Plate Tectonics Vocabulary

Flashcards for Plate Tectonics Vocabulary

Continental crust

Made of granite, less dense, thick

Oceanic crust

Made of basalt, more dense, thin

Convergent plate boundary

Two plates come together

Subduction

More dense plate goes under

Trench

Very deep valley created by subduction

Divergent plate boundary

Two plates split apart

Mid-ocean ridge

Mountain range on the ocean floor created by splitting

Rift

"Rift Zone" Valley created by a continent splitting

Transform plate boundary

Two plates slide past each other

Convection

Energy transfer through liquids and gasses

Epicenter

Spot on the surface where an earthquake starts

Focus

Exact spot under ground where the crust broke

P wave

Primary earthquake wave

S wave

Secondary earthquake wave

Lag time

Time difference between P and S waves

Tsunami

Giant wave caused by under water earthquake

Hot spot

Random spot of rising magma