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VOCABULARY TERMS
Topics: Layers of the Earth & Plate Tectonics
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Vocabulary Term
Types of Plate Boundaries
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Types of Faults
Definition
Convergent Boundary
A plate boundary when two plates move TOWARDS one another.
- Example: The Himalayan Mountains
Divergent Boundary
A plate boundary when two plates move AWAY from one another.
- Example: Mid-Atlantic Ridge
Transform Boundary
A plate boundary made up of many strike-slip fault causing SIDE-BYSIDE lateral movement.
- Example: California (San Andreas Fault Line)
Passive Margin
When two plates are MOTIONLESS (do not move).
- Example: Atlantic coast of the United States
Normal Fault
When the foot wall moves up and the hanging wall moves down due to
tension (pulling apart).
Reverse Fault
When the foot wall moves down and the hanging wall moves up due to
compression (pushing together).
Strike-Slip Fault
When two slabs of rock slide side-by-side.
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Crust
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Lithosphere
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Asthenosphere
Mantle
Inner Core
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Outer Core
The brittle, rocky outer layer of Earth. This is the thinnest layer of the
Earth.
The rigid outermost later of Earth that includes the uppermost mantle and
crust.
The partially melted (plastic) portion of the mantle below the lithosphere.
The thick middle layer in the solid part of Earth.
The innermost layer of the Earth. This layer is solid nickel and mostly
iron.
The 2nd innermost later of the Earth. This layer is liquid in state.
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Mid-Ocean Ridge
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Subduction Zone
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Trench
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Continental Drift Theory
Plate Tectonics
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Convection
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Magnetic Reversals
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Seafloor Spreading
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Contact Metamorphism
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Regional Metamorphism
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Alfred Wegner
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Ocean Crust
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Continental Crust
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Plate Boundary
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Tectonic Plate
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Rift
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Parts of Faults
The long, narrow mountain range on the ocean floor; formed by magma at
divergent plate boundaries.
A zone where one tectonic plate moves under another tectonic plate at a
convergent plate boundary. The denser plate always moves under the less
dense plate.
A deep, underwater trough (ditch) created by one plate subducting
(moving beneath) another plate at a convergent boundary.
A theory posed in 1912 stating that the Earth’s continents move over time.
Theory that Earth’s surface is broken into large, rigid pieces that move
with respect to each other.
The circulation of particles within a material caused by differences in
thermal energy and density.
(THINK: Lava Lamp)
An event that causes a magnetic field to reverse direction or charge.
(THINK: Ocean floor)
The process by which new oceanic crust forms along a mid-ocean ridge
and older oceanic crust moves away from the ridge.
Formation of metamorphic rocks caused by magma coming into contact
with existing rock.
Formation of metamorphic rock bodies that are hundreds of square
kilometers in size.
He is most remembered for advancing the theory of continental drift
in 1912, which hypothesized that the continents were slowly drifting
around the Earth. His hypothesis was controversial and not widely
accepted until the 1950s.
Dark colored rocks that make up the ocean basins on Earth. Oceanic crust
has a density of 2.9 g/cm3.
Rock that makes up the continents on Earth. Continental crust has a
density of 2.7 g/cm3.
The border between two different lithospheric plates. There are several
types of plate boundaries based on plate movement.
Are pieces of the Earth's crust and uppermost mantle, together
referred to as the lithosphere. The plates are around 100 km thick on
the continents.
Forms on continents when two continental plates move apart (divergent
boundary).
- Example: The Great Rift Valley, Africa
Hanging Wall
The overlying block of a fault having an inclined fault plane.
(HINT: this is the wall you could hang a lantern on)
Foot Wall
The underlying block of a fault having an inclined fault plane.
(HINT: this is the wall you could stand your feet on.)