Continental drift
Pangea is Greek for _______
all lands/earth
Is earth created or destroyed at a mid ocean ridge?
created
At what type of plate boundary do the plates slide past each other creating a fault?
transform
What type of plate boundary destroys earth?
convergent
What part of an island chain would have active volcanos?
the island over the hotspot
Why did no one believe Wegener's theory?
He did not know how the continents moved
When the seafloor spreads apart what landform is created?
Mid ocean ridge
What do you call the process when the heavier plate goes under the lighter plate?
subduction
What do you call it when the slab of rock that makes up the plate is pulled by the rest of the plate and gravity down into the mantle?
slab pull
How does a hotspot become a volcano?
hot magma rises through crust
Who came up with the theory of continental drift?
Alfred Wegener
Why are the magnetic stripes parallel to the mid ocean ridge?
That is where they are made
What 2 landforms do ocean to continent convergent plate boundaries make?
volcano and trench
What do you call when rising mantle at a mid ocean ridge creates potential for plates to move away from the ridge?
ridge push
What moves to create a volcanic island chain over a hot spot?
the tectonic plate
What are the 4 clues for continental drift?
Continental puzzle
Climate Clues
Fossil Clues
Rock Clues
How often do magnetic reversals happen?
few hundred thousand to few million years
Which type of crust (oceanic and continental) is thicker/lighter and which is thinner/heavier?
thicker/lighter- continental
thinner/heavier- oceanic
What are the 3 types of plate boundaries and how do they move?
convergent- together
divergent- apart
transform- sliding past
What are the 3 major hotspots in the US?
Hawaii, Yellowstone, American Samoa
What are the names for the 2 parts of Pangea?
Laurasia and Gondwanaland (Gondwana)
How are magnetic reversals recorded on the ocean floor?
magnetic basalt rocks record polarity in their crystals as they cool
Name the 7 major tectonic plates.
African, Antarctic, Eurasian, Australian, South American, North American, Pacific
How do convection currents move the plates?
cool mantle sinks near convergent boundaries and warm mantle rises near divergent boundaries creating circulation
How do you tell the difference between a hotspot volcano and convergent plate volcano?
-chain of volcanos age (convergent same age and hotspot different ages)
-is there a trench
-is there lots of earthquakes
-middle or edge of plate