Flashcard library · Earth Science
Earth Science: Plate Tectonics
Master the core concepts of Earth Science: Plate Tectonics with this essential flashcard set. Covering fundamental definitions, plate boundary types, driving forces, and key geological features, these cards will help you ace your exams. Focus on understanding the dynamic processes that shape our planet's surface.
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What is plate tectonics?
The theory that Earth's lithosphere is broken into plates that move and interact, causing earthquakes, volcanoes and mountains.
What is the lithosphere?
The rigid outer layer of crust and uppermost mantle, broken into plates.
What is the asthenosphere?
The weak, ductile layer of upper mantle beneath the lithosphere.
What are the three types of plate boundaries?
Divergent (apart), convergent (together) and transform (sliding past).
What forms at divergent boundaries?
New crust, mid-ocean ridges and rift valleys.
What evidence supports seafloor spreading?
Symmetric magnetic stripes, crust that gets older away from ridges, and thinner sediment near ridges.
What happens at an ocean-continent convergent boundary?
The denser oceanic plate subducts, forming a trench and a volcanic arc.
What happens when two continental plates collide?
Neither subducts much, so crust buckles into high mountains such as the Himalayas.
What happens at transform boundaries?
Plates slide past each other, crust is neither made nor destroyed, and shallow earthquakes are common.
What are ridge push and slab pull?
Gravity-driven forces: elevated ridges push plates outward, and sinking slabs pull plates into trenches.
Which force is thought to drive plates most strongly?
Slab pull, the weight of cold, dense lithosphere sinking at subduction zones.
How does mantle convection relate to plate motion?
Plates are the cool top of mantle convection; sinking slabs and rising ridges drive the motion more than drag from below.
What is a hotspot?
A long-lived plume of hot mantle that makes a chain of volcanoes as a plate moves over it, like Hawaii.
What evidence did Wegener cite for continental drift?
Matching coastlines, fossils and rock types across oceans, and glacial scars in now-tropical regions.
Where do most earthquakes and volcanoes occur?
Along plate boundaries.