)
Racial Characteristics is important to sociologist because studying the race of a group will let them understand how the people think and interact with others. It is more valuable for the sociologist as racial characteristics are known to be biologically inherited compared to ethnic characteristics that could be influenced culturally.