Plate tectonics

    Cards (12)

    • Plates converge and one plate slides beneath another causing the upper plate to fold and fracture creating fault lines and mountain ranges.
    • Convection currents within the mantle drive plate motion.
    • Plate tectonics refers to the movement of large plates that make up Earth's lithosphere.
    • At divergent boundaries, magma rises through fissures in the crust and cools into basaltic rock.
    • Divergent boundaries occur when two plates move away from each other, resulting in the formation of new ocean floor at mid-ocean ridges or continental rift valleys on land.
    • There are three types of boundaries where two plates meet: divergent, convergent, and transform.
    • Mid-ocean ridges form at divergent boundaries where two oceanic plates move apart.
    • Continental drift theory suggests that continents were once joined together as one supercontinent called Pangaea.
    • Transform faults are found where plates slide past one another without creating or destroying material.
    • Plate tectonics refers to the movement of large pieces of rock on the surface of the earth known as lithospheric plates.
    • Transform plate boundaries are characterized by horizontal motion at right angles to the direction of plate motion.
    • Divergent plate boundaries occur where two lithospheric plates move away from one another, creating new crustal material through magma intrusion or volcanic eruptions.
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