Plate Tectonics, the Rock Cycle, and Geologic History

Vocabulary flashcards covering plate tectonic theory, rock types, earth surface processes, natural selection, and geologic time principles.

Plate Tectonic Theory

Theory stating that the Earth's lithosphere is divided into rigid plates of various sizes that move over the asthenosphere.

Divergent Boundaries

One of the three main boundary types, defined by plates pulling apart.

Convergent Boundaries

One of the three main boundary types, defined by plates colliding together.

Transform Boundaries

One of the three main boundary types, defined by plates sliding past each other.

Continental Rift Zone

A tectonic feature characterized as a young plate boundary.

The Rock Cycle

One of Earth's subsystems illustrating the loop of processes and paths by which one rock changes to another both on the surface and inside the Earth.

Igneous Rocks

Rocks formed by the cooling and solidification (crystallization) of magma or lava, such as basalt and granite.

Sedimentary Rocks

Rocks formed through the cementation and compaction (lithification) of sediment, such as limestone and conglomerate.

Metamorphic Rocks

Rocks formed when existing rocks undergo heat and pressure (metamorphism), such as gneiss and quartzite.

Lithification

The rock cycle process involving cementation and compaction that turns sediment into sedimentary rock.

Principle of Uniformity

The principle holding that present day processes have operated throughout Earth's history, enabling better understanding of past events by studying modern processes.

Natural Selection

The mechanism resulting in the survival to reproductive age of organisms best suited to their environment, leading to evolution as advantageous traits are passed to offspring.

Fossils

The remains of past life that document changes in life forms which predate human history.