What is GPS used for in the study of plate tectonics quizlet?
Explain how scientists use GPS to measure the rate of tectonic plate movement. GPS works by sending radio signals from satellites to ground stations. The distance between the satellites and station is recorded. Over time, these distances change slightly.
Can scientists measure plate motion with GPS?
Geodesy, the science of measuring the Earth’s shape and positions on it, allows the measurement of plate motion directly using GPS, the Global Positioning System. This network of satellites is more stable than the Earth’s surface, so when a whole continent moves somewhere at a few centimeters per year, GPS can tell.
What best describes how satellites help to track plate motion?
How best describes how satellites help to track plate motion: a) They take pictures, which are then analyzed by people for signs of motion. At _____________ the epicenters for earthquakes are often spread over a wider swath of land than for other plate boundaries.
What technology is used for plate tectonics?
Seismic tomography has provided dramatic images of subducting slabs, plume-like upwellings, and other features of the mantle convective flow responsible for plate-tectonic motions (Figure 4.4).
What causes plate movement?
The plates can be thought of like pieces of a cracked shell that rest on the hot, molten rock of Earth’s mantle and fit snugly against one another. The heat from radioactive processes within the planet’s interior causes the plates to move, sometimes toward and sometimes away from each other.
Which of the following is responsible for plate movement?
Heat and gravity are fundamental to the process The energy source for plate tectonics is Earth’s internal heat while the forces moving the plates are the “ridge push” and “slab pull” gravity forces. It was once thought that mantle convection could drive plate motions.
What are the different types of plate movements?
Tectonic Plates and Plate Boundaries
- There are three main types of plate boundaries:
- Convergent boundaries: where two plates are colliding.
- Divergent boundaries – where two plates are moving apart.
- Transform boundaries – where plates slide passed each other.
What are the 5 plate boundaries?
What are the major plate tectonic boundaries?
- Divergent: extensional; the plates move apart. Spreading ridges, basin-range.
- Convergent: compressional; plates move toward each other. Includes: Subduction zones and mountain building.
- Transform: shearing; plates slide past each other. Strike-slip motion.
What is the location where sinking of a plate occurs is called?
The location where sinking of a plate occurs is called a subduction zone.
Which plate gets subducted?
oceanic lithosphere
What makes the plate to Subduct?
Subduction is a geological process that takes place at convergent boundaries of tectonic plates where one plate moves under another and is forced to sink due to high gravitational potential energy into the mantle. Regions where this process occurs are known as subduction zones.
What does Subduct mean?
: the action or process in plate tectonics of the edge of one crustal plate descending below the edge of another.