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89 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
CONTINENTAL DRIFT
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hypothesis stating that the continents once formed a single landmass, broke up and drifted to their present locations.
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PANGAEA
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Single landmass thought to have been the origin of all continents.
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PANTHALASSA
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Giant ocean surrounding Pangaea.
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MID-ATLANTIC RIDGE
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Undersea mountain range with a steep, narrow valley along its center.
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MID-OCEAN RIDGE
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System of undersea mountain ranges that wid around the earth.
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SEAFLOOR SPREADING
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Movement of the ocean floor away from either side of a mid-ocean ridge.
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PLATE TECTONICS
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Theory that the lithosphere is made up of plates that float on the asthenosphere and that the plates posibly are moved by convection currents.
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CONTINENTAL CRUST
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Material that makes up landmasses.
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LITHOSPHERE
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Thin outer shell of the earth consisting of the crust and the rigid upper mantle.
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ASTHENOSPHERE
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Zone of mantle beneath the lithosphere that consists of slowly flowing solid rock.
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DIVERGENT BOUNDARY
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Boundary formed by two lithospheric plates that are moving apart.
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RIFT VALLEY
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Steep, narrow valley formed as lithospheric plates separate.
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CONVERGENT BOUNDARY
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Border formed by the direct collision of two lithospheric
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SUBDUCTION ZONE
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Region where one lithospheric plate moves under another.
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OCEAN TRENCH
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Deep valley in the ocean floor that forms along a subduction zone.
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ISLAND ARC
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A chain of volcanic islands formed when part of the subducted plate melts and the resulting molten rock rises to the surface along the trench
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TRANSFORM FAULT BOUNDARY
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Boundary formed where two lithospheric plates slide past each other
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CONVECTION CURRENT
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Movement in a fluid caused by uneven heating.
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THEORY OF SUSPECT TERRANES
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Theory that continents are a patchwork of pieces of land that have individual geologic histories.
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TERRANES
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Pieces of land with a geologic history distinct from that of the surrounding land.
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DEFORMATION
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Bending, tilting, and breaking of the earth's crust.
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ISOSTASY
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Balancing of the forces pressing up and down on the earth's crust.
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ISOSTATIC ADJUSTMENTS
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Up-and-down movements of the earth's crust to reach isostasy.
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STRESS
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Force that causes pressure in rocks of the earth's crust.
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STRAIN
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Change in shape and volume of rocks that occurs due to stress.
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COMPRESSION
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Stress that squeezes crustal rocks together.
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TENSION
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Stress that pulls rocks apart.
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SHEARING
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Stress that pushes rocks in opposite horizontal directions.
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FOLDING
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Permanent deformation or bending of a rock under stress.
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ANTICLINE
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Upcurved fold in horizontal rock layers.
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SYNCLINE
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Downcurved fold in horizontal rock layers.
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MONOCLINE
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Gently dipping bend in horizontal rock layers.
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FRACTURE
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Break in rock along which there is no movement.
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FAULT
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Break in rock along which rocks on either side of the break move.
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NORMAL FAULT
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Fault in which the hanging wall moves down relative to the footwall.
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FAULT PLANE
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Surface of a fault along which movement of rocks occurs.
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HANGING WALL
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Rock above a normal fault plane.
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FOOTWALL
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Rock below a fault plane.
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REVERSE FAULT
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Fault in which the hanging wall moves up relative to the footwall.
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THRUST FAULT
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Type of reverse fault in which the fault plane is nearly horizontal rathe4r than vertical.
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STRIKE-SLIP FAULT
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Fault in which the rock on either side of a fault plane slides horizontally.
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MOUNTAIN RANGE
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Group of adjacent mountains wiht the same general shape and structure.
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MOUNTAIN SYSTEM
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Group of adjacent mountain ranges.
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MOUNTAIN BELTS
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Group of large mountain systems.
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FOLDED MOUNTAIN
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Landform created when tectonic movements bend and uplift rock layers.
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PLATEAUS
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Large area of flat-topped rocks high above sea level.
