Help
Options
Didn't know it?
click below
click below
Knew it?
click below
click below
Don't Know
Remaining cards (0)
Know
retry
shuffle
restart
0:00
Embed Code - If you would like this activity on your web page, copy the script below and paste it into your web page.
Normal Size Small Size show me how
Normal Size Small Size show me how
Plate Tectonics
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Alfred Wegener | proposed the Continental (Shift) Drift Hypothesis |
| Continental (Shift) Drift Hypothesis | proposed that all our continents today were once part of a large landmass |
| Pangaea | primal continent |
| Eduard Suess | hypothesized several ancient geographical features: Panthalassa, Gondwana, Laurasia, Tethy Ocean terms coined: shield, eastasy, biosphere |
| Cratons | stable and coherent continental crust that have undergone internal deformation |
| Shields | large tectonically inactive block of Precambrian crystalline rocks |
| Platform | underlain by relatively flat and gently tiled sedimentary rocks overlying basement units |
| Tectonics | similarities of rock types and geologic features across continents |
| Central Pangean Mountains | Remnants: Appalachians (USA), Little Atlas (Morocco), Scottish Highlands (UK) |
| Orogenies that formed the Central Pangean Mountains | Caledonian (Ordovacians), Acadian (Middle Devonian), Applachian (Devonian), Mauritanide (Carboniferous) |
| Panthalassa | superocean surrounding Pangea during the late Paleozoic- early Mesozoic referred to as Paleo-Pacific Ocean |
| Gondwana | supercontinent which includes Australia, India, Africa, South America and Antarctica |
| Laurasia | another (northern) supercontinent aside from Pangaea and Gondwana includes Europe, Asia, North America |
| Tethys Ocean | global ocean between Laurasia and Gondwana formed after the splitting of Pangaea |
| Paleoclimate | evidence from Wegener in which glacial deposits were found in South Africa, South America, Australia, and India |
| Harry Hammond Hess | proposed Seafloor spreading |
| Seafloor Spreading | Seafloor (oceanic crust) moves laterally away from long ang volcanic mid-oceanic ridges |
| Mantle Upwelling | Molten magma oozes up between plates along mid-oceanic ridge and it expands and pushes plates on the side as it cools in the ocean water |
| Paleomagnetism | study of Earth’s magnetic field in rocks |
| Apparent Polar Wander | show the change in location of the magnetic poles with respect to the continents at different points in time |
| Hot spot volcanism | localized, long-lasting hot regions below the lithosphere frame of reference for the tracking plate motions |
| Major Plates | Pacific, North American, Eurasian, African, Antarctic, Indo-Australian, South American |
| Minor Plates | Somali, Nazca, Amurian, Sunda, Philippine Sea Plate, Okhotsk, Arabian, Yangtze, Caribbean, Cocos |
| Divergent Plate Boundaries | zones where adjacent plates move away from each other spreading centers that form oceanic lithosphere |
| Convergent Plate Boundaries | zones where two plates move towards each other also called destructive plate margins where the lithosphere subducts or deforms |
| Oceanic-Continental Convergence | the denser and thinner oceanic lithosphere is subducted below the lighter yet thicker continental lithosphere accompanied by Continental Volcanic Arc |
| Oceanic-Oceanic Convergence | older, cooler, denser oceanic lithosphere subducts beneath younger, hotter, less dense oceanic lithosphere associated with Oceanic Island Arcs |
| Continental-Continental Convergence | buoyant continental lithosphere doesn’t allow it to be subducted, so continental lithosphere are sutured together results to orogenic belt |
| Transform Plate Boundaries | zones where plates slide past each other horizontally occurs in conjunction with other plate boundaries marked by transform/strike-slip fault |
| Mantle Convection | slow creeping motion of solid mantle |
| Convection Flow | Warm, buoyant mantle rocks rise and cool, dense lithospheric plates sink Mechanism of transporting heat away from Earth’s interior into the surface to be radiated into space |
| Whole Mantle/Plume Model | cold oceanic lithospheric sinks into great depths stirring the mantle subducting lithospheric slab graveyard is found at the core-mantle boundary and plumes from D” layer |
| Layer Cake Model | two zones of convection: Dynamic Upper Mantle and Sluggish Lower Mantle slabs only reach into the Transition zone |
| Slab Pull | denser subducting slabs drags/pulls the rest of the plate with them |
| Ridge Push/Gravitational Sliding | sliding of cooling rigid lithosphere down the hot and weak asthenosphere occur in mid-oceanic ridges |
| Mantle Drag | exerted by the flow of underlying lithosphere enhances or slows down the movement of overlying plate |
| Philippine Tectonics' Setting | situated between two oppositely dipping convergent zones: Eurasian (Sundaland) and Philippine Sea Plates |
| Philippine Mobile Belt | includes most of the Philippines composed of accreted island arcs and ophiolitic terranes |
| Palawan-Mindoro Continental Block | includes Palawan, Mindoro, Romblon, Buruanga Peninsula (Panay), and Zamboanga Peninsula rifted continental terranes |
| Philippine Trench-East Luzon Through System | west-dipping subduction of Eocene West Philippine Basin – Philippine Sea Plate |
| Cotabato Trench | west-dipping subduction of Eocene West Philippine Basin – Philippine Sea Plate |
| Manila Trench | east-dipping subduction of Early Oligocene to Early Miocene South China Sea |
| Negros-Sulu Trench | east-dipping subduction of Early to Middle Miocene Sulu Sea |
| Philippine Fault Zone | result of oblique subduction of Philippine Sea Plate (NW) beneath Philippine Trench Pliocene age, 1200-km long, NW-SE-trending, active left lateral strike-slip fault |
Created by:
THX
Popular Earth Science sets