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11 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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accretionary wedge
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A mass of sediment and oceanic lithosphere that is transferred from a subducting plate to the less dense, overriding plate with which it converges.
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active continental margin
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The normally gently sloping continental shelf area located on the trailing edge of a drifting continent that is active with seismic or compressional tectonic activity.
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craton
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The segment of the Earth's continenets that have remained tectonically stable and relatively earthquake-free for a vast period of time. It is composed of the continental shield and the surrounding continental platform.
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displaced terrane
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A fault-bounded body of rock that originated wlse where geographically and has then moved, perhaps long distanced, by plate motion.
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hot spots
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An area in the upper mantle, ranging from 100 to 200 kilometersin width, from which magma rises in a plume to form volcanoes. A hot spot may endure 10 million years or more.
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hydrothermal vents
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A fissure in a planet's surface from which geothermally heated water issues. Hydrothermal vents are commonly found in places that are also volcanically active, where hot magma is relatively near the planet's surface.
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ophiolite suite
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The group of sediments, sedimentart rocks, and mafic and ultramafic igneous rocks that makes up the oceanic lithosphere.
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oceanic trenches
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A deep, linear, relatively narrow depression in the sea floor, formed by the subduction of oceanic plates.
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passive continental margin
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The normally gently sloping continental shelf area located on the trailing edge of a drifting continent that is free of seismic or compressional tectonic activity.
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rift valley
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Produced by tensional tectonic forces which occur at divergent plate boundaries. Rift valleys typically appear as a downdropped graben between a pair of faults, or vertical Earth movements. valley created by the formation of a rift.
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suture zone
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The area where two continental plates have joined together through continental collision. Usually marked by extremely high mountain ranges.
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