Inside the earth Flashcards
the rigid outer part of the earth, consisting of the crust and upper mantle.
Lithosphere
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.
Asthenosphere
The mesosphere is a layer of Earth’s atmosphere.
Mesosphere
The inner core is a hot, dense ball of (mostly) iron.
Inner Core
Liquid, iron-nickel layer of the Earth between the solid inner core and lower mantle.
Outer Core
an elastic wave in the earth produced by an earthquake or other means.
Seismic Waves
the relatively thin part of the earth’s crust which underlies the ocean basins. It is geologically young compared with the continental crust and consists of basaltic rock overlain by sediments.
Oceanic Crust
the relatively thick part of the earth’s crust that forms the large landmasses. It is generally older and more complex than the oceanic crust.
Continental Crust
mass of a unit volume of a material substance.
Density
a German climatologist, geologist, geophysicist, meteorologist, and polar researcher
Alfred Wegener
the hypothesis that the Earth’s continents have moved over geologic time relative to each other
Continental Drift
an area on Earth where two or more lithospheric plates collide.
Convergent Boundary
a linear feature that exists between two tectonic plates that are moving away from each other.
Divergent Boundary
causes a fault between two plates of the lithosphere, which will slide past one another.
Transform Boundary
a geologic process in which tectonic plates—large slabs of Earth’s lithosphere—split apart from each other.
Sea-floor Spreading
