Dynamic Earth Lecture 3 Flashcards
What is the theory of plate tectonics?
Earth’s surface is made of rigid slabs of rock that move with respect to each other.
What are the 7 lithospheric plates?
Pacific, North American, South American, Eurasian, African, Indo-Australian, and Antarctic plates.
What are spreading/divergent boundaries?
The place where 2 tectonic plates move apart.
Ex. Mid-ocean ridges, Rift valleys like the East Africa Rift
What are colliding/convergent boundaries?
The place where 2 plates collide or come together.
What are the 3 types of plate boundaries?
Spreading/divergent, colliding/convergent, and sliding/transform.
What are sliding/transform boundaries?
The place where 2 plates slide past each other.
Ex. San Andreas Fault
What types of mountains are created by plate movements?
Fold mountains, fault-block mountains, and volcano-created mountains.
What are volcano created mountains?
Mountains created by molten lava accumulation.
Ex. Mount Fuji, Mount St. Helens
What are fold mountains?
Created when 2 continental plates collide at convergent/colliding boundaries.
What are fault-block mountains?
Parallel ridges that move up and down along faults.
Ex. Sierra Nevada Mountains
What is weathering?
The physical and chemical process that changes objects on Earth’s surface over time.
What is physical weathering?
Weathering caused by wind, water, plants, animals, glaciers, and temperature change.
What is chemical weathering?
Weathering caused by water, plants, and animals.
What is erosion?
Moving weathered material from one location to another.
The destructive process.
What is deposition?
The process of laying down or settling eroded material.
The constructive process.
