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10.4: Review and Additional Resources

  • Page ID
    21760
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    Review

    Review and assess your learning. Start with the "Important Terms and Concepts" to ensure you know the terminology related to the topic of the module and concepts discussed. Move on to the "Review Questions" to answer critical thinking questions about concepts and processes discussed in the module. Finally, test your overall understanding by taking the "Self-assessment quiz".

    Important Terms and Concepts
    • tectonic plates
      aka lithospheric or crustal plates; make up the surface of the lithosphere
    • plate tectonics
      the process of plate formation, movement, and destruction
    • continental drift
      the movements of continents over the Earth's surface
    • sea-floor spreading
      the creation new oceanic plate material and movement away from the midocean ridge
    • Pangea
      the one "super-continent"; the past configuration of the continents
    • exotic terrain
      new land that has been formed somewhere else and moved to its present location
    • midocean ridge
      the longest continuous mountain system on Earth
    • mantle convection currents
      the mechanism that drives continental drift; created by heat trapped beneath the Earth's surface
      Holmes convection current model
    • magnetic reversal
      a series of "flips" when the polarity of the rocks reversed
    • subduction zone
      where more dense plates dive beneath lighter, less dense crustal plates
    • spreading boundary
      occurs where plates are moving away (diverging) from one another
    • convergent boundary
      located where subduction is active and the lithosphere is being "consumed". This occurs where two plates collide with one another
    • transform boundary
      where plates are grinding past one another, like the San Andreas fault
    • plate boundary zone
      broad belts in which boundaries are not well defined and the effects of plate interaction are unclear
    • Ring of fire
      extends from the west coast of the United States toward the Aleutian Islands and over to Japan; a good example of volcano activity associated with the margins of plates
    • strain
      change in shape as a result of imposing a stress
    • elastic deformation
      Like a rubber band, if the stress is released before reaching the yield point, the rock material will return to its original shape
    • brittle failure
      under low temperature and pressure conditions, once the rock reaches its yield point it will break; or if stress is imposed suddenly
    • plastic deformation
      once the rock changes shape and if stress is released, it will not return to its original form
    • folding
      occurs when rock is compressed, as it is along colliding plate boundaries
    • anticline
      Upturned folds
    • syncline
      down turned folds
    • symmetrical fold
      near-vertical axial planes and gently dipping limbs of about the same angle are a product of gentle compression
    • overturned fold
      If the compression is more pronounced from one direction
    • recumbent fold
      When extreme directed pressure lay the fold over with its axial plane nearly horizontal with the surface
    • fault
      a fracture along which movement occurs
    • fault Plane
      The plane that extends into the earth and along which slippage occurs
    • fault dip
      the angle from horizontal that the fault plane makes
    • strike
      The map direction that the fault takes
    • fault scarp
      The steep face of an exposed block
    • fault line
      the trace of the fault along the surface
    • strike slip fault
      aka transform fault; those that primarily exhibit horizontal movement
    • dip slip fault
      those in which vertical displacement primarily occurs
    • transform fault
      aka strike slip fault; those that primarily exhibit horizontal movement
    • normal fault
      one in which the hanging wall falls down relative to the foot wall due to tensional stress
    • reverse fault
      the hanging wall moves up relative to the foot wall due to compression
    • graben
      forms when a block of rock falls between two faults
    • horst
      forms between two normal faults when a block of rock in the middle remains stationary and the blocks on either side subside
    • thrust fault
      a reverse fault at 45o angle

    Additional Resources

    Use these resources to further explore the world of geography

    Focus on The Physical Environment: "Earth's Deadliest Earthquakes" (NOVA PBS)

    Connections: "South Asia Disaster" News Hour with Jim Lehrer. See "Tsunami Warnings" at the site.

    Physical Geography Today: Earthquakes Hazard Program - USGS

    Multimedia

    San Francisco 1906 Earthquake Science Friday (NPR) April 21, 2006 hour one. "One hundred years ago ..., San Francisco's ground began to shake. After the massive quake came the fire -- and when it was all over, the city lay in ruins, with thousands dead."

    "Living with the Earth I" The Earth Revealed (Annenberg/CPB) (30:00) Go to the Earth Revealed site and scroll to "Living with the Earth I". One-time, free registration may be required to view film.

    "Exotic Terrane" from the Open Video Project. "A geologic history of the Pacific Northwest that explains how islands near China accreted, or welded, themselves to the North American continent. Animations of the formation of North America explain the process. The video also visits Hells Canyon in Idaho. On-location interviews with an expert geologist add to the viewer's experience". File must be downloaded to view - 245 megabytes

    "Faces of Earth: Assembling America" (American Geosciences Institute). "From the Pacific Northwest to the shores of the Atlantic seaboard, the breadth and scope of America is like no other place on Earth. Travel with geoscientists and explore how time and the forces of nature have shaped the continent and influence the life in the United States"

    "Southern Appalachians" (USGS) Geology of the Southern Appalachians (24:34)

    "The Seattle Earthquake" The News Hour with Jim Lehrer (PBS). A magnitude 6.8 earthquake shook the Pacific Northwest February 28, 2001, rattling windows from Vancouver to Salt Lake City. Read the transcript or watch the clip.

    "Earthquakes" Science Friday (NPR) June 24, 2005 episode discusses a recent swarm of earthquakes in California and new studies of the New Madrid Seismic Zone. (17:44)

    "Colliding Continents: - Naked Science. How were the continents formed?

    Readings

    "Plate Tectonics and People" (USGS)

    "On the Shoulders of Giants - Alfred Wegener" (NASA)


    10.4: Review and Additional Resources is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by LibreTexts.

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