Plate Tectonics Theory Vocabulary 8.9A & 8.9B

He developed the theory of Continental Drift in 1912.

Marianas trench

Mountain range that forms at ocean-continent convergent boundaries at a subduction zone

Mountains that form when two continental plates push together and upward   

Long narrow faulted valleys formed at divergent boundaries on land

The process by which one lithospheric plate moves beneath another plate  

Magma erupts  at mid-ocean ridges and pushes older sea floor apart.

Rift Valley

Solid, outer layer of Earth that consists of the crust & the rigid upper part of the mantle 

Island arc

Major earthquakes and faults

The theory that Earth’s outer layer is made up of large, moving pieces called tectonic plates. 

Himalaya Mountains at the boundary between the Indian and Eurasian plates.

The Ring of Fire refers to the volcanoes/ trenches around the Pacific plate. Type of boundary?

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

Mts. that form at divergent boundaries on land & blocks of crust break, tilt and drop down.

Volcanic mountains

The circular motion that happens when warmer  liquid rises, while the cooler liquid sinks.

Lava "fountains" at a weak point in the middle of a moving plate build volcanic island chains

Deepest landforms in the ocean, formed when ocean plates subduct.

The process by which Earth’s magnetic north pole and magnetic south pole switch periodically.

Folded mountains

Mid-Atlantic Ridge

San Andreas Fault in California

Forms at divergent boundaries between two ocean plates

He and others developed the theory of PlateTectonics in the mid-1900s

Iceland

Two plates are sliding past each other.

Chain of volcanic islands that form along an ocean-ocean convergent boundary at subduction zone

Ocean trench

Two plates are moving apart, or DIVIDING.

Mid-ocean Ridge

The soft layer of the mantle on which the tectonic plates move  

Japan

Two plates are moving together, or COLLIDING.

Ocean trench

Theory that Pangea broke up to form smaller continents, which moved to their present locations

A system of ideas that explains many related observations.

Mount St. Helens

Subduction

Breaks in rock along which crustal movement occurs, due to tension or compression stress 

Rift Valley