Chapter 2 Section 3-6 Vocab

Question 1

Basalt

Answer 1

A kind of volcanic igneous rock, usually darker colored, with a high content of iron.

Question 2

Batholith

Answer 2

A large of mass of igneous rock formed when magma intrudes and solidifies.

Question 3

Continental accretion

Answer 3

The growth of a continent along its edges.

Question 4

Density

Answer 4

A physical property of a substance that is expressed as the mass or quantity o a substance per unit volume.

Question 5

Fold

Answer 5

A bend in planar feature in rocks. A fold is usually a result of deformation.

Question 6

Fossil

Answer 6

Any evidence of past life preserved in sediment or rocks.

Question 7

Hydrothermal Vent

Answer 7

A very hot spring on the ocean floor where heated, mineral-rich water exists from cracks in Earth’s crust

Question 8

Igneous Rock

Answer 8

A rock that solidified from molten or partly molten material, that is, from magma

Question 9

Paleomagnetism

Answer 9

The record of past orientation and polarity of Earth’s magnetic field recorded in rocks containing the mineral magnetite.

Question 10

Pangea

Answer 10

Earth’s most recent supercontinent, which was rifted apart about 200 million years ago

Question 11

Pangea

Answer 11

Earth’s most recent supercontinent, which was rifted apart about 200 million years ago

Question 12

Rift

Answer 12

A long crack in the lithosphere plate formed by boot mantle pushing up below.

Question 13

Subduction

Answer 13

The process by which local areas of Earth’s crust can be slowly lowered by large-scale forces acting within Earth or the cooling of rocks.

Question 14

Subduction Zone

Answer 14

A long, narrow belt in which one plate moves downward into the mantle beneath the edge of another plate at a convergent plate boundary. The downward-moving plate (undergoing subduction) is always oceanic crust. The plate that stays at the surface can have either the oceanic crust or continental crust.

Question 15

Supercontinent

Answer 15

A large continent consisting of all of Earth’s continental lithosphere. Supercontinents are assembled by tectonic plate processes of subduction and continent-continent collision.

Question 16

Suture Zone

Answer 16

The zone on Earth’s surface where two continents have collided and have been welded together to form a single continent.

Question 17

Thermal Convection

Answer 17

A pattern of movement in a fluid caused by heating from below and cooling from above. Thermal convection transfers heat energy from the bottom of the convection cell to the top.

Question 18

Trench

Answer 18

A long, narrow, elongated depression of the deep seafloor.