Science Chapter 9
Terms
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- plate tectonics
- theory that pieces of the lithosphere are in constant motion (because of convection currents)
- convective flow
- motion of matter resulting from convection
- paleomagnetism
- preserved in the sequence of lava flows at oceanic ridges
- pangaea
- supercontinent of all land with continents that joined together over time, the name means "all land". The large landmass that was once all of the continents connected together.
- seafloor spreading
- process by which plate tectonics produces new oceanic lithosphere
- convergent boundary
- two plates move together resulting in the oceanic lithosphere plunging beneath an overridingplate, and descending into the mantle
- continental drift
- Wegener's hypothesis proposed that the continents changed position on Earth's surface
- plate
- divided lithosphere segements that move and change shape
- divergent boundary
- two plates that move apart resulting in upwelling of material from the mantle to create new seafloor
- subduction zone
- destructive plate margins where one oceanic plate is forced down into the mantle beneath a second plate
- oceanic ridge
- longest physical feature on earth; formed by seafloor elevation along well developed divergent boundaries
- transform-fault boundary
- margins where two plates grind past each other without the production or destruction of lithosphere
- ridge-push
- causes oceanic lithosphere to slide down the sides of the oceanic ridge
- slab-pull
- primary downward armof convective flow in the mantle
- continental volcanic arc
- volcanic activity that is caused by the subduction of oceanic lithosphere