Download Vocabulary

Earthquakes, Volcanoes
& Plate Tectonics
Surface Waves
• Most destructive seismic waves
Composite
• Type of volcano; occur at convergent
boundaries; may have multiple vents
Compression
• Force that occurs at convergent
boundaries; reverse faults
Shear
• Forces along strike-slip faults
Geothermal Energy
• Created by the heat of magma; can be
used to heat water creating steam that
turns turbines and generates electricity.
Caldera
• Formed when the crater of a volcano
collapses into the vent after an eruption.
Crater
• Steep-walled depression at the top of a
volcano.
Kilauea
• Most active volcano on Earth
Primary Waves
• Fastest seismic waves
Tension
• Forces that occur at divergent plate
boundaries; normal faults
Solar energy
• Energy from the sun
Fusion
• Process of creating nuclear energy by
joining the nuclei of atoms
Hydroelectric
• Electrical energy created when water is
used to turn turbines.
Fault
• Surfaces along which rocks break and
move
Shield
• Type of volcano; non-explosive eruptions;
occur at divergent boundaries
Tephra
• Lava that is blasted into the air by volcanic
eruptions and solidifies as it falls to the
ground as ash, cinders, etc.
Rift Valleys
• Forms in an area where two plates are
pulling apart (divergent boundary)
Cinder Cone
• Type of volcano; single vent; can occur
near the two other types of volcanoes.
Trenches
• Created at convergent boundaries at
subduction zones where one plate dives
beneath another.
Continental Drift
• Wegner’s hypothesis that all continents
were once connected and slowly drifted to
current positions.
Pangea
• Large ancient landmass composed of all
the continents joined together.
Seafloor Spreading
Hess’ theory that new seafloor is
formed when magma is forced toward
the surface at a mid-ocean ridge.
Plate Tectonics
Theory that Earth’s crust and
mantle are broken into plates
that float and move around on a
plasticlike layer of the mantle.
Divergent Boundaries
• Boundary where two plates are moving
apart (divide).
Convergent Boundary
• Boundary where two plates are moving
together.
Transform Boundary
Where two plates slide past each other without
converging or diverging; can create a strike-slip
fault.