Heat Transfer, Mantle Plumes & Tectonic Cycle Flashcards
What causes plates to move, what drives the movement of these plates, why do they move across the surface of the Earth?
still ongoing research about these questions but the best theories have to do with the movement and transfer of heat within the Earth.
the heat within the Earth comes form the initial (ignition)_____ of the Earth and its been cooling down ever since
formation
Energy driving plate tectonics comes from Earth internal ______.
heat
The earth has internal heat from…
its initial formation processes and ongoing radioactive decay
What are the two basic ways heat transfers through any media?
conduction and convection
When heat moves through a solid body without deforming it this is called…
conduction
______ is the transfer of heat from atom to atom and molecule to molecule
Conduction
What is an example of conduction?
a coffee mug - when you pour coffee into the mug, the outside of the mug feels warm in your hands because the heat is moving through the atoms of the ceramic mug
Is conduction a slow or fast process?
slow
What is convection?
heat transfer as a result of hot material circulating from hotter to cooler areas, losing its heat, and recycling
Convection is the _______ of hot material
circulation
Convection is heat transfer as a result of hot material….
circulating form hotter to cooler areas, losing its heat, and recycling.
In convection heat circulates from ______ to ______ areas, as it does so it ______ its heat and recycles
hotter, cooler, loses
hot water naturally rises because it is less _____, as hot water reaches the surface it starts to ______ down, cool water _____ because it is more dense, as the cool water reaches the bottom it starts to heat up and ____.
dense, cool, sinks, rises
the circulation of fluid or gases is called…
convection
convection is _____ and _____
efficient, rapid
In the mantle there is _____ ________ occurring
heat transfer
-hot material can circulate somewhat inside the plasticy mantle
the _______ of the mantle serves to pull the tectonic plates along with it
convection
What is another name for a mantle plume?
a hot spot
a mantle plume is also called a….
hot spot
mantle plumes are…
sources of hot swelling rock that come up through the Earth’s crust
What do manly plumes produce?
- volcanic island chains -
Hot spots are areas of the world where…
magma comes up through the crust, not related to plate boundaries
A mantle plume is ______ and the plate moves above it
stationary
hot spots track…
plate movement
the tectonic cycle is the idea that…
all of the rock, and mantle, and crustal material we have on Earth is all we are ever going to have. It is a closed cycle made up of open cycles
the tectonic cycle is the process and cycle by which new _____ lithosphere is formed and old is destroyed
oceanic
The processes of the tectonic cycle include the actions of…
- Earthquakes - Volcanoes - Plate motion due to mantle convection
Is there an overall net decrease or increase in the Earths crust?
neither. no net increase
where is new crust being created?
divergent margin
everywhere where _____ crust is being created it is balanced out by the destruction of ____ crust
new, old
where is old crust being destroyed?
convergent margin
where is crust primarily formed?
- divergent margins - hot spots/ mantle plumes
what happens to crust/plates at divergent boundaries?
in divergent boundaries plates are melted back into magma
what is another name for the supercontinent cycle?
the Wilson cycle
the supercontinent cycle is the idea that…
Earths continents periodically form up into supercontinents and then break apart and drift across the globe and then reform into another supercontinent and then break up and drift apart.
What is the most recent supercontinent?
the continent of Pamngea
there is evidence of an older supercontinent called…
Rodinia
because we have evidence of two supercontinents we can _____ that there will be other, older supercontinents as well
infer
