Plate Tectonics Review
Pearson Prentice Hall Science Explorer's chapter on Plate Tectonics
Terms
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- scientific theory
- a well tested concept that explains a wide range of observations
- transform boundary
- a place where two plates slip past each other, moving in opposite directions
- convection
- type of heat transfer when water (or chicken soup) comes to a full, rolling boil
- conduction
- type of heat transfer you feel when you accidentally touch a hot pan
- deep-ocean trenches
- deep underground canyons where oceanic crust sinks back into the mantle
- crust
- the layer of rock that forms Earth's outer skin; includes both dry land and the ocean floor
- Plate Tectonics
- pieces of Earth's lithosphere are in slowl, constant motion, driven by convection currents in the mantle
- Pacific Ocean
- the ocean that is shrinking because of many subduction zones
- subduction
- the process where the ocean floor sinks back into the mantle
- Evidence from Climate Change
- continents contained land features and fossil evidence of life no longer able to live in the current climate as evidence that the continents had drifted
- subduction zone
- this occurs when an oceanic plate converges with continental plate and the more dense oceanic crust sinks under the continental crust
- seismic waves
- energy produced by earthquakes; by studying these geologists can learn about the structure of Earth
- mid-ocean ridge
- a mountain range on the ocean floor where new crust is added
- pressure
- results from a force pressing on an area
- lithosphere
- the uppermost part of the mantle and crust together form this rigid layer
- convection current
- the flow that transfers heat within a fluid, happens in Earth's mantle
- asthenosphere
- layer of the mantle that has the consistency of hot, softened road tar and can bend like plastic
- inner core
- a dense ball of solid metal under so much pressure that it cannot become a liquid
- Sea Floor Spreading
- the theory that new crust is constantly being added to the oceanic crust at mid-ocean ridges
- Pangaea
- the supercontinent that existed about 300 million years ago
- conduction
- type of heat transfer between materials that are touching
- Wegener's hypothesis rejected
- because he could not explain the force that pushes or pulls continents
- radiation
- transfer of energy through space with no direct contact necessary
- mantle
- the layer of hot but solid rock under earth's crust
- divergent boundary
- where two plates move apart, most are along mid-ocean ridges
- Evidence from fossils
- Remains of organisms found on widely separated land masses
- mountain ranges
- formed when two continental plates converge and neither is denser than the other so no subduction occurs
- mantle
- the layer of Earth's interior affected by convection currents
- rift valley
- when a divergent boundary happens on land, this forms
- magnetic stripes
- provide evidence of sea floor spreading when they show the reversal of magnetic fields
- Atlantic Ocean
- the ocean that is growing wider because of sea floor spreading
- granite
- much of earth's continental crust is made of this rock
- Lithospheric Plates
- a section of earth's lithosphere that carries continents
- outer core
- a layer of molten metal in earth's center that scientists believe causes earth's magnetic field
- core
- the part of the earth's interior that is made mostly of iron and nickel
- radiation
- type of heat transfer when you feel the sun's rays warm your face
- convection
- transfer of energy through the movement of a fluid (liquid or gas) when warmer fluids rise and cooler, denser fluids sink
- fault
- break or crack in Earth's crust where rocks have slipped past each other
- Plate Tectonics
- this theory explains the formation, movement, and subduction of earth's plates
- convergent boundary
- where two plates push together and collide
- Alfred Wegener
- German scientists who developed Continental Drift theory
- basalt
- most oceanic crust is made of this rock