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The vast supercontinent that eventually drifted apart to slowly to create the current earth |
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The process of Pangaea breaking apart to form the current earth. |
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Hess and Dietz proposed that as continents drift apart, a new ocean floor forms between them by a process described as S-FS. They suggested continents move toward each other when the old ocean floor between them sinks back down into the earth |
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The process of the ocean floor sinking back down into the sea-floor. |
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20 Distinct pieces that move relative to each other under the earth. |
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Because there is a confirmed model of plate movement, this theory is called plate tectonics
Geologists view this as the grand unifying theory of geology, because it can successfully explain a great many geologic phenomena |
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Wagner's Evidence for Continental Drift |
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Definition
The Fit of the Continents
Locations of Past Glaciations
The Distribution of Climatic Belts
The Distribution of Fossils
Matching Geologic Units |
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A record of the Earth's magnetic field in the past |
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The earth's magnetic field is represented by this |
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The dipole intersects the earth at two points, known as the magnetic poles |
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The between the direction that a compass needle points and a line of longitude |
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Angle between a magnetic field line and the surface of the earth at a given location |
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The supposed position of the Earth's magnetic north pole in the past |
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Apparent Polar-Wander Path |
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Successive positions of dated paleopoles on a map. These trace out a curving line.
EACH CONTINENT HAS A DIFFERENT APPARENT POLAR-WANDER PATH |
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Broad, relatively flat regions of the ocean that lie at a depth of about 4-5 km below sea level |
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Elongated submarine mountain ranges whose peaks lie only about 2 to 2.5 km below sea level |
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Deep throughs that reach about 8-12 km of depth |
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Curving chains of active volcanoes |
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Isolated submarine mountains, which were volcanoes but no longer erupt |
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Surveys reveal that the ocean floor is diced up by narrow bands of vertical cracks and broken-up rock. These lie roughly at right angles to mid-ocean ridges, effectively segmenting the ridges into small pieces. |
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Difference between the expected strength of the Earth's main dipole field at a certain location and the ACTUAL measured strength of the magnetic field at that location |
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Marine Magnetic Anomalies |
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Distinct alternating bands due to magnetic reversals. Look like a candy cane if positive and negative were colored |
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Times when the Earth's magnetic field flips from normal to reverse polarity and vice versa |
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Magnetic-reversal Chronology |
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The history of magnetic reversals |
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Consists of the Crust and Top layer of the Upper Mantle. It is rigid, when a force pushes it, it breaks or bends |
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Under the lithosphere, relative soft plastic toothpaste later composed of warmer mantle that can flow when acted on by force |
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The breaks between the plates |
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Occurs at a rate of 1cm to 15 cm a year |
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A boundary at which two plates move away from each other |
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A boundary at which two plates move toward each other and one plate sinks beneath the other |
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Boundaries that move along side one another.
No new plate forms and no old plate is consumed. |
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Chimneys that spew hot, mineralized water that rose through cracks in the sea floor, after being heated by magma below the surface. The color comes from a suspension of tiny mineral grains that precipitate in the water a the water cools |
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The belt of earthquakes in a downgoing plate |
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Places where three plate boundaries intersect |
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Volcanoes that exist at isolated points and are not a consequence of movement of a plate boundary. |
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Column of very hot rock rising up through the mantle to the base of the lithosphere |
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Chain of extinct volcanoes |
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Divergent boundaries form when a continent splits and separates into two continents |
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Linear Belt in which the continental lithosphere undergoes rifting |
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When a piece of buoyant lithosphere such as a continent or island arc moves into the subduction zone |
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Develops because mid-ocean ridges lie at a higher elevation than the adjacent abyssal plains of the ocean |
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The force that subducting, downgoing plates apply to oceanic lithosphere at a convergent margin |
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The movement of plate A with respect to plate B |
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Movement of both plates relative to a fixed point in the mantle |
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