The partially molten part of the mantle on which Earth’s tectonic plates lie
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Benioff zone
The zone where a descending oceanic plate is in contact with a continental plate as it is subducted. It is a zone of earthquake activity created by friction between the two plates
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Convection
The movement of mantle material in cells when heated by radiation from the Earth’s core
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Crustal fracturing
Occurs when the Earth’s crust causes rock to break and fracture under stress and strain caused by seismic stresses
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Hotspot
An intra-plate location where mama from the mantle has broken through a weak point in the crust
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Intra-plate earthquake
Earthquakes that occur way from the plate boundaries and closer to the middle of a tectonic plate
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Liquefaction
Groundwater and loose soil and sediments are shaken during an earthquake so that the ground loses cohesion ad acts like a fluid
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Lithosphere
The rigid, outermost layer of the Earth from which tectonic plates are formed. It is made up of the crust and upper mantle
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Magnitude
The amount of energy released by a tectonic event
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Mantle plume
Hotter areas of the mantle that move upwards underneath the crust and push it up. They can cause weak spots in the crust that can become hotspots. There are two major mantle plumes - Pacific and African
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Mercalli scale
An earthquake intensity scale based on 12 levels of damage to areas
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Moment magnitude scale
The most accurate earthquake magnitude scale, it measures the total energy released by an earthquake
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Palaeomagnetism
When magmas and lavas solidify, the iron minerals in the rock align with the Earth’s magnetic field, permanently recording the dircetion
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Sea floor spreading
The movement of oceanic crust away from a constructive plate boundary, as recorded by the magnetic stripes in the basaltic rock (palaeomagnetism)
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Seismic waves
The shockwaves created by the release of tension at the focus
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Slab pull
At a subduction zone the descending part of the oceanic plate pulls the rest of the plate with it
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Subduction
The melting of an oceanic plate as it descends into the mantle at a convergent (destructive) boundary
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Water column displacement
The movement of a volume of seawater above the point at which the seabed was moved up or down by an earthquake event, such as a thrust
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Other cards in this set
Card 2
Front
The zone where a descending oceanic plate is in contact with a continental plate as it is subducted. It is a zone of earthquake activity created by friction between the two plates
Back
Benioff zone
Card 3
Front
The movement of mantle material in cells when heated by radiation from the Earth’s core
Back
Card 4
Front
Occurs when the Earth’s crust causes rock to break and fracture under stress and strain caused by seismic stresses
Back
Card 5
Front
An intra-plate location where mama from the mantle has broken through a weak point in the crust
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