Ch 4: Plate Tectonics Study Guide (6th)

Terms to Know:

  1. Continental drift continents move slowly across Earth’s surface
  2. Global positioning system (GPS) network of satellites used to determine locations on Earth
  3. Magnetometer measures the strength of the magnetic field
  4. Ridge push the force of gravity moves the plate downward and away from the ridge
  5. Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR) uses pulses of light to measure distances
  6. Slab pulla plate is forced into the mantle

Details to Know:

  1. Know who proposed the continental drift theoryAlfred Wegener
  2. Know what provides scientists with evidence of magnetic polarity reversalsiron-rich crystals in the basalt
  3. Know what scientists discovered had reversed itself several times in the past when they studied the alignment of iron-bearing minerals in rocksthe magnetic field
  4. Know how scientists describe the orientation of the magnetic field todaynormal
  5. Know what can occur when plates slide past one anotherearthquakes
  6. Know what causes seafloor spreadinghot, less-dense material below Earth’s crust is forced upwards
  7. Know what action occurs at the mid-ocean ridgeplates move apart from each other
  8. Know how ocean floor rocks compare with continental rocksocean floor rocks are younger than continental rocks
  9. Know where the youngest rocks in the ocean floor are locatedridges
  10. Know what provides the matter and energy for plate movementconvection
  11. Know what term describes the cycle of heating, rising, cooling, and sinkingconvection current
  12. Know what would best describe the speed of plate movementgrowth of a fingernail
  13. Contrast a pot of boiling water to model convection currents to how convection currents operate in Earth’s mantleunlike the water in a pot, convection currents are not the same in all places in the mantle. Also, convection in Earth’s mantle is much slower than convection in water
  14. Indicate the type of evidence a scientist could use to locate the plate boundaries if he/she wanted to map the edges of the lithospheric platesearthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur where the edges of plates run into, move apart from, or scrape past each other. By mapping the occurrence of these forces, the scientist could locate the edges of the lithospheric plates