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What are tectonic plates?
Tectonic plates are big irregular shaped slabs of rocks.
How many plate boundaries are there?
3 - Divergent, Convergent, Transform
What are divergent plate boundaries?
When tectonic plates move away from each other.
What are convergent plate boundaries?
When two plates collide with each other.
What is the definition of transform plate boundaries?
When tectonic plates slide against each other
How many MAJOR tectonic plates are there?
7 - N.A., S.A. African, Australian, Eurasian, Pacific, Antarctic.
How fast do tectonic plates move on average per year?
2-5cm per year
What do you call deep and narrow valleys that are created when tectonic plates tear apart?
rifts
What are the two tectonic plates involved in this boundary?
Continental and oceanic
What natural disaster is created by this boundary?
Earthquakes
The two categories of tectonic plates are called?
Continental and oceanic crust
What are plate boundaries (margins)?
The location where two tectonic plates meet. It is the place where geological events occur- like earthquakes, volcanoes, mountain formation, ocean trenches, rifts, and ridge, etc.
What is magma?
Hot, molten liquid rock found below the earth's surface.
What do you call this when one plate sinks under the other?
The subduction zone
What kind of stress is created when the plates slide against each other?
The plates grind against each other and cause friction to build. This causes stress and an earthquake to form!
How do tectonic plates move?
Because they float on top of the Earth's asthenosphere (lower mantle), tectonic plates move based on the convection currents circulating in the hot, fluid mantle.
One difference between Oceanic and Continental crust.
Answers may vary:
Oceanic - thinner, denser, basalt, found underwater
Continental - thicker, less dense, granite, found on land
What kind of natural disaster does this boundary cause?
Earthquakes and volcanoes
Why will one plate sink under the other?
Because it is denser
What is the name for a long crack or fracture that is cause when two plate grind and slide past one another.
Fault line
What is the name of the scientific theory that states that the earth is made of rocky plates and that the continents are moving and have drifted apart over millions of years.
Continental Drift (by Alfred Wegner)
What is continental and oceanic crust?
Continental crust is parts of Earth's crust that form landmasses. Oceanic crust is the seafloor of oceans or a large body of water.
What happens during mid-ocean ridge?
The magma in Earth's surface comes up to the water and cools. When they cool down they turn to crust. The magma will continue coming to the surface causing the crust to be pushed outward, this causes seafloor spreading
1. What is formed when two continental crust collide with each other?
2. What happens when a continental crust collides with an oceanic crust?
1. Mountains are formed.
2. The oceanic crust will sink under and melt into magma which can cause an ocean trench / volcano eruptions.
What is an example of a transform fault found along the coast of California where earthquakes appear.
San Andreas fault