Continental Drift
The hypothesis that states that the continents once formed a single landmass, broke up, and drifted to their present locations
Continental Shelf
The earth's surface from the edge of a continent to the deep part of the ocean
Convection Current
Cycle of heating, rising, cooling, sinking that makes plates move
Converging Boundary
Occurs when 2 plates move into each other
Inner Core
A dense sphere of solid iron and nickel at the center of Earth
Crust
Earth's outermost layer.
Diverging Boundary
a location where two tectonic plates pull away from each other
Outer Core
A layer of molten iron and nickel that surrounds the inner core of Earth
Lithosphere
Earth's crust and solid upper mantle, broken into tectonic plates.
Ring of Fire
A major belt of volcanoes that rims the Pacific Ocean
Transform Boundary
A plate boundary where two plates move past each other in opposite directions
Mantle
The layer of the earth between the crust and the core
Oceanic Plate
A plate beneath an ocean (plate that contains an ocean). More dense then a continental plate
Continental Plate
A plate beneath a continent or large land mass (plate that contains a continent). Less dense then an oceanic plate
Pangaea
A large "supercontinent" that is believed to have connected all of the continents on earth about 225 million years ago.
Fault
A break in the earth's crust
Magma
Molten rock beneath the earth's surface
Magnitude
Measure of the energy released during an earthquake
Meteorologist
A scientist who studies weather
Mid-Ocean Ridge
An undersea mountain chain where new ocean floor is produced; a divergent plate boundary
Ocean Trench
Deep valley in the ocean floor that forms along a subduction zone
Plate Tectonics
The theory that pieces of Earth's lithosphere are in constant motion, driven by convection currents in the mantle.
Rift Valley
A deep valley that forms where two plates move apart.
Sea-Floor Spreading
The process by which molten material adds new oceanic crust to the ocean floor
Subduction
Process in which one plate moves under another plate.
Supercontinent
This is the single continent on Earth, named Pangaea, that occurred around 225 million years ago before the continental plates broke apart to eventually form individual continents
Tectonic Plate
Large movable plates under the Earth's surface made of lithosphere
Tsunami
A huge destructive wave (especially one caused by an earthquake)