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What are plate boundaries?
Ans: Plate boundaries identify as the edges where two plates meet.
Name the four types of plate boundaries
Ans: There are four types of plate boundaries; divergent, convergent, transform, and conservative.
What's the difference between continental and oceanic plates?
[oceanic is thicker]
Plates can consist of which two types of crust.
Oceanic and Continental
How many plates make up the Earth’s crust?
7 Major Plates
When does a divergent boundary occur?
Ans: When two tectonic plates shift away from each other, a divergent boundary occurs.
What is a convergent boundary?
Ans: A convergent boundary is an area on Earth where two or more lithospheric plates collide
What are conservative plate boundaries?
The boundary is formed when the plates slide past each other in opposite directions, or in the same direction but in alternating speeds
T/F - Tectonic Plates don’t move
False
What is the Earth's Crust?
The earth consists of layers, or shells, which make up the terrestrial planet. The Earth’s crust is the outer most shell, mainly made up of minerals and solid rocks, with the average thickness of 30 kilometres beneath continents and 5 kilometres under oceans. Its structure is considered “light” and “brittle”, as its formation is consistent changing due to the movement of the mantle beneath. From then, it breaks apart into fragments, in which we call Plate Tectonics.
How does subduction occur?
Ans: It is the movement of two tectonic plates where one plate moves under the other forcing the plate to sink.
Why is the continental crust less dense than oceanic?
[ The oceanic crust is formed by partial melting of the mantle at mid-ocean ridges. The continental crust is formed even more cycles of partial melting over time, resulting less dense rocks.]
What happens when two continental crust collide?
[the continental crust buckles and rocks pile up, creating towering mountain ranges]
What is subduction?
[ the sideways and downward movement of the edge of a plate of the earth's crust into the mantle beneath another plate]
How is a transition/conservative plate boundry formed.
Transform Plate Boundaries are locations where two plates slide past one another. The fracture zone that forms a transform plate boundary is known as a transform fault. Most transform faults are found in the ocean basin and connect offsets in the mid-ocean ridges.
What does the continental crust predominately form?
[ subduction zones/plate boundaries]
Does the continental crust go over or under the oceanic crust?
[the oceanic crust goes under]
What happens when two continental crust collide?
[the continental crust buckles and rocks pile up, creating towering mountain ranges]
What is the result of an oceanic crust sinks below a continental crust?
At a subduction zone, the oceanic crust usually sinks into the mantle beneath lighter continental crust. (Sometimes, oceanic crust may grow so old and that dense that it collapses and spontaneously forms a subduction zone, scientists think.)
What causes the plates to move
Define convection current
Convection currents are the transfer of heat by the movement of masses of air (upward direction), generally from the upper mantle.
Define Slab pull
The pulling force of a colder and dense ocean plate exerts a pulling force as a result of its own mass, which is called the slab pull.
Define Ridge push
Mid-ocean ridges form where to tectonic plates are pulling apart. Th pressure exerted by the excess height if called the Ridge push.
How do earthquakes occur from conservative boundaries?
A conservative plate boundary, sometimes called a transform plate margin, occurs where plates slide past each other in opposite directions, or in the same direction but at different speeds. Friction is eventually overcome and the plates slip past in a sudden movement. The shockwaves created produce an earthquake
Name an example of a conservative boundaries (from powerpoint)
San Andreas Fault of California