Plate Tectonics Flashcards
What are the 3 main elements?
- uranium
- potassium
- thorium
what are the 3 layers?
- inner and outer core
- mantle
- 2 types of crust
What is the core?
- primarily iron and nickel
- creates earths magnetic field
WHat is the mantle?
- dense layer of primarily rock
- convection occurring up to 15cm
- 2900 km thick
what is the lithosphere
- what makes up tectonic plates
- brittle
what is asthenosphere
-upper layer of mantle that behaves plastically
what is ocean crust
thin yet dense
jurassic age
what is moho
where continental crust hits ocean crust on top of the mantle
3 types of plate boundaries
- divergent
- convergent
- transform
divergent plate boundary
moving away from eachother
convergent plate boundary
moving into eachother
transform plate boundary
move horizontally passing each other
ocean-continent convergence
- ocean crust meeting continental crust
continent-to-continent convergence
-continental crusts meeting
what drives plate tectonics?
- ridge push
- slap rull
- convection
types of fault lines
- normal
- reverse
- strike-slip
normal fault line
rocks above the fault plane move down relative to the rocks below the fault plane
reverse fault line
hanging wall moves up relative to the footwall
types of dip slip faults
normal and reverse
strike slip fault
rocks on either side of a nearly vertical vault plane moves horizonal
dexteral
right lateral
sinistral
left lateral
strike
- imaginary horizonal line on the surface
- parallel to the fault
- measure bearing of that line from the north
- 0 to 360 degrees
dip direction
-perpendicular to the strike
- measured from horizontal
- 0-90 degrees
scarp height
height (peak elevation minus base elevation)
strain motion
- shear
- extensional
- compressive
shear
happens at transform boundaries where 2 plates sliding past eachother
extensional
happens at divergent boundaries 2 plates moving away from each other
compressive
convergent boundaries 2 plates moving toward eachother
