4.2. Plate Tectonics – Vocabulary

Section 4.0 Introduction

  • spreading center
  • Mid-Atlantic Ridge
  • plate
  • volcano
  • crust
  • rift zone
  • tectonic plate
  • margin
  • ridge

Section 4.1 Alfred Wegener’s arguments for plate tectonics

  • Alfred Wegener
  • continental drift
  • terrestrial
  • supercontinent
  • Permian
  • Pangea / Pangaea
  • Gondwana
  • Eurasia
  • sedimentary strata
  • coalfields
  • Carboniferous
  • glaciation
  • Southern Hemisphere
  • paleogeographic reconstruction
  • iceberg
  • Earth’s rotation
  • ocean crust
  • lunar / solar tidal forces

Section 4.2 Global geological models of the early 20th century

  • terrestrial species
  • fold-belt mountains
  • folded mountains
  • plate tectonics
  • contractionism
  • submerge
  • permanentism
  • geosyncline theory
  • fossil distribution patterns
  • sediments
  • sedimentary layers
  • sedimentary rocks
  • continental weathering
  • compression
  • fold
  • lateral forces
  • intercontinental
  • matchup
  • land bridge
  • climate change
  • isostacy
  • polar ice cap
  • Mesozoic
  • continental shelf

Section 4.3 Geological renaissance of the mid-20th century

  • plate tectonic theory
  • paleomagnetism
  • ocean floor
  • remnant magnetism
  • align
  • compass needle
  • crystallize
  • magma
  • basalt
  • magnetite
  • magnetized
  • deposit
  • rock layer
  • latitude
  • magnetic north
  • paleomagnetic data
  • polar wandering paths
  • geographic north pole
  • rotational pole
  • apparent polar wandering paths
  • bathymetry
  • weighted line
  • acoustic depth sounder
  • trans-Atlantic cable
  • basin
  • bathymetric data
  • topography
  • Nazca trench
  • fracture zone
  • ocean trench
  • seamount
  • seamount chain
  • seismic reflection sounding
  • geophone
  • bedrock topography
  • sediment thickness
  • rift valley
  • vertical exaggeration
  • heat flow
  • mantle convection
  • upward / downward convection
  • seismographic station
  • earthquake
  • mid-ocean ridge
  • magnetometer
  • magnetic stripes
  • magnetic survey
  • sea-floor spreading
  • mantle material
  • landmass
  • magnetic field reversal
  • anomaly
  • mantle plume
  • hot spot
  • Emperor seamounts
  • Hawai’ian mantle plume
  • Pacific Plate
  • Yellowstone hot spot
  • Anahim Volcanic Belt
  • oceanic spreading ridges
  • fault
  • transform fault
  • rigid

Section 4.4 Plates, plate motions, and plate-boundary processes

  • Eurasian Plate
  • Pacific Plate
  • Indian Plate
  • Australian Plate
  • North American Plate
  • South American Plate
  • African Plate
  • Antarctic Plate
  • Juan de Fuca Plate
  • Nazca Plate
  • Scotia Plate
  • Philippine Plate
  • Caribbean Plate
  • Global Positioning System (GPS)
  • plate motion
  • rate of motion
  • plate boundary
  • divergent
  • convergent
  • transform
  • crust
  • mantle
  • lithosphere
  • aesthenosphere
  • mafic
  • San Andreas Fault
  • spreading boundary
  • partial melting
  • pillow lava
  • gabbro
  • sheeted dykes
  • buoyant
  • dome
  • radial fractures
  • three-part rift formation
  • Great Rift Valley
  • ocean-ocean convergent boundary
  • ocean-continent convergent boundary
  • continent-continent convergent boundary
  • subduct
  • subduction
  • flux melting
  • fluid-induced melting
  • pyroxene
  • olivine
  • serpentine
  • island arc
  • accretionary wedge
  • compression
  • thrust fault
  • Wilson Cycle
  • passive margin
  • oceanic lithosphere
  • continental lithosphere
  • erosion

Section 4.5 Mechanisms for plate motion

  • ridge-push
  • slab-pull
  • convection traction

Other vocabulary

  • continental fit
  • rock record
  • paleoclimate
  • glacial striation
  • isochron
  • magnetic polarity
  • matrix
  • solid / solidify
  • active margin
  • seafloor spreading
  • heterogeneous
  • mid-ocean ridge axis
  • random distribution vs non-random distribution
  • Ring of Fire
  • submarine
  • crustal thickening

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Physical Geology Workbook Copyright © 2019 by Joyce M. McBeth is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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