Plate Tectonics Vocab

Question 1

continental drift

Answer 1

hypothesis- continents are in constant motion

Question 2

fossil

Answer 2

naturally preserved remains, imprints, or traces of organisms

Question 3

mantle

Answer 3

middle layer of Earth situated between the crust above and the core below

Question 4

Pangaea

Answer 4

ancient supercontinent, composed of land that forms today’s continents

Question 5

magnetic reversal

Answer 5

event in which the magnetic field reverses direction

Question 6

mid ocean ridge

Answer 6

mountain range located on the seafloor in the middle of the ocean

Question 7

normal

Answer 7

conforming to a type, standard, or regular pattern

Question 8

normal polarity

Answer 8

today’s magnetic field; magnets orient themselves to point north

Question 9

reversed polarity

Answer 9

magnetic field in which magnets orient themselves to point south

Question 10

sea floor spreading

Answer 10

new oceanic crust forms at a mid-ocean ridge as old oceanic crust moves away

Question 11

convection

Answer 11

circulation of material caused by differences in temperature and density

Question 12

convergent plate boundary

Answer 12

where two plates collide

Question 13

divergent plate boundary

Answer 13

where two plates separate

Question 14

lithosphere

Answer 14

cold, rigid outermost rock layer of Earth

Question 15

plastic/malleable

Answer 15

capable of being molded or changing shape

Question 16

plate tectonics

Answer 16

theory that Earth’s surface is made of rock plates that move with respect to each other

Question 17

ridge push

Answer 17

force created by rising mantle of ocean ridges that creates potential for plates to move away from the ridge

Question 18

slab pull

Answer 18

force created by sinking of a plate, or slab, that pulls on the rest of the plate

Question 19

subduction

Answer 19

sinking of a denser plate below a more buoyant plate at a convergent plate boundary

Question 20

transform plate boundary

Answer 20

where two plates slide by each other