Plate Tectonics Vocabulary

Vibrations in the earth caused by the sudden release of energy, usually as a result of the movement of rocks along a fault.

• Risk
• Earthquake
• Fault
• Aftershock

A scientist who studies earthquakes.

• Vocunologist
• Crustologist
• Seismologist
• Technologist

A fracture in bedrock, along which blocks of rock on opposite sides of the fracture move.

• Risk
• Divergent
• Convergent
• Fault

An earthquake wave that follows the main shock of an earthquake.

• Secondary Wave
• Primary Wave
• Aftershock
• Focus Point

When two tectonic plates move away from each other, they are

• Convergent boundary
• Transform boundary
• Composite boundary
• Divergent boundary

When two tectonic plates move torward each other and meet, they are

• Convergent boundary
• Transform boundary
• Composite boundary
• Divergent boundary

When two tectonic plates slide horizontally past each other, they have a

• Convergent boundary
• Transform boundary
• Composite bounday
• Divergent boundary

A secondary earthquake wave; named because it travels slower than a primary wave and is the second wave to reach the seismograph station after an earthquake. It travels through the body of the earth as a series of crests and troughs.

• wave
• body wave
• P-wave
• S-wave

A primary (compressional) earthquake wave tht travels through the body of the earth; named because it is the first wave to reach a seismograph station during an earthquake.

• wave
• body wave
• P-Wave
• S-Wave

An earthquake wave that travels through the body of the earth rather than on its surface.

• wave
• body wave
• P-Wave
• S-Wave