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Tectonic Plates
Plate Tectonic Quiz
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Pangaea | When all of the continents were together as a supercontinent 300 million years ago. |
| Continental Drift | The idea that the continents are slowly moving |
| Alfred Wegener | He came up with the theories of Pangaea and Continental Drift |
| Plates | Pieces of the Earth’s crust |
| The Theory of Plate Tectonics | Pieces of the Earth’s crust are in constant, slow motion, driven by convection in the mantle |
| Transform Boundary | When two plates slip past each other, moving in opposite directions. Earthquakes are common here. |
| Earthquake | friction caused by plates rubbing against each other. |
| Divergent Boundary | When two plates move apart. |
| Mid-Ocean Ridge | An underwater mountain ridge formed by diverging plates |
| Seafloor Spreading | The process that continually adds new crust to the ocean floor |
| Rift Valley | The place where two continental plates pull apart at a divergent boundary |
| Convergent Boundary | When two plates come together. Volcanoes and mountain ranges are common here. |
| Subduction | The process of a dense oceanic plate sliding below a less dense continental plate |
| Hot Spot | A place where part of the mantle with very high temperatures rises through the crust causing volcanic eruptions |
| Cinder Cone Volcano | Most common type of volcano, they tend to be smaller than other volcanoes. They often have craters at their top and can form on other volcanoes. |
| Shield Volcano | This type of volcano produces mostly non-explosive eruptions that can be very long lasting. They most often form at oceanic crust and divergent boundaries. They tend to have gently sloping sides. |
| Stratovolcano | Synonym for composite volcano |
| Composite Volcano | Steep-sided, symmetrical cones with alternating layers of volcanic rock particles and ash, and lava. They tend to be tall and can have snow covered peaks. |
| P-waves | the fastest earthquake waves that move back and forth in the same direction that the wave is moving. |
| S-waves | slowest earthquake wave that moves up and down perpendicular to the direction of the wave. |
| Crust | The least dense layer of the Earth that floats on the mantle below. |
| Continental crust | The thickest and least dense of the two types of crust |
| Oceanic crust | The thinnest and most dense of the two types of crust |
Created by:
Marquart
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