Plate Tectonics

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Leaving Certificate Geography (Plate Tectonics) Flashcards on Plate Tectonics, created by eimearkelly3 on 21/06/2013.
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Flashcards by eimearkelly3, updated more than 1 year ago
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Created by eimearkelly3 almost 11 years ago
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Resource summary

Question Answer
Plate tectonics The study of the processes that cause the movement of the earth's plates and the landforms that result.
What fuels the movement of the plates? Thermal convection currents
Diverging Seperating
Converging Coming together
Sea-floor spreading suggests that.... the ocean floors widen as nwe rock is formed where plates have split apart
e.g. of sea floor spreading Mid-Atlantic Ridge between Eurasian and North American plates
Proof of sea floor spreading Older at the boundary, younger towards the continents Magnetisms Deposits of sediment folloeing glaciation Young/old volcanic islands
Sea-floor spreading was proposed by Harry Hess 1960s
Continental drift suggests that The continents are transported across th planet by convection currents
Supercontinent Pangaea
Ocean surrounding Pangaea Panthalassa
Two main continents after Pangaea Gondwanaland, Laurasia
Proof of continental drift Coninents fit together like a jigsaw Fossils e.g. South America and Africa Similar mountain trends and rocks
What particular fossil helped to prove continental drift? Mesosaurus remains
Three types of plate boundaries Destructive/convergent Conservative/passive Constructive/divergent
e.g. of divergent plate boundary Eurasian and North American (Mid-Atlantic Ridge)
e.g. of passive plate boundary Pacific (6cm NW per year) and North American (1cm NW per year) San Andreas fault
e.g. of destructive plate boundary (oceanic oceanic) Pacific subducting under Philippine plate (Mariana trench)
e.g. of destructive plate (oceanic continental) The Andes Nazca and South American Plate The Rockies Pacific and North American plates
e.g. of destructive plate (continental continental) Eurasian and Indo-Australian plate (Himilayas)
bubbles of magma rising from the mantle plumes
Subduction a heavier plate sinks underneath a lighter one
e.g. of rift where plates are seperating East African Rift Valley
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