Metamorphism

Question 1

Regional metamorphism

Answer 1

During mountain building, great quantities of rocks are subjected to pressures and high temps associated with large scale deformation

Question 2

Contact metamorphism

Answer 2

Parents rock baked by magma rising from
below

Question 3

Confining pressure

Answer 3

Forces are equally applied in all directions

Question 4

Differential stress

Answer 4

Forces unequally and in different directions

Question 5

Foliated Texture

Answer 5

Any nearly flat arrangement of mineral grains or structural features within a rock

Question 6

Non foliated texture

Answer 6

A result of contact metamorphism

Question 7

Theory of plate tectonics - The earth’s interior can be divided into layers based on

Answer 7

Chemical properties and physical properties

Question 8

Continental drift hypothesis

Answer 8

Prior to the late 1960’s, most geologists held the view that the ocean basins and continents had fixed geological positions

Question 9

Lithosphere

Answer 9

Rigid
Responds to energy by cracking or breaking
Divided into seven different plates
Plate boundaries = where plates meet
Plates not defined entirely by a single contine
Lithosphere Plates rest on plastic (fluid) Asthenosphere

Question 10

Asthenosphere - solid, but mobile

Answer 10

Less rigid (plastic)
Responds to energy by flowing

Question 11

Convection current

Answer 11

With boiling water
Hot water less dense - rises
Cooler water denser - sinks

Question 12

Divergent plate boundaries

Answer 12

Where plates move apart
Results in
Ocean floor spreading - at oceanic plate boundaries
Rift lake/valley formation - at continental plate boundaries

Question 13

Convergent plate boundaries

Answer 13

Where two plates move toward each other
Resulting in
Collision of oceanic lithosphere and continental crust - oceanic lithosphere descends beneath an overriding plate eventually to be reabsorbed into the mantle; or
Collision of two continental blocks = mountain building

Question 14

Transform plate boundaries

Answer 14

Where two plates grind past each other
Can cause earthquakes

Question 15

Plates are constantly changing

Answer 15

Earth’s total surface area does not change, the size and shape of individual plates are constantly changing

Question 16

Ocean drilling (evidence in support of the theory)

Answer 16

Sediments increased in age with increasing distance from the ridge
Supports the seafloor spreading hypothesis, which predicted that the youngest oceanic crust would be found at the ridge crest - the site of seafloor production - and the oldest oceanic crust would be located adjacent to the the continents