Download Unit 3 Vocabulary

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Unit 3 Vocabulary
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Convection - circulation of material caused by differences in temperature and density
Convergent plate boundary - where two plates collide
Divergent plate boundary - where two plates separate
Lithosphere - cold, rigid outermost rock layer of Earth
Plastic - capable of being molded or changing shape
Plate tectonics - theory that Earth’s surface is made of rock plates that move with respect to each other
Ridge push - force created by rising mantle of ocean ridges that creates potential for plates to move away from the
ridge
Slab pull – force created by sinking of a plate, or slab, that pulls on the rest of the plate
Subduction – sinking of a denser plate below a more buoyant plate at a convergent plate boundary
Transform plate boundary – where two plates slide by each other
Fault zone - area of many fractured pieces of crust along a large fault
Ocean trench - deep, underwater trough created by one plate subducting under another plate at a convergent plate
boundary
Transform fault - area where tectonic plates slide horizontally past each other
Volcanic arc - curved line of volcanic islands that forms parallel to a plate boundary
Appalachian - from the Apalachee word abalahci, meaning “other side of the river”
Fault-block Mountain - parallel ridges that form where blocks of crust move up at faults
Folded Mountain - made of layers of rocks that are folded
Perpendicular - being at right angles to a line or plane
Uplifted Mountain - forms when large regions rise vertically with very little deformation
Convergent tending to move toward one point or approaching each other
Earthquake - causes vibrations in the ground that result from movement along breaks in Earth’s lithosphere
Epicenter - location directly above the focus of an earthquake
Fault - break in Earth’s lithosphere where one block of rock moves toward, away from, or past another focus
location where rocks first move along a fault and seismic waves originate
Mantle - Earth’s interior below the crust and above the core
Plate boundary - where Earth’s lithospheric plates move and interact with each other
Primary wave P-wave; fastest-moving type of seismic wave; causes particles in the ground to move in a push-pull
motion
Secondary wave - S-wave; causes particles in the ground to move side to side and up and down at right angles
relative to the direction the wave travels
Seismic wave - travels as vibrations on and in Earth seismogram graphical illustration of seismic waves
Seismologist - scientist who studies earthquakes
Cinder cone - small, steep-sided volcano that erupts gas-rich, basaltic lava
Composite volcano - large, steep sided volcano that results from explosive eruptions of andesitic and rhyolitic lavas
along convergent plate boundaries
Dissolve - to cause to disperse or disappear
Hot spot volcano - that is not associated with a plate boundary
Lava - molten rock that erupts onto Earth’s surface
Magma - molten rock below the Earth’s surface
Shield volcano - large volcano with gentle slopes of basaltic lava; located along divergent plate boundaries and
oceanic hot spots
Viscosity - liquid’s ability to flow
Volcanic ash - tiny particles of pulverized volcanic rock and gas
Volcano - vent in Earth’s crust through which molten rock flows