Plate Tectonics Flashcards
What is rumpling?
The process / result of land changing and malforming
Where are the deepest parts of the ocean located?
Closest to the plates but not over the plates
What did Hess and Dietz show?
Showed convection of the earth
What is the athenosphere?
Weak, semisolid part of the upper mantle. IT is mechanically weak
Which plate has a thicker lithosphere?
The continental plate
Why can the lithosophere move independently of the rest of the earth?
Because the asthenosphere effectively detaches it from the earth
What are fracture zones?
Transform faults
What supports the theory of plate tectonics?
Sediment formation. Hot spots. Paleomagnetism
How much of the earth does the mantle compose?
84%
Where are sedimentary rocks formed?
Transform boundaries, deep oceans, subducting plates
Where are volcanic rocks formed?
Subduction zone, mid-ocean ridges
Where are metamorphic rocks formed?
Subduction zones
What is a Geodynamo?
This idea details that earth’s outer core is moving, electrons move and can be flipped leading to the field of magnetism being flipped.
What is the Curie Temperature?
This theory states that when hot metals cool beneath a certain temperature they become magnetized parallel to the field that they are in.
What causes volcanoes?
When the lithosophere moves over mantle plumes melting occurs, this decompresses the land forming volcanoes.
What is the name given to a short tectonic time scales?
Coseismic
Intermediate = interseismic
Long term = tectonic
What waves are recorded first from an earthquake?
P waves. These are longitudinal waves. They can travel through all states of matter.
What waves are recorded second from an earthquake?
S waves. These are latitudinal waves. They can only travel through solid substances.
What is magnitude?
It is a measure of the size of an earthquake
What is the modified Mercalli intensity scale?
Qualitative assessment of the local effects on people and buildings.
How are earthquakes produced?
They are produced by the rapid release of elastic energy stored in rock that has been deformed by differential stress.
What is liquefaction?
The process by which solid soil is turned into mobile particles.
What is fracking?
The process of injecting land with high pressure water.
