Plate Tectonics - AP Environmental Science

Mountain ranges. Continental collision creates folded and uplifted terrain.

Alfred Wegener. German meteorologist who first proposed continental movement.

Fossil distribution, rock formations, and seafloor spreading. Multiple lines of evidence confirm plate movement theory.

An area with frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions around the Pacific Ocean. Results from numerous subduction zones around the Pacific.

The lithosphere. The rigid outer shell that breaks into moving plates.

A semi-fluid layer of the mantle on which tectonic plates move. The plastic layer beneath plates that allows movement.

A force exerted by cooling, sinking lithosphere at mid-ocean ridges. Cooling lithosphere at ridges slides down and pushes plates.

By forming diverse habitats through geological activity. Mountain building and volcanism create varied environments for life.

The process where one plate moves under another into the mantle. Denser oceanic plates sink beneath less dense continental plates.

They form above subducting plates and indicate active convergence. Curved volcanic chains mark active subduction zones.

A location where magma rises to Earth's surface independent of plate boundaries. Fixed volcanic source creates island chains as plates move.

Plates move apart, forming new crust at mid-ocean ridges. Separation allows magma to rise and solidify into new seafloor.

A rigid segment of the lithosphere that moves over the asthenosphere. Large pieces of lithosphere that act as single units.

Volcanic mountain ranges. Oceanic plate subduction creates coastal volcanic chains.

Plates slide past one another, causing earthquakes. Lateral motion creates friction and sudden release of energy.

Mountain ranges. Continental collision creates folded and uplifted terrain.

A transform boundary. California's major fault where plates slide horizontally.

Island arcs. Chains of volcanoes form when oceanic plates converge.

Subduction. Oceanic plates sink back into mantle, completing the cycle.

By subduction of oceanic plates beneath continental or other oceanic plates. Subduction creates deep depressions in the ocean floor.

Convection currents in the mantle. Heat-driven circulation in the mantle pushes plates around.

Earth's lithosphere is divided into plates that move on the asthenosphere. The fundamental principle describing how Earth's surface moves and changes.

It is a divergent boundary where new oceanic crust forms. Demonstrates active seafloor spreading in the Atlantic.

Plates collide, leading to mountain formation or subduction. Collision creates compression and vertical crustal movement.

A deep valley formed as tectonic plates move apart. Continental divergence creates elongated depressions.

Fault lines. Fractures where plates slide past each other horizontally.

Several centimeters per year. Similar to fingernail growth rate, measurable by GPS.

Subduction. Oceanic plates are recycled into the mantle at trenches.

A force exerted by a sinking plate during subduction. Gravitational force from dense subducting slabs pulls plates down.