What distinguishes plate tectonics flake tectonics?
What distinguishes plate tectonics flake tectonics?
Plate tectonics is a scientific theory that describes the large-scale motion of Earth’s lithosphere. The lateral relative movement of the plates typically varies from zero to 100 mm annually. Tectonic plates are composed of oceanic lithosphere and thicker continental lithosphere, each topped by its own kind of crust.
What planet has flake tectonics?
Instead it may have flake tectonics where the thin surface crust flakes and crumples….Venus.
| Venus Factbox | |
|---|---|
| Diameter | 12,104 km = 0.949 Earth diameter |
| Mass | 4.868 x 10^24 kg = 0.815 Earth mass |
| Average density | 5243 kg/m^3 |
| Surface gravity (Earth = 1) | 0.91 |
What is tectonic in geology?
Tectonics, scientific study of the deformation of the rocks that make up the Earth’s crust and the forces that produce such deformation.
What are tectonic layers?
Plate tectonics is the theory that Earth’s outer shell is divided into large slabs of solid rock, called “plates,” that glide over Earth’s mantle, the rocky inner layer above Earth’s core. Below the lithosphere is the asthenosphere—a viscous layer kept malleable by heat deep within the Earth.
What are the 3 types of tectonic forces?
The movement of the plates creates three types of tectonic boundaries: convergent, where plates move into one another; divergent, where plates move apart; and transform, where plates move sideways in relation to each other. They move at a rate of one to two inches (three to five centimeters) per year.
Why are earth’s plates moving?
The heat from radioactive processes within the planet’s interior causes the plates to move, sometimes toward and sometimes away from each other. This movement is called plate motion, or tectonic shift.
What is another word for tectonic?
What is another word for tectonic?
| significant | important |
|---|---|
| substantial | eventful |
| meaningful | big |
| monumental | much |
| earthshaking | earth-shattering |
What is it called when two plates meet?
When two tectonic plates meet, we get a “plate boundary.” There are three major types of plate boundaries, each associated with the formation of a variety of geologic features. Most divergent plate boundaries are underwater and form submarine mountain ranges called oceanic spreading ridges.
What will happen if two oceanic plates collide?
When two oceanic plates converge, the denser plate will end up sinking below the less dense plate, leading to the formation of an oceanic subduction zone. Old, dense crust tends to be subducted back into the earth. An example of a subduction zone formed from a convergent boundary is the Chile-Peru trench.
What boundary pushes together?
convergent boundaries
What are the two types of crust?
Earth’s crust is divided into two types: oceanic crust and continental crust. The transition zone between these two types of crust is sometimes called the Conrad discontinuity. Silicates (mostly compounds made of silicon and oxygen) are the most abundant rocks and minerals in both oceanic and continental crust.
What happens when two continents move towards each other?
When two plate move towards each other they converge or come together. The collision between two plates that are moving towards each other is called a convergent boundary. The collision results in large damaging earthquakes. When two continental plates converge the result is the formation of large folded mountains.
What are the three types of convergent boundary?
Three types of convergent boundaries are recognized: continent‐continent, ocean‐continent, and ocean‐ocean.
- Continent‐continent convergence results when two continents collide.
- Ocean‐continent convergence occurs when oceanic crust is subducted under continental crust.
What is an example of oceanic-continental convergence?
Examples of ocean-continent convergent boundaries are subduction of the Nazca Plate under South America (which has created the Andes Mountains and the Peru Trench) and subduction of the Juan de Fuca Plate under North America (creating the Cascade Range).
What are examples of convergent boundaries?
Examples of continent-continent convergent boundaries are the collision of the India Plate with the Eurasian Plate, creating the Himalaya Mountains, and the collision of the African Plate with the Eurasian Plate, creating the series of ranges extending from the Alps in Europe to the Zagros Mountains in Iran.
What is a real life example of a divergent boundary?
Divergent boundaries occur where two plates move apart from each other. This happens at the mid-ocean ridges, where seafloor spreading and volcanic activity continuously add new oceanic crust to the oceanic plates on both sides. Examples are the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and East Pacific Rise.
Is the Mariana Trench a convergent boundary?
In the case of a convergent boundary between two oceanic plates, one is usually subducted under the other, and in the process a trench is formed. “The Marianas Trench (paralleling the Mariana Islands), for example, marks where the fast-moving Pacific Plate converges against the slower moving Philippine Plate.
Do convergent boundaries form mountains?
Mountains are usually formed at what are called convergent plate boundaries, meaning a boundary at which two plates are moving towards one another. Sometimes, the two tectonic plates press up against each other, causing the land to lift into mountainous forms as the plates continue to collide.
Why is it dangerous to live near a convergent boundary?
Occasionally, big eruptions or earthquakes kill large numbers of people. If we choose to live near convergent plate boundaries, we can build buildings that can resist earthquakes, and we can evacuate areas around volcanoes when they threaten to erupt.
What will happen when two plates slide past each other?
When oceanic or continental plates slide past each other in opposite directions, or move in the same direction but at different speeds, a transform fault boundary is formed. No new crust is created or subducted, and no volcanoes form, but earthquakes occur along the fault.
Why does the oceanic crust sink?
Oceanic crust forms from hot magma rising to Earth’s surface at divergent plate boundaries… Ocean water can be trapped in ocean crust, contributing to its density. Because ocean crust is more dense than continental crust, it will sink beneath continents if tectonic forces push the oceanic crust into the continent.
Can oceanic crust be destroyed?
Oceanic crust differs from continental crust in several ways: it is thinner, denser, younger, and of different chemical composition. Like continental crust, however, oceanic crust is destroyed in subduction zones.
Can oceanic crust sink?
It depends. After 50Ma (million years) our crust is denser than the underlying mantle. It would sink down into it, but it is part of a rigid plate so it can’t – until it reaches a subduction zone, that is. Subduction zones, usually associated with deep ocean trenches, are found around the world.
Why does the continental crust float?
The continental crust is the layer of granitic, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks which form the continents and the areas of shallow seabed close to their shores, known as continental shelves. It is less dense than the material of the Earth’s mantle and thus “floats” on top of it.
How thick can continental crust be?
approximately 30 miles
What would happen if both types of crust has the same density?
If both types of crust had the same density, there would be no place for the water to pool so the entire Earth would be covered in a shallow layer of water. This might cause more evaporation as more surface area is exposed.
Why oceanic crust is younger than Continental?
The oceanic plate is subducted back into the mantle, thus destroying oceanic crust, to balance the crust being produced at the mid oceanic ridges. This is why all oceanic crust is much younger than the continental crust; it is constantly being recycled.