Plate Tectonics

Front 1

Inner Core

Back 1

ball of hot and solid metals at the center of the Earth. Pressure makes it so the metals are solid instead of liquid.

Front 2

Outer Core

Back 2

layer of liquid metals that surround the inner core. Less heat and pressure than inner core.

Front 3

Mantle

Back 3

The thickest layer of the Earth. Made of hot rock that is less dense than the core. Upper most parts of the mantle are cooler and more rigid, but the rest of the mantle is hot and malleable.

Front 4

Crust

Back 4

Thin Layer of cool rock. Surrounds the Earth. Two types of crust-continental and oceanic.

Front 5

Lithosphere

Back 5

Region of the Earth that is made up of the crust and more rigid part of the mantle. It is what encompasses all the tectonic plates.

Front 6

Asthenosphere

Back 6

Softer portion of the mantle that the Lithosphere "floats" on

Front 7

Tectonic plates

Back 7

different pieces of the Lithosphere

Front 8

continental drift

Back 8

Wegener's hypothesis-Earth's continents were once joined together into a single land mass and slowly moved apart. Used Fossil, climate, and geologic evidence. He used evidence from Ortelius and Humboldt who said that the continents almost fit together like a puzzle. Later Frank Taylor said that continents shifted during the Cretaceous toward the equator due to the Moon's gravitational pull.

Front 9

Pangaea

Back 9

super continent made up of all the other continents that we know today.

Front 10

Mid-ocean ridges

Back 10

under water ridges. formed by sea-floor spreading. shows that earth's surface does move. proof to this is age of sea floor+ocean trenches

Front 11

Convection

Back 11

Energy transfer by movement of a material

Front 12

Convection current

Back 12

material in Asthenosphere moves due to convection and as a result carries the tectonic plates around with it.

Front 13

Theory of plate tectonics

Back 13

says that lithosphere is made up of plates which move across the Earth.

Front 14

divergent boundary

Back 14

occurs when plates move apart. Majority of them are found in the Ocean. In ocean they are called spreading centers. Forms gap called rift valley. Causes sea-floor spreading

Front 15

rift valley

Back 15

gap between two plates in the ocean caused by divergent plates

Front 16

convergent boundary

Back 16

occurs when plates push together. when this occurs plates are folded or destroyed. continental-continental collision the plates fold.

Front 17

transform boundary

Back 17

occurs when plates scrape past each other

Front 18

magnetic reversal

Back 18

when the magnetic poles switch places. caused by changes in Earth's magnetic field. Measured in rocks by alternating bands on ocean floor

Front 19

hot spot

Back 19

areas where heated rock rises from the mantle. Usually forms volcanoes. Hot spots stay in one place while plates move so forms multiple volcanoes

Front 20

subduction

Back 20

when one plate sinks beneath another plate

Front 21

continental-continental collision

Back 21

when two continental plate push together. both plates fold. sometimes forms mountains

Front 22

oceanic-oceanic subduction

Back 22

when two oceanic plates collide. the older of the two plates sinks (colder and denser) and melts in the asthenosphere. Forms deep ocean trenches and island arcs.

Front 23

oceanic-continental subduction

Back 23

occurs when oceanic plate and continental plate collide. Oceanic plate sinks (colder denser). Forms deep-ocean trenches and coastal mountains

Front 24

P-wave

Back 24

One of the different types of waves in earthquake. The fastest of the three. It is basically like an elastic band moving through the earth. least damaging

Front 25

S wave

Back 25

One of the different types of waves in earthquake. Medium speed. Kind of like a wave. Moderate damage.

Front 26

R wave

Back 26

One of the different types of waves in earthquake. Slowest of the three. Hybrid between S-wave and P-wave. Most damaging.