Tectonic Plates Flashcards
Faulting
When tension and compression associated with plate movement is so great that blocks of rock fracture or break apart
Folding
Occurs where the crust is pushed up as plates collide which causes the crust to rise up in folds.
Ocean Ridge
An elevated region with a central valley on an ocean floor at the boundary between two diverging tectonic plates where new crusts forms from upwelling magma.
Ocean trench
Steep depressions in the deepest parts of the ocean and are the deepest regions on the earth.
Subduction
Movement of the edge of one tectonic plate under another
Tectonic
Pertaining to the structure or movement of earth’s crust
Isotope
atom with the same atomic number, different number of neutrons
Convection
The process where heat causes fluid (gas or liquid) to rise and bring up heat
Fossil Fuel
An energy source (fuel or gas) made from ancient plant or animal remains
Fossil Record
A piece of evidence for evolution that shows the development of organisms over time across the world
Fossil
The remains or an impression of a plant or animal that existed in a past geological age
Igneous
Rock that is formed from cooled magma or lava
Lithosphere
The section of Earth that is composed of rock
Magma
Melted rock inside of the the Earth
Metamorphic
Rock formed when igneous or sedimentary rock is put under pressure, heated, or reacts chemically
Plate Tectonics
The theory that the earth’s surface is divided into a few large, thick plates that are constantly moving
Radiometric Dating
Determining the age of a rock or fossil based on amount of one isotope compared with another isotope.
Sea-floor spreading
When oceanic plates move apart, the middle fills in with magma with cools and forms new sea floor
Continental Drift
The theory that states the continents are constantly in motion
Deep interior
The mantle and core of the earth
Sedimentary Rock
Rocks formed by the accumulation of small particles-often mineral or organic particles on the floor of oceans or other bodies of water at the Earth’s surface
