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Plate Tectonics
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Pangea | the "supercontinent" that existed 245 million years ago that included all of the continents being connected |
| tectonic plates | the divided pieces of the lithosphere that move along the asthenosphere. The plates fit together like a puzzle, but vary in size, shape and thickness. Oceanic plates are more dense than continental plates. |
| plate tectonics | large scale movements of the Earth's lithosphere-explains how the continents move and how features of Earth's crust form |
| sea-floor spreading | molten rock that rises through the cracks in the ridges, cools and forms new oceanic crust. The old crust breaks away and the sea-floor spreads apart |
| Continental Drift | Alfred Wegener proposed that the continents were once one big "supercontinent", a large landmass, that broke and drifted apart |
| convergent boundaries | when 2 tectonic plates collide |
| divergent boundaries | 2 tectonic plates move away from each other allowing the asthenosphere to rise toward the surface and partially melt and become lava that cools and forms new rock on the ocean floor (mid ocean ridges). Most divergent boundaries are located on the ocean f |
| transform boundaries | 2 plates that move away from each other horizontally. The movement is not smooth, but creates much friction that results in what we know to be as earthquakes |
| rift zone | an area of deep cracks that forms between two tectonic plates that are pulling away from each other |
| subduction | the sideways and downward movement of the edge of a plate of the earth's crust into the asthenosphere beneath another plate. |
| fault | a crack in the earth's crust resulting from the displacement of one side with respect to the other |
| earthquake | Shaking and vibration at the surface of the earth resulting from energy released in the form of seismic waves that occur along a fault plane from volcanic activity |
| volcano | A vent or fissure in the Earth's surface through which magma and gases are expelled |
| convection | drags the plates along as mantle material moves beneath them |
| hot spot | An area where magma from deep within the mantle melts through the crust above it |
| mid-ocean ridges | large underwater mountain ranges that form along cracks in the crust |
| 2 converging continental plates | when 2 continental plates collide the plates thicken and raise up to form mountains, |
| Continental plate converge with a oceanic plate | when an oceanic and a continental plate collides the more dense oceanic plates sinks down into the asthenosphere (the subduction zone) |
| 2 oceanic plates converge | the older, more dense plate sinks down into the subduction zone |
| ridge push | moves plates away from mid-ocean ridges as rock cools and becomes more dense |
| slab pull | tugs plates along as the dense edge of a plate sinks beneath Earth's surface |
Created by:
KellyKirvin
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