Plate Mechanics
This layer of the Earth consists of the crust and the upper mantle.
What is the lithosphere?
This scientist proposed in the early 1900s that continents move slowly over time.
Who is Alfred Wegener?
If a core sample shows rock layers out of their expected order, this type of activity likely moved them.
What is fault activity?
What do you call the area where two tectonic plates meet?
Plate Boundary
Two tectonic plates moving towards each other make a _______________
Convergent Boundary
At this specific type of boundary, plates move away from each other, creating ridges and rifts.
What is a divergent boundary?
Besides rock formations, Wegener used these identical items found on different continents to support his theory.
What are fossils?
Scientists use fossils within core samples to help determine this about the surrounding rock.
What is the age of the rock layers?
This word describes the action of one plate moving below another plate into the mantle
What is Subduction?
True or False The San Andreas fault is a famous transform boundary.
True
Most earthquakes occur when the motion of tectonic plates transfers this to rock.
What is energy?
According to ocean floor data, the youngest rocks are found at this seafloor feature.
What is a mid-ocean ridge?
This popular tourist destination was formed by magma rising through a hotspot in the Pacific Ocean.
What are the Hawaiian Islands?
Which plate is Continental or Oceanic more dense?
Oceanic Plate
This underwater feature forms specifically at the point where two plates drift apart.
What is a mid-ocean ridge?
These landforms are typically created at convergent boundaries where plates move toward each other.
What are mountains, trenches, volcanoes and subduction zones?
These "circular" movements of heat in the mantle are what plates move over.
What are convection currents?
On a seafloor age model, the rocks closest to the ridge are this age compared to rocks further away.
What is younger?
A Continental Rift, or rift valley is formed by ______________
Divergent Boundary
Magma in the mantle rises into the crust to form these, which can eventually break through to create volcanoes.
What are hotspots?