AP®︎ Environmental Science: Topic 4.1 Flashcards

The model explaining how movement of Earth’s outer solid shell produces major geological features and events

Earth’s rigid outer layer, consisting of the crust and uppermost solid mantle and divided into tectonic plates

The hot, deformable mantle material beneath the lithosphere over which tectonic plates move

A moving section of lithosphere that may contain oceanic lithosphere, continental lithosphere, or both

A region where tectonic plates interact and where geological activity is concentrated

A boundary where plates move toward one another, causing compression, deformation, earthquakes, and mountain building

The process in which one plate bends and descends beneath another into the mantle

Convergence in which denser oceanic lithosphere subducts beneath continental lithosphere, forming an offshore trench, earthquakes, and a continental volcanic mountain chain

Convergence in which one oceanic plate subducts beneath another, forming a deep-ocean trench, earthquakes, and a volcanic island arc

Collision of two buoyant continental masses that compresses, folds, thickens, and uplifts crust into large mountain ranges and causes strong earthquakes

A long, deep seafloor depression formed where an oceanic plate bends downward into a subduction zone

A curved chain of volcanic islands formed on the overriding plate at an oceanic–oceanic subduction boundary

A boundary where plates move apart and rising magma forms new crust, with volcanism, faulting, and earthquakes

Separation of oceanic plates as magma rises and solidifies into new oceanic crust along a mid-ocean ridge

An underwater mountain system at an oceanic divergent boundary where rising magma creates new oceanic crust

The production of new oceanic crust at a mid-ocean ridge and its outward movement away from the ridge

Separation of continental lithosphere that stretches and thins the crust, producing faults, rift valleys, volcanoes, and earthquakes

An elongated depression formed when stretching continental crust causes blocks to drop along faults

A boundary where plates slide horizontally past one another without creating or destroying substantial lithosphere, commonly producing earthquakes

A fracture or zone of fractures in rock along which movement has occurred

Sudden fault movement and release of stored elastic energy when stress overcomes friction or rock strength

The process in which stress deforms rocks around a locked fault until sudden slip releases stored energy and the rocks rebound toward a less strained shape

The point within Earth where an earthquake rupture begins

The point on Earth’s surface directly above an earthquake’s focus

A localized area where unusually hot mantle material rises and produces magma beneath a plate, potentially forming a volcanic chain as the plate moves

A broad belt of frequent earthquakes and volcanoes around the Pacific Ocean that largely follows plate boundaries, especially convergent subduction boundaries