tectonic plates Flashcards
What is the Pacific Ring of Fire?
The Ring of Fire, also referred to as the Circum-Pacific Belt, is a path along the Pacific Ocean characterized by active volcanoes and frequent earthquakes.
What does the term plate tectonics means?
The outermost layer of the earth is called the crust and it is broken into large pieces called tectonic plates.
What was the initial evidence that led scientists to the theory of Plate Tectonics?
Finding identical or similar fossils in areas separated by vast distances
What are the different types of plate boundaries?
divergent, convergent, and transform.
What is the difference between a Strato Volcano and a Shield Volcano?
That’s because the viscous volcanic material doesn’t flow that far from where it is erupted, so it builds up in layers forming a cone-shaped volcano known as a stratovolcano. Shield volcanoes, on the other hand, have gentle slopes that are less than 10° and erupt more fluid lavas called basalt.
How did the Hawai’ian Islands form?
The Hawaiian Islands were formed by volcanic activity.
The Hawaiian Emperor seamount chain is a well-known example of a large seamount and island chain created by hot-spot volcanism. Each island or submerged seamount in the chain is successively older toward the northwest.
Where is the epicentre of a ‘quake?
Epicenter is the location on the surface of the Earth directly above where the earthquake starts
What are the three different fault types?
strike-slip earthquakes occur on strike-slip faults, normal earthquakes occur on normal faults, and thrust earthquakes occur on reverse or thrust faults.
What are the three different fault types?
strike-slip earthquakes occur on strike-slip faults, normal earthquakes occur on normal faults, and thrust earthquakes occur on reverse or thrust faults.
What are the descriptions for each level of the Richter Scale?
4.0–4.9 light felt by all; minor breakage of objects. 5.0–5.9 moderate some damage to weak structures. 6.0–6.9 strong moderate damage in populated areas.
7.0–7.9 major serious damage over large areas; loss of life.
What’s a seismic station?
Earthquakes are recorded by a seismographic network. Each seismic station in the network measures the movement of the ground at that site.
What is a tsunami?
Tsunamis are giant waves caused by earthquakes or volcanic eruptions under the sea.
What are the scientific terms we use to describe the size of a tsunami?
Low depth, tsunami flow depth, direction.
What is drawback and run up?
Drawback is when the ocean recedes from land before a tsunami strikes. Tsunami runup occurs when a peak in the tsunami wave travels from the near-shore region onto shore.
What processes can cause a tsunami?
A tsunami is a series of extremely long waves caused by a large and sudden displacement of the ocean, usually the result of an earthquake or volcano below or near the ocean floor.
