Tectonic Plates and Continental Drift

Front

What are tectonic plates?

Back

Large slabs that break the Earth into parts, floating on the asthenosphere.

Front

What does the lithosphere consist of?

Back

The crust and the solid uppermost mantle.

Front

Who proposed the Theory of Continental Drift?

Back

Alfred Wegener.

Front

What evidence supports the Theory of Continental Drift?

Back

Same fossils on different continents, tropical plant fossils in Svalbard, Norway, and similar rocks and rock layers on different continents.

Front

What is Pangea?

Back

A supercontinent that existed when all continents were joined together.

Front

What are the three types of tectonic plate movements?

Back

Divergent, convergent, and transform boundaries.

Front

What happens at divergent plate boundaries?

Back

Two tectonic plates move away from each other, creating new crust.

Front

What is an example of a divergent boundary?

Back

Mid-Atlantic Ridge.

Front

What occurs at convergent plate boundaries?

Back

Two tectonic plates move towards each other, leading to subduction or mountain formation.

Front

What is subduction?

Back

When oceanic crust sinks beneath continental crust due to its higher density.