Plate Tectonics Vocabulary

A mid-ocean ridge is:

• a mountain range on land

• a deep ocean trench

• an oceanic rift zone that consists of long mountain chains with a centralrift valley; divergent boundary

• a type of ocean current

The famous transform boundary that cuts across California is known as the:

• San Andreas Fault

• Hayward Fault

• Garlock Fault

• Calaveras Fault

What is a fault?

• A type of rock

• a crack in a body of rock that the rock can move along

• A weather pattern

• A type of mineral

The theory of plate tectonics explains:

• the movement of continents and ocean floors

• the formation of stars and galaxies

• the process of photosynthesis in plants

• the chemical composition of the atmosphere

A rift valley is:

• a type of mountain range

• a tectonic valley that forms by extensional stress which causes fracturing and the formation of normal faults

• a type of river valley

• a plateau formed by volcanic activity

Tectonic plates are:

• A block of lithosphere that consists of the crust and the rigid,outermost part of the mantle

• small pieces of rock found in the ocean

• layers of atmosphere surrounding Earth

• types of clouds in the sky

Earthquakes are related to faults because:

• they occur along fault lines where tectonic plates meet.

• they are caused by weather changes.

• they happen randomly without any specific cause.

• they are unrelated to geological activity.

Sea-floor spreading is :

• A process of mountain formation

• The process by which new oceanic lithosphere (sea floor) forms when magma rises to Earth’s surface at mid-ocean ridges and solidifies, as older, existing seafloor moves away from the ridge.

• A process of erosion on the sea floor

• Layer of weak or soft mantle made of rock that flows slowly; tectonic plates move on top of this layer.

A divergent boundary is:

• a boundary where two tectonic plates move away from each other

• a boundary where two tectonic plates move towards each other

• a boundary where two tectonic plates slide past each other

• a boundary where tectonic plates do not move

What is folding in geology?

• A process of rock layers bending due to stress

• A type of volcanic eruption

• A method of mineral extraction

• A form of sediment deposition