Earth's Structure
Earthquakes and Volcanoes
Mountain Formation
Random and General
Moving Plates
100
The thickest of Earth's layers.
What is the mantle?
100
Built-up energy released along a fault.
What is an earthquake?
100
Where two plates collide and force layers of rock into folds.
What are fold mountains?
100
Alfred Wegener believer that long ago the seven continents were joined together, forming this supercontinent.
What is Pangaea?
100
Theory that describes how large slabs of the lithosphere move.
What is plate tectonics?
200
Earth's thin outermost layer, which is solid rock.
What is the crust?
200
Molten rock found beneath rock's surface.
What is magma?
200
Rocks break into blocks at a fault. Blocks may move in several ways along one or more faults to create these mountains.
What are fault-block mountains?
200
During an earthquake, the point underground where the faulting occurs.
What is the focus?
200
Two plates moving toward each other. One plate may move under the other. Plates collide and rocks compress and break.
What are converging boundaries?
300
Pressure keeps this super-hot metallic region in a solid state.
What is the inner core?
300
Intense vibrations felt through-out Earth's crust during an earthquake.
What are seismic waves?
300
Volcanic material bulges upward under the crust, hardening as it cools.
What are dome mountains?
300
Measurements indicate that the distance between Africa and South America is increasing. What do these measurements indicate about the portion of the Earth's crust between Africa and South America?
Africa and South America are located on different plates. There is a diverging boundary between the two plates. Melted rock from the mantle is rising to the surface along the boundary.
300
Two plates moving away from each other. Molten rock rises to fill the gap, creating new crust here.
What are diverging boundaries?
400
Formed mostly of molten metal, this is Earth's only liquid layer.
What is the outer core?
400
Both earthquakes and volcanoes often occur along these, which are cracks in the Earth's crust.
What are faults?
400
Where most of the largest mountain ranges form.
What is where two plates collide and force layers of rocks into folds?
400
Scientists encounter higher temperatures when they drill. Rocks melt below Earth's surface. Geysers spew hot water from beneath the surface.
What is evidence of high temperatures below Earth's surface?
400
Two plates sliding past each other, moving in opposite directions.
What are sliding boundaries.
500
The solid upper core and crust combined.
What is the lithosphere.
500
Where most volcanoes and earthquakes occur.
What is along plate boundaries?
500
Why do tall mountains form at converging and diverging boundaries, but not typically at sliding boundaries?
At converging boundaries, the crust buckles and folds. Magma builds into ridges at diverging boundaries. Sliding boundaries do not build up rocks.
500
Scientists can drill holes; they can study lava, rock debris and ashes from volcanoes; they can monitor the activity of natural geysers; they can set up seismographs; and they can design experiments to expose surface rock to intense heat and pressure.
What are ways that scientists can learn more about what goes on beneath Earth's surface?
500
The process when plates are converging and one moves under the other.
What is subduction?
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