Plate Tectonics Flashcards
The solid, outer layer of the Earth that consists of the crust and the rigid upper part of the mantle.
Lithosphere
The soft layer of the mantle on which the tectonic plates move.
Asthenosphere
The strong, lower part of the mantle between the asthenosphere and the outer core. Also the layer of the atmosphere between the stratosphere and the thermosphere and in which temperature decreases as altitude increases.
Mesosphere
Solid ball in the center of the earth.
Inner Core
Liquid layer of nickel and iron around the inner core.
Outer Core
A wave of energy that travels through the Earth and away from an earthquake in all directions.
Seismic Waves
The relatively thin part of the Earth’s crust that underlies the ocean basins.
Oceanic Crust
the layer of igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks that forms the continents and the areas of shallow seabed close to their shores.
Continental Crust
The ratio of the mass of a substance to the volume of the substances.
Density
The hypothesis that states that the continents once formed a single landmass, broke up, and drifted to their present locations.
Continental Drift
The boundary formed by the collision of two lithospheric plates.
Convergent Boundary
The boundary between two tectonic plates that are moving away from each other.
Divergent Boundary
The boundary between tectonic plates that are sliding past each other horizontally.
Transform Boundary
The process by which new oceanic lithosphere forms as magma rises toward the surface and solidifies.
Sea-flooring Spreading
Supercontinent that existed during the late Paleozoic and early Mesozoic eras.
Pangea
