Layers of the Earth
What three things can happen when the earth’s tectonic plates move?
They can either collide, move away from each other, or slide past one another
How do folded mountain form?
Folded mountains form when two plates collide. The collision causes the crust to compress and crumple.
What is Lava?
Lava is melted rock that has reached the earth’s surface.
What do you call the study of movements produced by earthquakes?
Seismology
What are tectonic plates?
Tectonic plates are large pieces of the earth’s fractured crust that float on top of a layer of molten rock that composes part of the mantle.
What are the four layers of the earth in order from the hottest to the coldest?
Inner core, Outer core, Mantle, and Crust.
Where are the Appalachian Mountains located on the North American Plate?
The Appalachian Mountains are located on the right side of the North American Plate.
This is where 75% of the world’s active and dormant volcanos on land are found and it lies along the borders of the Pacific Plate and other plates in the area.
What is the Ring of Fire?
What are lahars?
They are mudslides that flow down the sides of a volcanic mountain.
What are the 3 tectonic plate boundaries and how are they different?
Convergent, Divergent and Transform boundaries are the three tectonic plate boundaries.
Convergent boundaries occur when two plates collide with one another.
Divergent boundaries are found where tectonic plates move away from each other, such as along a mid-ocean ridge.
Transform boundaries form when two plates slide past one another.
What are earthquakes?
Earthquakes are cataclysmic events that cause trembling, shaking, and sometimes violent upheavals of the upper layer of the earth’s crust.
What forces can break down mountains?
Moving water, ice, and wind
What are 3 main types of volcanic mountains?
Composite volcanoes, Shield volcanoes, and Cinder Cones.
What is magma?
Magma is molten rock
What is a landslide?
A landslide is a term that includes lots of kinds of ground movement. It can include rock that breaks and tumbles down a cliff, heavy rains that soak the ground and cause mud to flow down a hillside, or an earthquake that shakes the ground and causes the soil to shift and move down a slope.
Which layer of the earth is the thickest?
The mantle
What are 3 examples of folded mountain chains?
Three examples of folded mountain chains are the Himalayas, the Appalachian mountains, and the European Alps.
What is a hot spot?
A hot spot is a specific point on the earth’s surface where magma repeatedly pushes up from the mantle and breaks through the crust.
What is a landslide?
This includes lots of kinds of ground movement, including rock that breaks and tumbles down a cliff, heavy rains that soak the ground and cause mud to flow down a hillside, or an earthquake that shakes the ground and causes the soil to shift and move down a slope.
What is Subduction?
When two tectonic plates collide to form a volcano, causing one plate to be pushed down below the other plate. Heat from the mantle melts the plates and causes magma to rise to the surface forming an erupting volcano.
Which layers of the earth are liquid and which are solid?
The crust and inner core are solid layers.
The mantle's top layer is solid and the the lower layer is semi-molten liquid layer.
The outer core is a liquid layer of iron and nickel.
Which mountain range is younger: the Himalayas or the Appalachians? How do you know?
The Himalayas are much younger. They are continually pushing higher because they are the boundary of two tectonic plates. The Indian Plate continues to collide with the Eurasian Plate, causing the Himalayas to continue pushing upward 2-4 inches higher each year.
How are shield volcanoes different from to composite volcanoes?
Shield volcanoes have a flat or dome shape compared with composite volcanos which have a steep, cone shape. Shield volcanoes form from less explosive, ongoing eruptions that occur for many years, but composite volcanos are highly explosive and have repeated eruptions over time.
What is a geyser?
A geyser is a natural hot spring that periodically ejects a column of water and steam into the air.
How do tectonic plates create mountains?
When tectonic plates collide together creating convergent boundaries, they can be uplifted created folding mountains. These folded tectonic plates cause the earth’s crust to compress and crumble, and they form folded mountains.