Processes in the layers of the earth Flashcards
What force is responsible for the movement of plates on Earth’s surface?
Convection in the mantle
What did Antonio Snider-Pellegrini propose in 1858?
Continents were once joined and later drifted apart
What evidence supports the idea of continental drift?
Fossil distribution and mountain alignment
What is a Wadati-Benioff zone?
A region of earthquake foci along subducting slabs
What happens at a subduction zone?
Crust is recycled into the mantle
What creates the symmetric magnetic stripes on either side of mid-ocean ridges?
Magnetic field reversals recorded in cooling magma
Why is no ocean floor older than 180 million years?
It subducts at trenches and gets recycled
What is the Curie temperature?
The temperature at which minerals become magnetic
What kind of plate boundary is associated with mid-ocean ridges?
Divergent
Which two processes balance each other in plate tectonics?
Crust formation and crust recycling
