Plate Tectonics

Front

What is Plate Tectonics?

Back

The theory that explains how the Earth's plates move and interact with each other.

Front

What happens when an oceanic plate and a continental plate collide?

Back

The oceanic plate subducts, or goes under, the continental plate.

Front

What type of boundary forms mountains?

Back

Convergent boundary.

Front

What is a Divergent Boundary?

Back

A boundary where two tectonic plates move away from each other, creating new crust.

Front

What is a Convergent Boundary?

Back

A boundary where two tectonic plates collide, often forming mountains or causing subduction.

Front

What is a Transform Boundary?

Back

A boundary where two tectonic plates slide past each other.

Front

What is subduction?

Back

The process where one tectonic plate moves under another plate.

Front

What can happen at a Convergent Boundary?

Back

Mountains can form, earthquakes can occur, and one plate can subduct under another.

Front

What is the Earth's lithosphere?

Back

The rigid outer layer of the Earth, consisting of the crust and upper mantle.

Front

What is the asthenosphere?

Back

The semi-fluid layer beneath the lithosphere where tectonic plates float.