Structure of the Earth Flashcards
inner core
solid because there is a lot of pressure there. it is a hot dense iron ball, that is almost the size of the moon and spins faster than the earth’s surface, which creates a magnetic field
outer core
liquid made of iron and nickel. it is very thick and extremely hot. because the outer core moves around the inner core, earths magnetism is created.
mantle
dense liquid, molten rock and magma. the upper mantle is solid but the lower is liquid, it is extremely hot and has a lot of pressure
crust
solid, broken in 12 main plates, as they are floating in the liquid they move. there are 2 types of crusts, the oceanic and the continental. the oceanic is thin, very dense and has lots of pressure, the continental is very thick and very dense
tectonic plates
The crust is broken into large pieces called tectonic plates. These huge pieces of Earth’s surface slowly move and cause the natural disasters we call volcanos and earthquakes
convection currents
the core is very hot and the mantle is liquid, this means that when you heat this liquid, the molecules will expand, increase in energy and become less dense, therefore it rises. when it rises, it can either push though (where it will form volcanoes, etc.) or go it does not get though and have to go in separate ways in a circle form. the molecules will then cool down, loose energy, become more dense, and therefore drop.
what leads to plate movement
convection currents underneath the plates cause them to move together, side to side or being pulled apart. the places where they meet, are where the volcanoes, islands, mountains, etc are formed
constructive/divergent plate boundary
when 2 plates are pulling apart, magma rises up creating shield volcanoes, islands
consequences of divergent movement
islands
volcanoes
earthquakes
examples of divergent movement
North America vs Eurasian
Australian vc Antartican
destructive/convergent plate boundary
when oceanic ant continental plate move towards each other. the oceanic is thinner and denser than continental, therefore, they move towards each other on the oceanic sinks underneath the less dense crust.
consequences of convergent movement
volcanoes
earthquakes
mountains
examples of convergent movement
Nasca vs South American
conservative plate boundary
when plates are moving along side each other, however they have different speeds or even opposite directions, when these plates stops, it causes eathquakes
consequences of conservative movement
earthquakes
faults
