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Who proposed the hypothesis of continental drift?
Alfred Wegener
What are the three types of evidence supporting continental drift?
Fossils on other continents, fit like puzzle pieces, climate formations.
What does finding identical fossils in Africa and South America suggest?
It suggests that they were once together.
What does the theory of plate tectonics explain?
How major landforms are created as a result of Earth's subterranean movements.
What are mid-ocean ridges?
A continuous range of underwater volcanoes that wraps around the globe, where new ocean floor is created.
What happens along the mid-ocean ridge?
New ocean floor is created as the Earth's tectonic plates spread apart.
What leads to enormous volcanic eruptions along the mid-ocean ridge?
Volcanic activity along the mid-ocean ridge.
Define sea-floor spreading.
The formation of new oceanic crust through the upwelling of magma at mid-ocean ridges.
Where are the youngest and oldest rocks found on the ocean floor?
Youngest rocks at mid-ocean ridges; oldest rocks further away from the ridge.
What are trenches?
Large drop-offs in the ocean formed in subduction zones where tectonic plates collide.
What is subduction?
The process where one tectonic plate moves under another at convergent boundaries.
Where are convergent, divergent, and transform fault boundaries found?
Convergent: where two oceanic plates collide; Divergent: along mid-ocean ridges; Transform: where two lithospheric plates slide past one another.
Name the three types of convergent boundaries.
Oceanic-oceanic, oceanic-continental, and continental-continental boundaries.
What is an example of a divergent boundary?
The mid-Atlantic Ridge.
What is formed at oceanic-oceanic convergent boundaries?
Volcanic isles.
What is formed at oceanic-continental boundaries?
A chain of volcanoes.
What does paleomagnetism study?
The magnetism in rocks induced by Earth's magnetic field.
What causes plate movements?
Heat from radioactive processes inside the Earth.
What is slab pull?
The force exerted by the weight of the subducted slab on the plate it is attached to.
What is ridge push?
The pressure exerted by the excess height of the mid-ocean ridge.
What is an earthquake?
A vibration of the Earth produced by a rapid release of energy, often occurring along faults.
What causes an earthquake?
Sudden movement along faults.
What is the elastic rebound hypothesis?
It explains how energy is released during earthquakes.
What are the three types of seismic waves?
Surface waves, P waves, and S waves.
Which seismic wave has the greatest speed?
P waves.
Which seismic wave has the slowest speed?
Surface waves.
What is the epicenter?
The point on the Earth’s surface directly above the focus of an earthquake.
What is a seismograph?
An instrument used to find the location and magnitude of earthquakes.
What is the time between the arrival of the P-wave and S-wave called?
S-P interval.
How many seismic stations are needed to find the epicenter of an earthquake?
At least three stations.
How is the inner core different from the outer core?
The outer core is liquid and very hot, while the inner core is solid and even hotter due to pressure.
What is the mantle?
82% of Earth’s volume, a solid rocky shell that can act like liquid due to convection.
What is the boundary between the crust and the mantle called?
The crust.
What are the two types of crust?
Oceanic and continental crust.
How do temperature and pressure change as you move deeper into the Earth?
Both increase.
How does pressure affect the properties of materials in the Earth?
The increase in pressure at great depths causes materials to become solid, like in the inner core.
