Unit 2 Dynamic Earth Vocabulary Flashcards
Pangea
Name given to a supercontinent that began to break apart approximately 200 million years ago.
Continental Drift
Wegner’s hypothesis is that all continents were once connected in a single large landmass that broke apart about 200 million years ago and slowly drifted into position.
Mid-ocean Ridges
Long, narrow mountain range on the ocean floor;
formed by magma at divergent plate boundaries.
Seafloor Spreading
the process by which new oceanic crust forms along a mid-ocean ridge and older oceanic crust moves away from the ridge.
Ocean Trenches
A deep, underwater trough created by one plate subducting under another plate at a convergent plate boundary.
Magma
Molten rock stored below Earth’s surface.
Lava
Lava that erupts onto the Earth’s surface.
Plate Tectonics
Theory that Earth’s surface is broken into large, ridged pieces that move with respect to each other.
Convergent Boundaries
A boundary between two plates that move towards each other.
Divergent Bounderies
A boundary between two plates that move away from each other.
Transformed Bounderies
A boundary between two plates that move past each other.
Subduction
The prosses that occurs when one tectonic plate moves under another tectonic plate.
Fault
A crack or a fracture in Earth’s lithosphere along which movement occurs.
Volcano
A vent in Earth’s crust through which molten rock flows.
Volcanic Arc
a curved line of volcanos that forms a parallel to a plate boundary.
Earthquake
Vibrations caused by rupture and sudden movement of rocks along break or a crack in the Earth.
Fault Zone
An area of many fractured pieces of crust along a large fault line.
Landside
Rapid, downhill movement of soil, loose rocks, and boulders.
Tsunami
A wave that forms when an ocean disturbance suddenly moves a large volume of water.
Impact Craters
A round depression formed on the surface of a planet, moon, or other space object by the impact of a meteorite.
Weathering
THe mechanical and chemical prosses that changes Earth’s surface over time.
Erosion
The moving of weathered material or sediment from one play to another.
Deposition
The laying down or settling of materials.
Glacier
A large mass of ice, formed by snow accumulation on land, that moves slowly across Earth’s surface.
Rock
A naturally occurring solids composed of minerals, rock fragments, and sometimes other minerals such as organic matter.
Mineral
A naturally occurring, inorganic solid that has a crystal structure and definite chemical composition.
Crystallization
The prosses by which atoms form a solid with an orderly, repeating pattern.
Extrusive Rock
Ignious rocks that form when volcanic material erupts, cools, and crystallizes on Earth’s surface.
Intrusive Rock
Igneous rock that forms from magma and cools underground.
Lithification
The process in which sediment turns to rock.
Compaction
A process in which the weight from the layers of sediment forces out fluids and decreases the space between grains.
Cementaion
A process in which minerals dissolved in water crystalize between sediment grains.
Rock Cycle
The series of processes that change one type of rock into another type.
