Download Blaine Smit Assignment 1.3 Definitions

Blaine Smit
72568141
Jan. 30, 2017
Assignment 1.3- Definitions of “Tectonic”
The objective of this assignment is to practice appropriate and effective written communication to
an audience by providing three different types of definitions for a single word. An important part of
writing is understanding who your audience is and being able to get across your ideas to that
audience. The choice of definition type should depend both on your audience’s level of familiarity
with the subject in question, and well as the required level of understanding the writer thinks they
need to convey to the reader.
Word: Tectonic
Parenthetical Definition:
Tectonic activity along the BC coast affects the internal structure of the earth, putting cities such as
Vancouver at risk of natural hazards such as earthquakes.
Sentence Definition:
Tectonic refers to the movement, interaction, and deformation of rigid pieces of the Earth’s crust,
both relative to each other and within the individual pieces.
Expanded Definition:
The word tectonic is a term that describes activity related to the internal movement and
deformation of the earth’s crust, as well as the forces that act to cause these changes. The Earth
consists of a solid, rigid upper layer of rock broken up into several plates that overlay the convecting,
plastic lower mantle. This convection within the mantle causes the rigid plates to move around like
slow moving ice on water. Tectonic activity results from the movement of these rigid plates relative
to each other and the consequent forces that act on them, which cause deformation of the plates.
The term tectonic can refer to both inter- and intra-plate processes. Plates can interact in several
ways, either sliding past each other, crumpling together, or overriding one another, with one being
forced down into the Earth. The crumpling together of the plates, or the sliding against each other,
can produce earthquakes at depth, with tremors that travel up to the surface. The plates
themselves can deform internally, by fracturing or folding of the rocks that make up the plate. The
type of tectonic interaction that occurs is largely governed by characteristics of the rock that make
up the plates, including composition, age, and internal heat. Different types of tectonic activity
often produce characteristic styles of deformation of the Earth’s structure, and are responsible for
many surface features seen today, such as the Rocky Mountains. More importantly, tectonic activity
that involves collision or grinding together of plates can cause large scale earthquakes at a regional
scale.
Blaine Smit
72568141
Jan. 30, 2017
Figure 1: Three different types of tectonic plate interaction. Plates can move apart, slide past
eachother, or collide. Both convergent and transform boundaries can create the conditions
necessary for earthquakes to occur. From Learning Geology: What do we Mean by Plate Tectonics?
Works Cited
Fossen, Haakon. Structural Geology. Cambridge, UK: University Printing House, 2015. Print.
Learning Geology. “What do we Mean by Plate Tectonics?” 2017. Web. Feb. 2017
<http://geologylearn.blogspot.ca/2016/02/what-do-we-mean-by-plate-tectonics.html>
National Geographic. “Plate Tectonics.” 2015. Web. Jan. 2017
<http://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/earth/the-dynamic-earth/plate-tectonics/>