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Science Plate Tecton
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| mid-ocean ridges | where youngest rocks on the seafloor are located; occur at divergent plate boundaries |
| lithosphere | the Earth's crust and upper mantle |
| asthenosphere | layer of the Earth on top of which the lithosphere floats |
| evidence of continental drift | fossils, rocks, and magnetic reversals recorded in the seafloor |
| continental drift | the hypothesis that continents have slowly moved to their current locations |
| divergent boundaries | boundaries where plates move apart Example: the Great Rift Valley in Africa |
| Pangaea | a single super-continent that once existed |
| transform boundaries | boundaries where tectonic plates slide past each other Example: the San Andres Fault in the United States |
| convergent boundaries | boundary between two plates moving together Example: the Himalayan mountain range in India |
| seafloor spreading | opening in the seafloor that causes molten material beneath the Earth' s crust to rise to the surface |
| Glossopteris | fossil plant that supports the theory of continental drift |
| magnetometer | a sensitive device used to detect magnetic fields on the seafloor |
| convection currents | currents inside the Earth that drive plate motion; the downward motion of a convection current causes tectonic plates to pull towards one another |
| Alfred Wegener | proposed the theory of continental drift, but could not explain why or how the continents could move |
| ocean ridge | vast, underwater mountain chain |
| mountain ranges | form where two continental plates collide |
| subduction zone | forms where two oceanic plates collide |
| uplift | component of the rock cycle that brings metamorphic and igneous rock to the surface |
| subduction | takes rock into the Earth where it will be melted |
| volcanic mountains | a type of mountain formed when molten rock erupts onto Earth's surface and hardens |
| plateau | area of relatively level high flat ground |
| Modified Mercalli Scale | used to evaluate earthquake intensity based on the damage that results |
| earthquake | when the force on rocks is great enough, they break, producing vibrations |
| epicenter | the location on Earth's surface directly above an earthquake's focus; three seismographs are needed to accurately locate the epicenter |
| seismic waves | energy that travels as vibrations on and in the Earth; help scientist discover changes in Earth's interior |
| reverse fault | rock above the fault surface moves upward in relation to rock below the fault surface |
| strike-slip fault | rock on either side of the fault surface move past each other |
| primary waves | the first waves to reach a seismography after an earthquake occurs |
| focus | the point in Earth's interior where the energy release of an earthquake occurs |
| Richter scale | measures the magnitude of an earthquake |
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LOM8th
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