click below
click below
Normal Size Small Size show me how
Plate Tectonics JC
Plate Tectonics for Junior Certificate students
Term | Definition |
---|---|
Crust | The Earth's outer skin, made of solid rock between 10km and 60km thick. |
Mantle | A layer of hot, soft rock in a molten of semi-molten state with temperatures of about 4000c. |
Core | Found at the centre of the Earth and made of nickel and iron, this is the hottest layer of the Earth, at over 5000c |
Magma | The molten or semi-molten material that makes up the Earth's mantle. |
Plates | The sections that the Earth's crust is broken into. |
Plate tectonics | The theory that attempts to explain the movement of plates and the features that result. |
Convection currents | The movement of magma in a circular motion as it is heated by the core. |
Transform boundary | Plates that slide past each other , neither creating or destroying crust. |
Destructive boundary | Where plates collide causing crust to be destroyed as the heavier plate is forced down in to the mantle where it melts. |
Constructive boundary | Where plates separate causing new crust to be created as magma rises to the surface cools and solidifies. |
Continental drift | The process by which the plates drift on the mantle carrying the continents with them, |
Pangaea | The singular large landmass when all the continental plates were connected. |