8.9AB Plate Tectonics

Front

What is Plate Tectonics?

Back

The theory that explains the structure and movement of Earth's lithosphere, which is divided into tectonic plates that float on the semi-fluid asthenosphere.

Front

What are the three main types of plate boundaries?

Back

1. Convergent boundaries: where plates collide. 2. Divergent boundaries: where plates move apart. 3. Transform boundaries: where plates slide past each other.

Front

What is a fault?

Back

A fracture in the Earth's crust where blocks of rock have moved past each other.

Front

What is a mid-ocean ridge?

Back

An underwater mountain range formed by plate tectonics, where new oceanic crust is created at divergent boundaries.

Front

What is subduction?

Back

The process where one tectonic plate moves under another plate and sinks into the mantle.

Front

What geological feature is commonly formed at convergent boundaries?

Back

Volcanoes and mountain ranges.

Front

What is seafloor spreading?

Back

The process by which new oceanic crust is formed at mid-ocean ridges and older crust is pushed away.

Front

What is a volcanic island?

Back

An island formed by volcanic activity, typically at a convergent boundary where an oceanic plate subducts beneath another plate.

Front

What is the Ring of Fire?

Back

A major area in the basin of the Pacific Ocean where a large number of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur.

Front

What is a transform boundary?

Back

A type of plate boundary where two plates slide past each other horizontally.