Vocabulary Inside the Earth Boundaries & Faults Continental Drift & Alfred Wegener The theory Of Plate Tectonics 100 100 100 100 100 200 200 200 200 200 300 300 300 300 300 400 400 400 400 400 500 500 500 500 500

What is a convergent boundary?

The place where two plates come together.

What is the mid-ocean ridge?

A divergent plate boundary of two oceanic plates where the longest mountain range on Earth is located

What are convection currents?

Currents within the asthenosphere where less dense molten material rises and more dense molten material sinks, creating currents within our Earth. Responsible for the moving of Earth’s plates.

What is the boundary where two plates slide past each other called?

Transform boundary

What is a trench?

A landform that is created when two plates collide at a convergent boundary underwater.

What are the two types of crust?

Oceanic and continental crust

What happens to temperature and pressure as you move towards the inner core?

Temperature and pressure both increase

What are the layers of the Earth from outside in?

Lithosphere Crust Asthenosphere Mantle Mesosphere Outer Core Outer Core Inner Core Inner Core

Where do convection currents occur?

Asthenosphere

What type of crust is least dense?

Continental Crust

What type of boundary forms a reverse fault?

Convergent

What type of landform occurs when two continental plates diverge?

A rift valley

What process is occurring underwater where two oceanic plates are diverging?

Sea-floor spreading

What type of boundary is a normal fault and what type of stress/force causes a normal fault?

A normal fault is a divergent boundary caused by Tension.

What does each of the following stand for? C D T R N S-S C T S

Convergent boundary, reverse fault, compression Divergent boundary, normal fault, tension Transform boundary, Strike-slip fault, shearing

What is Pangaea?

The name of a supercontinent thought to have existed millions of years ago

What hypothesis did Alfred Wegener come up with?

Continental Drift

What evidence did Alfred Wegener have to support his hypothesis?

-Evidence from landforms (mountain ranges, coal deposits) - Evidence from fossils (similar organisms found in non-similar climates and very, very far from each other) - The fact that all the continents sort of fit together like a puzzle -Evidence from climate (fossils and coal deposits)

What evidence did Wegener lack, which made people not believe his hypothesis?

He could not explain how the continents moved

What was the name of the two continents that Pangaea broke up into?

Laurasia and Gondwana

What is responsible for moving Earth’s plates?

Convection currents

What forms on land where two continental plates collide (converge)?

Mountains

What is the name of the chain of volcanic activity surrounding the pacific plate?

The Ring of Fire

What happens when a oceanic and continental plate collide?

Because the oceanic plate is denser when it collides with a continental plate it will subduct (dive below) going back down into the mantle, forming what is known as a subduction zone.

What is the difference between sea-floor spreading and the mid ocean ridge?

Sea-floor spreading is the process in which new oceanic crust is being made as two plates diverge and magma reaches the surface. The mid ocean ridge is the name of the landform where sea-floor spreading is occurring. It is also the longest chain of mountains in the world!