Tectonic gateway 1

Question 1

Why do tectonic plates move?

Answer 1

• convection currents causes mantle material heats up and rises. The plate moves away from each other, forming divergent plate boundaries. Then, it cools and sinks and moves closer to each other, forming convergent plate boundaries.
• slab pull force is when the sinking plate pulls the rest of the plate with it

Question 2

O-O divergence elab

Answer 2

1. convection currents causes mantle material to rise and spread beneath plates, causing the plates to diverge
2. cracks and fissures form at the zone of divergence and magma rises through the fractures
3. magma cools and solidifies, forming new sea floor. This is known as sea floor spreading
4. this forms a mid-oceanic ridge, a central structure that divides the ocean basin

Question 3

O-O divergence elab

Answer 3

1. convection currents causes mantle material to rise and spread beneath plates, causing the oceanic North American plate and oceanic Eurasian plate to diverge
2. cracks and fissures form at the zone of divergence and magma rises through the fractures
3. magma cools and solidifies, forming new sea floor. This is known as sea floor spreading
4. this forms a Mid-Atlantic ridge, a central structure that divides the ocean basin
5. Along the Mid-Atlantic ridge, submarine volcanoes can be found. Through multiple eruptions, submarine volcanoes grow in size and rises above the ocean surface. This forms volcanic islands such as Iceland

Question 4

C-C divergence elab

Answer 4

1. Mantle material rises and spreads beneath the Earth’s crust, which causes the continental crust to experience tensional force.
2. The tensional force results in the formation of cracks and fissures, which become larger to form fault lines. This process is known as faulting
3. Eventually, blocks of land mountains will be displaced and subside along the faultlines, forming a liner depression known as the East African Rift Valley
4. the remaining landmass that remains higher than the rift valley is known as the block mountains, which tend to have steep sloping sides

Question 5

O-O convergence elab

Answer 5

1. When mantle material cools and sinks, two oceanic plates converge and compressional force is being exerted on the crust
2. The denser oceanic plate is forced to subduct beneath the less dense oceanic plate
3. At the subduction zone, a linear depression known as an the oceanic trench is formed
4. The denser subducting plate causes mantle material to melt, and the magma rises through the cracks and fissures to form a submarine volcano.
5. Through multiple successive eruptions, the volcano rises above the surface of the water to form volcanic islands

Question 6

C-C convergence elab

Answer 6

1. Mantle material cools and sinks
2. As two continental plates converge, compressional force is being exerted
3. As continental plates are light and buoyant, they resist subduction
4. Edges of the continental crust buckle and folds upwards and sideways, forming a fold mountain range

Question 7

O-C convergence elab

Answer 7

1. When an oceanic plate converges with a continental plate, the denser oceanic plate subducts
2. At the zone of subduction, a linear depression known as an the oceanic trench is formed
3. The subducting plate causes mantle material to melt, and magma rises through the cracks and ifssures to form a volcano on the continental plate
4. At the same time, compressional force is exerted and the edges of the continental plate buckles and folds upwards and sideways to form fold mountains

Question 8

Transform plate boundaries elab

Answer 8

• plates slide past each other and it results in the formation of a transform fault
• stress builds up and is eventually released in violent earthquakes
• a major earthquake has happened every 10 years on average along the North Antolian fault