Plate Tectonics

Question 1

Folding

Answer 1

buckling of rocks caused when rocks are under pressure from both sides

Question 2

Seismic waves

Answer 2

waves of energy that travel through the Earth’s crust, caused by earthquakes

Question 3

Lithosphere

Answer 3

the rigid outer part of the earth, consisting of the crust and upper mantle.

Question 4

Hydrosphere

Answer 4

all the waters on the earth’s surface, such as lakes and seas, and sometimes including water over the earth’s surface, such as clouds

Question 5

Atmosphere

Answer 5

the envelope of gases surrounding the earth

Question 6

Continental Drift

Answer 6

movement of the plates of the Earth’s crust in relation to each other

Question 7

Pangaea

Answer 7

a super-continent that existed about 225 million years ago

Question 8

Convection Currents

Answer 8

circular movement that occurs when warmer, less dense fluid particles rise and cooler, denser fluid particles sink

Question 9

Plate tectonics

Answer 9

the theory concerning the movement of the continental plates

Question 10

Mantle

Answer 10

thick layer inside the Earth, below the crust. Most of the mantle is solid rock, although the upper part is molten rock called magma

Question 11

Continental Crust

Answer 11

the plates of the Earth’s crust that make up the land

Question 12

Oceanic Crust

Answer 12

one of the types of crust that makes up the Earth’s outer layer. Oceanic crust is thinner than continental crust and made up of dense, heavy rocks such as basalt

Question 13

Subduction

Answer 13

process in which two tectonic plates push against each other, and oceanic crust sinks below the less dense continental crust

Question 14

Destructive plate boundary

Answer 14

a convergent boundary where two plates collide

Question 15

Constructive plate

Answer 15

plate that creates new land from cooling magma

Question 16

Ocean ridges

Answer 16

an area where the tectonic plates move apart, allowing magma from the mantle to rise, forming underwater volcanoes and creating new oceanic crust as it is cooled and solidified by sea water

Question 17

Laurasia

Answer 17

one of the two smaller continents created when the supercontinent Pangaea broke apart about 200 million years ago

Question 18

Gondwanaland

Answer 18

one of the two smaller continents created when the supercontinent Pangaea broke apart about 200 million years ago

Question 19

Hotspots

Answer 19

a localised place where an activity occurs

Question 20

Anticlines

Answer 20

folds that bend upwards

Question 21

Synclines

Answer 21

folds that bend downwards

Question 22

Fault

Answer 22

a break in a rock structure causing a sliding movement of the rocks along the break

Question 23

Rift valleys

Answer 23

a sunken area where two blocks of crust have dropped down between faults

Question 24

Horst

Answer 24

a block of the Earth’s crust, with faults on either side, that has been pushed upwards by the forces below

Question 25

Slip fault

Answer 25

a geological feature where movement along a fault is sideways—that is, where the blocks of crust slip horizontally past each other