I'm an area of volcanic activity that develops above rising plumes of magma.
hot spot
I'm the huge underwater mountain ranges that are present in every ocean and circle Earth.
mid-ocean ridge
I'm one plate sinking beneath another.
subduction
I occur where two plates move past each other is opposite directions.
transform boundary
I state that Earth's lithosphere is broken into huge, moving slabs of rock driven by motions in the mantle.
theory of plate tectonics
I'm the name that Alfred Wegener gave to the huge supercontinent that he proposed has once existed.
Pangaea
I'm the place where older crust is destroyed because two plates converge, or push together.
convergent boundary
I'm the hypothesis that proposed that Earth's continents were once joined in a single landmass and then gradually moved apart.
continental drift
I'm the layer of hotter, softer rock in the upper mantle.
asthenosphere
I'm a plate with oceanic crust sinking under a plate with continental crust.
oceanic-continental subduction
I'm the layer of liquid metals that surrounds the inner core.
outer core
I'm the motion created when heated material continually rises, cools, and sinks.
convection current
I'm the thin layer of rock that surrounds Earth.
crust
I'm the gap that forms as tectonic plates move apart.
rift valley
I occur where plates with continental crust push together.
continental-continental collision
I'm a ball of hot, solid, metals at Earth's center.
inner core
I'm the transfer of heat within a material.
convection
I'm the large and small slabs of rock that make up pieces of the lithosphere.
tectonic plate
I'm Earth's crust and the very top of the mantle combined.
lithosphere
I'm a plate with oceanic crust sinking under another plate with oceanic crust.
oceanic-oceanic subduction
I'm the switch in direction of Earth's magnetic north and south poles.
magnetic reversal
I'm Earth's thickest layer, measuring nearly 2900 kilometers.
mantle
I occur where tectonic plates move apart.
divergent boundary