Forces in Earth's Crust Flashcards
What is tension?
Tension is a type of stress. Tension pulls on the crust, stretching rock so that it becomes thinner in the middle. Tension happens at divergent boundaries.
What is stress?
Stress is a force that acts on rock to change its shape or volume.
What is compression?
Compression is a type of force. Compression squeezes rock until it folds or breaks apart. Compression happens at convergent boundaries.
What is shearing?
Shearing is a type of force. Shearing pushes a mass of rock in two opposite directions. Shearing happens at transform boundaries.
What are normal faults?
Tension in Earth’s crust pulls rock apart, causing normal faults.
What are hanging walls?
A hanging wall is a block of rock that lies above a footwall.
What is a footwall?
A footwall is the block of rock that lies below the hanging wall.
What is a reverse fault?
A reverse fault has the structure as a normal fault, but the blocks move in the opposite direction.
What is a strike-slip fault?
In a strike-slip fault the rocks on either side of the fault slip past each other sideways with little up or down motion.
What is a anticline?
An anticline is a fold in rock thats bends upward into an arch..
What is a syncline?
A syncline is a fold in rock that bends downward to form a valley.
What is a plateau?
A plateau is a large area of flat land elevated high above sea level.
