tectonics Flashcards
Lithosphere
the rigid outer part of the earth, consisting of the crust and upper mantle.
Asthenosphere
the upper layer of the earth’s mantle, below the lithosphere, in which there is relatively low resistance to plastic flow and convection is thought to occur.
Mesosphere
the region of the earth’s atmosphere above the stratosphere and below the thermosphere, between about 30 and 50 miles (50 and 80 km) in altitude.
Inner Core
the fourth layer inside the Earth.
Outer Core
mostly composed of liquid iron and nickel
Seismic Waves
waves that travel through or over Earth.
Oceanic Crust
the outermost layer of Earth’s lithosphere that is found under the oceans
Continental Crust
the outermost layer of Earth’s lithosphere
Density
the number of things
Alfred Wegener
Alfred Lothar Wegener was a German climatologist, geologist, geophysicist, meteorologist, and polar researcher.
Continental Drift
revolutionary theory explaining that continents shift position on Earth’s surface.
Convergent Boundary
When two plates come together
Divergent Boundary
when two tectonic plates move away from each other.
Transform Boundary
places where plates slide sideways past each other.
Sea-floor Spreading
geologic process in which tectonic plates—large slabs of Earth’s lithosphere—split apart from each other.
Pangaea
a supercontinent that incorporated almost all the landmasses on Earth.
Laurasia
the more northern of two large landmasses that formed part of the Pangaea supercontinent from around 335 to 175 million years ago
Gondwana
an ancient supercontinent that broke up about 180 million years ago.
Mesosaurus
Mesosaurus is an extinct genus of reptile from the Early Permian of southern Africa and South America.
Glossopteris
Glossopteris is the largest and best-known genus of the extinct Permian order of seed ferns known as Glossopteridales.
