Geological Stress

The name for giant sections of the Earth that the continents are attached.

How fast do tectonic plates move?

• 2.5 cm/year

• 25 cm/year

• 2.5 inches/year

• 2.5 feet/year

Occasionally these will hit and cause an earthquake.

• tectonic plates

• faults

• convergent plate boundary

• divergent plate boundary

Tectonic plates move sideways past each other along these.

These create stress on tectonic plates.

• moving tectonic plates

• magma rising through solid rocks

• the force applied to a rock

• rocks that have no place to go

When talking about geology, this is the force applied to a rock.

Tectonic plates experience stress when they:

• collide

• move apart

• slide past each other

• stay where they are

Type of stress that comes from the weight of all the overlying rock.

• confining

• compression

• convergent

• divergent

This type of stress pushes down on a deeply buried rock. The rock is being pushed from all sides which causes the rock to compress.

• confining

• compression

• convergent

• divergent

With this type of stress, the rock will not change shape or move because there is no place for it to go.

• confining

• compression

• convergent

• divergent