 | Term | Definition |
| |
Stress |
Stress is caused by forces within the Earth itself. The forces push and pull on the Earth's crust. |
| |
Crust |
The crust is the Earth's outermost layer. |
| |
Deformation |
Deformation is the folding, breaking, and tilting of rocks. |
| |
Compression |
Compression squeezes the rocks of the crust. This often causes particles in the crustal rocks to move closer together. |
| |
Tension |
Tension pulls on the rocks of the crust which causes then to stretch out over a large area. |
| |
Shearing |
Shearing pushes rocks of the crust in 2 opposite directions. This causes rocks to twist or tear apart. |
| |
Fracture |
A fracture is a crack in a roch caused by tension, compression, and shearing. |
| |
Fault |
A fault is a break or crack in which the rock moves. |
| |
Hanging wall |
A hanging wall is the block of rock above a fault. |
| |
Foot wall |
A foot wall is the block of rock below a fault. |
| |
Normal Fault |
A normal fault is in which the hanging wall moves down relative to the foot wall. |
| |
Reverse fault |
A reverse fault is in which the foot wall moves up relative to the hanging wall. |
| |
Thrust fault |
A thrust fault is formed when compression causes the hanging wall to slide over the foot wall. |
| |
Lateral fault |
A lateral fault is the fault along which the blocks move horizontally past each other. |
| |
Fault-block mountains |
Fault-block mountains are formed when blocks of rocks are uplifted by normal faults. |
| |
Rift vallys |
Rift vallys are formed when the block of land between 2 normaal faults slide down. |
| |
Fold |
A fold is a bend in a rock. |
| |
Anticline |
An anticline is an upward fold in a rock. |
| |
Syncline |
A syncline is a downward fold in a rock. |
| |
Plateau |
A plateau is a large area raised high above sea level. |
| |
Dome |
A dome is an uplifted area created by rising magma. |
| |
Mantle |
The mantle is the layer underneath the crst. It extends 2900 km. and is hot, molton, liquid rock. |
| |
Isostasy |
An isostasy is the balance that exists between the downward force of the crust and the upward force of the mantle. |
Share on Facebook
Share on MySpace