Science - Tectonic Plates Flashcards
What makes up the Lithosphere?
Rigid Rock:
- Crust
- Upper mantle
What makes up the Asthenosphere?
Semi-Liquid:
- Lower mantle
What makes up the Outer Core?
Liquid:
- Nickel
- Iron
What makes up the Inner Core?
Solid:
- Iron
Crust
- Outermost layer of the Earth
- Ranges from 5km-30km in thickness
- Broken into tectonic plates
- Plates move around on top of the asthenosphere
5 Largest Tectonic Plates
- Pacific Plate
- North American Plate
- Eurasian Plate
- African Plate
- Antarctic Plate
Continental-Continental Convergence
Mountains
Continental-Oceanic Convergence
- Oceanic Trench
- Continental Arc
Oceanic-Oceanic Convergence
- Oceanic Trench
- Island Arc
Divergent Boundaries
- Mid-ocean Ridge
- Rift Valley
Transform Boundaries
- Fault Lines
Why plates move:
Convection Currents:
- The circular motion of the current causes the magma to hit the plates and push them up
Ridge Push:
- Magma rises out of ridge, cools, pushes plates apart, new crust forms
Slab Pull:
- Subducted plate is pulled into mantle due to gravity
Who was Alfred Wegener?
A German scientist who was a:
- Meteorologist and a Geophysicist
He came up with the idea that all continents used to be one super continent called Pangea that moved apart after some time
Wegener’s Evidence
- Continents fit like puzzle pieces
- Fossils of the same species found on different continents
Why wasn’t Wegener’s idea accepted?
They didn’t understand how or why it happened
