Geological Processes
The process in which the oceanic lithosphere moves under under the continental lithosphere and into the mantle
What is subduction?
A chain of volcanic islands next to hot spots
What are volcanic archipelagos?
Very long underwater mountain ranges
What are ocean ridges?
The rigid surface of the earth, including the crust and upper mantle. It is broken into plates.
What is the lithosphere?
Narrow, deep channels, usually found next to continental boundaries or island arcs
What are ocean trenches?
Big faults found in ocean ridges
What is a rift?
It is a fragment of the lithosphere, also known as a lithospheric plate. These are separated by a seismic belt and volcanoes.
What is a tectonic plate?
A large flat area of ocean floor
What is an abyssal plain?
The edge of the continent that lies underwater
What is a continental shelf?
Fractures in the oceanic crust that move horizontally. They cross the rift of ocean ridges perpendicularly
What are transform faults?
A curved chain of volcanic islands, next to ocean trenches
What is an island arc?
The area between the continental shelf and the abyssal plain
What is the continental slope?
The equilibrium between the lithosphere and asthenosphere. If weight on the lithosphere is increased, it is pushed into the asthenosphere. If the weight is reduced, it rises.
What is isostasy?
Underwater volcanic landforms that have pointed tops
What is a seamount?
Underwater volcanic landforms that have flat tops
What is a guyot?