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plate tectonics
plate tectonics, earthquakes and volcanoes- 22 words
| word | definition |
|---|---|
| continental drift | Wegener's hypothesis that all continents were once connected in a single large landmass that broke apart about 200 million years ago and drifted slowly to their current positins |
| Pangaea | large, ancient landmass that was composed of all the continents joined together |
| seafloor spreading | Hess's theory that new seafloor is formed when magma is forced upward toward the surface at a mid-ocean ridge |
| plate tectonics | theory that Earth's crust and upper mantle are broken into plates that float and move around on a plastic like layer of the mantle |
| plate | a large section of Earth's oceanic or continental crust and rigid upper mantle tht moves around on the asthenosphere |
| lithosphere | rigid layer of Earth about 100 km thick, made of the crust and a part of the upper mantle |
| asthenosphere | plastic like layer of Earth on which the lithospheric plates float and move around |
| convection current | current in Earth's mantle that transfers heat in Earth's interior and is the driving force for plate tectonics |
| earthquake | vibrations produced when rocks break along a fault |
| primary wave | seismic wave that moves rock particles back-and-forth in the same direction the the wave travels |
| secondary wave | seismic wave that moves rock particles at right angles the the direction of the wave |
| surface wave | seismic wave that moves rock particles up-and-down in a backward rolling motion and side-to-side in a swaying motion |
| epicenter | point on Earth's surface directly above an earthquake's focus |
| seismograph | instrument used to register earthquake waves and record the time that each arrived |
| volcano | opening in Earth's surface that erupts sulfurous gases, ash, and lava; can form at Earth's plate boundaries, where plates move apart or together, and at hot spots |
| vent | opening where magma is forced up and flows out onto Earth's surface as lave, forming a volcano |
| crater | steep-walled depression around a volcano's vent |
| hot spot | the result of an unusually hot area at the boundary between Earth's mantle and core that forms volcanoes when melted rock is forced upward and breaks through the crust |
| shield volcano | broad, gently sloping volcano formed by quiet eruptions of basaltic lava |
| cinder cone volcano | steep-sided, loosely packed volcano formed when tephra falls to the ground |
| composite volcano | volcano built by alternating explosive and quiet eruptions that produce layers of tephra and lava; found mostly where Earth's plates come together and one plate sinks below the other |
| tephra | bits of rock or solidified lava dropped from the air during an explosive volcanic eruption; ranges in size from volcanic ash to volcanic bombs and blocks |
Created by:
gerbilover10
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