Plate Tectonics Flashcards
What was Wilson’s discovery?
.Cracks in the continental crust
Plate
.A section of the lithosphere that slowly moves carrying pieces of continental and oceanic crust
Plate tectonics
.Geological theory that pieces of the lithosphere are moving by convection currents in the mantle
Convergent boundary
.Plates pushing against each other
Divergent boundary
.Plates pulling away from each other
Transform boundary
.Plates sliding past each other
Scientific theory
.Well tested theory that explains a scientific observation
How do the Earth’s plates move?
.Plates float on top of the asthenosphere, convection currents rise in the asthenosphere and spreadable out beneath the lithosphere
Crust is neither created or destroyed along a transform boundary, but what does happen?
Earthquakes
What feature appears at a divergent boundary where two pieces of oceanic crust are pulling apart?
.Mid Atlantic Ridge
What forms at a divergent boundary on land?
.
Rift Valley
How does a Rift Valley form?
.Two pieces of continental crust pull away from each other making a valley that soon gets filled with water
Give an example, of a Rift Valley?
.Great Rift Valley
Three types of convergent valleys
.Oceanic and oceanic
Oceanic and continental
Continental and continental
What happens when two oceanic plates collide?
Volcanic islands slowly form
Where on Earth do oceanic plates collide?
.Marianna’s island
What happens when two continental plates collide?
.They form mountains
Where on Earth do continental plates collide?
.Himalayas
What happens when oceanic and continental plates collide?
.The oceanic gets subducted into the mantle due to having a higher density and forms volcanoes
Where do continental and oceanic collide on Earth?
.Andes
How do the Earth’s crustal plates move?
.They float above the mantle and cooled but convection currents are pushing it
Name eight plates
North American EurAsian Pacific African Nazca South American Indo-Australian Antarctic
Who is J Tuzo Wilson
.The man who discovered tectonic plates
