Science Flash Cards

Front 1

Continital Drift

Back 1

The hypothesis that states that the continents once formed a single landmass, broke up, and drifted to their present locations.

Front 2

Convection Currents

Back 2

Transfer of thermal energy from warmer regions of magma below the crust to cooler regions.

Front 3

Lithosphere

Back 3

A ridged layer made up of the upper most part of the mantle and the crust, Oceanic Crust.

Front 4

Seafloor Spreading

Back 4

The process in which the ocean floor is extended when two plates move apart, forming a crack where magma can rise to the surface, cooling and forming new crust.

Front 5

Techtonic Plate

Back 5

The earths crust and ridge upper mantle are broken into enormous pieces called plates are moved by convection currents deep in the Earths mantle.

Front 6

Asthenosphere

Back 6

The solid plastic layer of the mantle beneath the lithosphere, made of mantle rock that flows very slowly, which allows tectonic plates to move on top of it.

Front 7

Plate Tectonics

Back 7

A theory stating that the earth's surface is broken is not plates that move.

Front 8

Converging Plate Boundary

Back 8

A plate boundary where two plates move towards each other.

Front 9

Diverging Plate Boundary

Back 9

A boundary where two plates move toward each other.

Front 10

Mid-Ocean Ridge

Back 10

An underwater mountain chain where new ocean floor is formed.

Front 11

Moho/Mohorovicic Dicontinuinty

Back 11

the zone between the crust and mantle that marks a boundary between the 2, discovered because it changes the speed of seismic waves.

Front 12

Ocean Trench

Back 12

very deep elongated cavity bordering a continent or an island arc.

Front 13

Pangea

Back 13

A supercontinent containing all of Earth's land that existed about 225 million years ago.

Front 14

Rift Valley

Back 14

When continental crust begins to separate, the split crust cause a long narrow depression.

Front 15

Subduction Zone

Back 15

One plate going under another plate.

Front 16

Transform Boundary

Back 16

The boundary between tectonic plates that are sliding past each other horizontally.

Front 17

Fault

Back 17

A break in the earth’s crust.

Front 18

Folding

Back 18

A bend in layers of rock

Front 19

Normal Fault

Back 19

A type of fault where the hanging wall slides downward caused by tension in the crust

Front 20

P-waves / Primary wave

Back 20

primary earthquake waves travel the fastest.

Front 21

Reverse fault

Back 21

A type of fault where the hanging wall slides upward caused by compression in the crust.

Front 22

Seismic waves

Back 22

Vibrations of the ground during an earthquake.

Front 23

Thrust Faults

Back 23

a reverse fault in which the hanging wall slides over the foot wall.

Front 24

Strike-Slip Fault

Back 24

A type of fault where rocks on either side move past each other sideways with little up or down motion.

Front 25

Stress

Back 25

A force that acts on rock to change its shape or volume.

Front 26

Compression

Back 26

stress that squeezes rock until it folds or breaks.

Front 27

Tension

Back 27

stress that stretches rock so that it becomes thinner in the middle

Front 28

Anticline

Back 28

A fold in rock that beds upward into an arch

Front 29

S-waves / Shear wave

Back 29

secondary earthquake waves only goes through solids.

Front 30

Syncline

Back 30

A downward fold in rock formed by compression in Earth’s crust.

Front 31

Earthquake focus

Back 31

The point where slippage first occurs under the Earth’s surface where an earthquake originates.

Front 32

Epicenter

Back 32

the point on Earth’s surface directly above the focus of an earthquake.

Front 33

Hot spots

Back 33

Volcanoes located far from plate boundaries caused by unusally thin areas of

Front 34

Magnetic Reversal

Back 34

A change in the Earth’s magnetic field

Front 35

Modified Mercalli Intensity Scale

Back 35

A scale that rates earthquakes according to their intensity and how much damage they cause at a particular place.

Front 36

Richter Scale

Back 36

A logarithmic scale of 1 to 10 used to express the energy released by an earthquake.

Front 37

Magnitude

Back 37

Measure of the energy released during an earthquake, which can be measured/described using the Richter Scale.

Front 38

Viscosity

Back 38

The resistance of a substance to flow (i.e. water has a lower viscosity than maple syrup)

Front 39

Ridge Push

Back 39

The process in which new material at a ridge or rift pushes older material aside, moving the tectonic plates away from the ridge.

Front 40

Gravity pull

Back 40

dense oceanic crust sink into the subduction zone and pulls the whole crust with it.

Front 41

Lava

Back 41

Magma that reaches Earth’s surface

Front 42

Magma

Back 42

Molten rock beneath the earth’s surface

Front 43

Cinder Cone

Back 43

a short, steep, cone-shaped hill or small mountain made of volcanic ash, cinders, and bombs piled up around a volcano’s opening.

Front 44

Composite Volcano or Stratovolcano

Back 44

tall explosive volcano characterized by high viscosity magma and large amounts of trapped gas.

Front 45

Shield Volcano

Back 45

A low, flat, gently sloping volcano built from many flows of fluid, low-viscosity basaltic lava.

Front 46

Tephra

Back 46

Rock fragments thrown into the air during a volcanic eruption.

Front 47

Ring of Fire

Back 47

A major belt of volcanoes that rims the Pacific Ocean.