Tectonic Plate Basics
Plate Boundaries & Crust Movement
Earthquakes
Earthquake Forces & Waves
Volcanoes
100
The rigid outer layer of Earth that is broken into tectonic plates.
What is the lithosphere?
100
A plate boundary where plates move away from each other.
What is a divergent boundary?
100
The sudden release of energy when stress in rocks becomes too great.
What is an earthquake?
100
Stress that pulls rocks apart.
What is tensional stress?
100
The name of the entire area in the Pacific ocean that is extremely volcanically active.
What is the 'Ring of Fire'?
200
The slow movement of Earth's continents over millions of years.
What is continental drift?
200
The process that creates new oceanic crust at mid-ocean ridges.
What is seafloor spreading?
200
The point inside Earth where an earthquake begins.
What is the focus?
200
An instrument used to measure and record earthquakes.
What is a seismograph?
200
The large semi-solid projectiles thrown violently out of an erupting volcano.
What is a volcanic bomb?
300
The theory that explains how Earth's plates move and interact
What is plate tectonics?
300
Stress that occurs when plates slide horizontally passed each other.
What is shearing stress?
300
The point on Earth's surface directly above the focus.
What is the epicenter?
300
Stress that causes rocks to slide past each other.
What is shearing stress?
300
The bowl-shaped volcanic crater formed after an eruption.
What is a caldera?
400
The soft, flowing layer beneath the lithosphere that plates move on.
What is the asthenosphere?
400
The process where old oceanic crust is pushed back into the mantle.
What is subduction?
400
When solid ground temporarily behaves like a liquid during shaking.
What is liquefaction.
400
The two types of surface waves that cause the most damage.
What are Love waves and Rayleigh waves?
400
The type of volcano commonly found in Hawaii.
What is a shield volcano?
500
Which type of plate boundary is most associated with earthquakes but not volcanoes?
What is a transform boundary?
500
Mountain building caused by folding and faulting of the crust.
What is orogenesis?
500
Why shallow earthquakes usually cause more damage than deep ones.
What is because seismic waves have less distance to travel and lose less energy?
500
The difference between the description of an earthquakes effects on the surface and the strength of an earthquake.
What is the difference between Intensity and Magnitude?
500
A light, hole-filled volcanic rock that can float on water.
What is pumice?