Term | Definition |
tectonic plates | enormous moving pieces of the earths lithosphere. |
plates | the crust is broken into different ... |
plates | slowly drift atop a liquid mantal. |
divergent | plates move apart, spreading horizontally. |
convergent | plates collide, causing either one plate to dive under the other or the edges of both plates to crumble. |
transform | plates slide past each other. create earthquakes and volcanoes. |
volcano | a mountain with a crater through which lava, rock fragments, hot vapor, and gas are being or have been erupted from the earths crust. |
lava | magma that has reached the earths surface. most volcanoes erupt with volcanic ash, which makes the area great for farming. |
volcanic ash | what can create its own weather ? |
narrow stream of hot mantle coming up from the mantle through the crust.. | creates chains of volcanoes as the plate moves across the hot spot (hawaiian islands, Galapagos Islands) |
the ring of fire | the most active volcano and earthquake zone on earth. |
earthquake | violent movement of the earth as the plates grind or slip past each other at a fault. |
fault line | fracture in the earths crust where plates move past eachother. |
hot spots | narrow stream of hot mantle coming up from the mantle through the crust. |
tsunami | a giant wave in the ocean caused by an underwater earthquake. |
seismograph | a devise that measures the size of the waves created by an earthquake |
epicenter | point directly above the focus of an earthquake on the earths surface. |
richter scale | uses information collected by seismographs to determine the strengh of an earthquake |