Plate Tectonics Review

Front

What evidence supports the claim that the Earth's surface has changed over the past 200 million years?

Back

Evidence includes glaciers found in Africa and tropical plants discovered in Antarctica.

Front

What is the process called when hot plastic-like rock in the mantle is forced upward, cools, and then sinks?

Back

Convection current.

Front

What type of fault is the San Andreas Fault in California?

Back

Transform fault.

Front

What is the term for the discovery of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and the finding that rocks get older as you move away from it?

Back

Seafloor Spreading.

Front

What do we call the area where two tectonic plates meet?

Back

Boundary.

Front

What is the theory that explains the movement of the Earth's plates?

Back

Plate Tectonics.

Front

What is a divergent boundary?

Back

A place where two tectonic plates move apart from each other.

Front

What happens at a convergent boundary?

Back

Two tectonic plates collide, which can cause mountains to form or one plate to be pushed under another.

Front

What is a subduction zone?

Back

An area where one tectonic plate is being forced under another plate.

Front

What is the significance of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge?

Back

It is a divergent boundary where new oceanic crust is formed.