Mountain Formations
What is the name of the process by which mountains form?
Orogenesis
What is the theory that continents can move apart from each other and have done so in the past?
Continental Drift
During what type of plate tectonic movement does subduction occur?
Convergent boundary
What type of stress causes magma to form new crust?
Tensional stress
What is the study of the movement and changes in the rocks that make up the earth's crust?
Tectonics
What is the name of the theory where that continents float on the asthenosphere?
Isostasy
What do many scientists believe is the cause of tectonic plate movement?
Convection currents
Name something that is used as evidence for continental drift.
the shape of the continents; fossil evidence; NASA images; coal deposits in the polar regions
Which type of stress is said to be most likely to cause an earthquake?
Shearing stress
What is the name of the point at which one tectonic plate meets another?
Plate boundary
What is the name of a large area of flat-topped rock high above sea level?
Plateau
What 2 processes are said to work together to recycle the earth's crust?
Subduction and seafloor spreading
What causes the earth's crust to sink lower into the asthenosphere?
The crust increases in density.
Which property will cause a rock to fault instead of fold?
Brittleness
During tensional stress that occurs at divergent boundaries, the land will separate into sections of valleys, which look like steps. What are the names of the different sections?
Grabens and horsts
What type of mountains have zigzag or wrinkles where the rock has bent, due to converging rock layers?
Folded mountains
What is the name of a mountain chain that forms on the ocean floor where tectonic plates pull apart?
Oceanic ridge
What direct observations exist to support the theory of continental drift?
Satellite images
What type of stress causes a reverse fault?
Compressional stress
During the process of subduction, what happens to the denser crust?
The denser crust gets subducted below the less dense crust.
Plateaus can form similar to the process of what other type of mountains?
Folded mountains
What type of plate boundaries do fault-block mountains usual form?
Divergent boundaries
What is the name of the process of one tectonic plate being pushed under another tectonic plate?
Subduction
What is the name of the land mass that is below a fault?
Footwall
What is the difference between faulting and folding?
Faults occur in brittle rocks and break the rocks; folds occur in elastic rock and bend the rock.