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Plate Tectonics SG
Flora - Plate Tectonics Vocabulary Study Guide Stack
Question | Answer |
---|---|
the proposed supercontinent that broke apart and formed the present landmasses | Pangaea |
the boundary between two tectonic plates that are moving away from each other | divergent boundary |
an instrument that records magnetic data that is used to study Earth’s magnetic field | magnetometer |
the boundary between two tectonic plates that are moving toward each other | convergent boundary |
a plate boundary where oceanic crust is being pushed down into the mantle beneath a second plate | subduction zone |
hypothesis that the continents were once joined to form a supercontinent which broke into pieces and the continents drifted to their present day positions | continental drift |
a boundary in which two plates slide past one another without creating or destroying lithosophere | transform fault boundary |
the rigid, outer layer of Earth that is composed of the crust and upper part of the mantle | lithosphere |
the theory that Earth’s crust and upper mantle (lithosphere) are broken into sections (plates) that slowly move and interact with each other at their boundaries | plate tectonics |
the process by which plate tectonics produces new oceanic lithosphere at ocean ridges | seafloor spreading |
the process in which warm, less dense material rises from the mantle to the lithosphere, moves horizontally, cools and sinks back to the mantle | convection current |
the weak plasticlike layer of the mantle that is below the lithosphere | asthenosphere |
a deep faulted structure found along a divergent plate boundary on the seafloor or on land | rift valley |
a surface feature on the seafloor produced by the descending plate during subduction | trench |