Chapter 6.4 Flashcards
How do the boundaries of tectonic plates create pressure?
The boundaries of tectonic plates create pressure as they try to move against each other.
How does the pressure that tectonic plates create get released?
The pressure can be released suddenly in the form of a destructive earthquake, which in turn can for a tsunami. The crust of the earth also can be very thin and this allows the molten mantle to escape and become lava, sometimes forming islands.
What happens when ash and lava land on the ground and mix with organic material?
When ash and lava are broken down by great winds and water, they sometimes mix with organic material from plants and animals, forming some of the richest soil in the world.
Where are the Hawaiian islands?
The centre of the Pacific Plate
How do volcanoes form in the Hawaiian islands?
The pacific plat over a “hot spot” beneath the plate, This is where a plume of hot magma from the mantle comes up through a thin area in the crust and creates a volcano. In the Hawaiian Islands, a hotspot forms an undersea volcano. Over time, the volcano grows until it pokes above the ocean surface, creating an island.
How does Australia still get earthquakes?
Our plate, the Indo-Australian Plate, is moving north towards the Eurasian, Philipine and Pacific plates. This creates stress within our plate and release of this creates earthquakes.
