Science Flashcards
Continental Drift
The hypothesis that Earth’s continents move
Pangea
Supercontinent of all continents together
Mesosaurus
an extinct reptile that lived about 300 million years ago.
Mid-ocean ridge
long chain of underwater mountain ranges
Rift Valley
A deep valley formed as tectonic plates move apart
Magma
molten rock located in Earth’s interior
Lava
Molten rock that reaches Earth’s surface
Divergent Boundary
plates move apart, near the ocean
Seafloor Spreading
oceanic plates move apart
Convergent Boundary
Plate boundary where two plates are pushing towards each other
Subduction
oceanic tectonic plates sink under another plate into Earth’s mantle
Deep ocean trench
deep canyons that form in the ocean floor as a plate sinks
Coastal Mountains
mountains or volcanoes that form along the coast as an oceanic plate subducts under a continental plate
Lithosphere
Cold, brittle layer of earth made up of the crust and the very top of the mantle
Asthenosphere
Layer of hot, soft rock in the upper mantle
Plate boundary
the boundary between two tectonic plates
Inner Core
a ball of hot, solid metals at earth’s center of earth, under great pressure
Outer Core
a layer of liquid metals that surrounds the earth’s inner core
Mantle
Earth’s thickest layer, made up of hot rock surrounding the outer core
Crust
thin layer of cool rock that covers Earth like the shell of an egg
Convection Currents
a pattern of where hot materials rise and cool materials sink
Theory of Plate Tectonics
the theory states that earth’s lithosphere is made up of huge plates that move over the surface of the earth
Transform boundary
occurs where plates scrape past each other