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FAULT-BLOCK MOUNTAINS
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Mountain formed where faulting breaks the earth's crust into large blocks and the blocks are uplifted and tilted.
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GRABEN
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Long, narrow valley formed by faulting and downward slippage of a crustal block.
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VOLCANIC MOUNTAIN
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mountain formed when molten rock erupts onto the earth's surface.
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DOME MOUNTAIN
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Landform created when molten rock pushes up rock layers on the earth's surface and the layers then are worn away in places, leaving
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EARTHQUAKE
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Vibration of the earth's crust.
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ELASTIC REBOUND THEORY
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Theory that rocks that are strained past a certain point will fracture and spring back to their original shape.
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AFTERSHOCK
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tremor that follows and is smaller than a major earthquake.
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FOCUS
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Area along a fault at which slippage first occurs, initiating an earthquake.
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EPICENTER
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Point on the earth's surface directly above the focus of an earthquake.
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PACIFIC RING OF FIRE
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Major earthquake zone that forms a ring around the Pacific Ocean.
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FAULT ZONE
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Group of interconnected faults.
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P-WAVE
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Primay wave; the fastest wave generated by an earthquake and the first to be recorded by a seismograph.
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S-WAVE
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Secondary wave; a wave generated by an earthquake and the second to be recorded by a seismograph.
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L-WAVE
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Surface or long wave; the slowest wave generated by an earthquake and the last to be recorded by a seismograph.
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SEISMOGRAPH
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Instrument used to detect and record seismic waves.
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MICROQUAKE
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Earthquake with a magnitude less than 2.5 on the Richter scale.
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MERCALLI SCALE
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Scale that expresses the intensity of an earthquake with a Roman numeral and a description.
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INTENSITY
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Amount of damage caused by an earthquake.
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TSUNAMI
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Giant ocean wave tht often occurs after a major earthquake with an epicenter on the ocean floor.
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VOLCANO
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Lava and tephra built up on the earth's sufrace around a vent.
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LAVA
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Magma that reaches the earth's surface.
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VOLCANISM
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An activity that includes the movement of magma toward or onto the earth's surface.
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SEISMIC GAP
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Zone of rock in which a fault is locked and unable to move and in which no major earthquake has occurred for at least 30 years.
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MAGMA
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Liquid rock produced deep inside the earth.
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FISSURE
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Crack in a rock surface through which lava flows.
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HOT SPOT
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Area of volcanism within a lithospheric plate.
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MAFIC LAVA
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Dark-colored lava rich in magnesium and iron.
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FELSIC LAVA
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Silica-rich lava.
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PAHOEHOE
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solidified mafic lava with a wrinkled surface.
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AA
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Jagged chunks of lava formed by rapid cooling on the surface of a lava flow.
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PILLOW LAVA
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Lava that flows our of fissures on the ocean floor and cools rapidly in rounded shapes.
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TEPHRA
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Also called pyroclastic material, all the rock fragments ejected from a volcano.
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PYROCLASTIC MATERIAL
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Also called tephra, all of the rock fragments ejectged from a volcano.
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VOLCANIC ASH
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Tephra particles between 0.25 and 2 mm in diameter.
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VOLCANIC DUST
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Tephra particles less than0.25 mm in diameter.
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VOLCANIC BOMB
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Large spindle-shaped clot of lava thrown out of a volcano.
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VOLCANIC BLOCK
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The largest tephra, formed from solid rock blasted from a fissure.
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SHIELD CONE
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Volcanic deposit of hardened lava with a broad base and gentle slopes.
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CINDER CONE
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Steep-sloped deposit of solid fragments ejected from a volcano.
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COMPOSITE CONE
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Also called stratovolcano, steep-sloped volcanic deposit with alternating layers of hardened lava flows and tephra.
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STRATOVOLCANOES
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Also called a composite cone, steep-sloped volcanic deposit with alternating layers of hardened lava flows and tephra.
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CRATER
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Funnel-shaped pit at the top of a volcanic cone.
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CALDERA
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Large basin-shaped depressionformed when an explosion destroys the upper part of a volcanic cone.
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