Science Vocabulary Cards

Question 1

Pangaea

Answer 1

Pangaea or was a super continent that existed during the late Paleozoic and early Mesozoic eras. Pangaea began to break apart around 200 million years ago.

Question 2

Continental Drift

Answer 2

Continental Drift is the theory of hypothesis that the Earth’s continents have moved over geologic time relative to each other, thus appearing to have “drifted” across the ocean bed. Alfred Wegener was the first to create this theory in the year 1912.

Question 3

Mid-ocean Ridges

Answer 3

A mid-ocean ridge is a seafloor mountain system formed by plate tectonics. This feature is where seafloor spreading takes place along a divergent plate boundary.

Question 4

Ocean Trenches

Answer 4

Trenches are formed by subduction, a geophysical process in which two or more of Earths tectonic plates converge and the older, denser plate is pushed beneath the lighter plate and deep into the mantle, causing the seafloor and outermost crust the lithosphere to bend and form a steep, V-shaped depression.

Question 5

Seafloor Spreading

Answer 5

Seafloor spreading occurs at divergent plate boundaries. As tectonic plates slowly move away from each other, heat from the mantle’s convection currents makes the crust more plastic and less dense. The less-dense material rises, often forming a mountain or elevated area on the seafloor.

Question 6

Magma

Answer 6

Magma is a mixture of molten and semi-molten rock found beneath the surface of the Earth.

Question 7

Lava

Answer 7

Lava is molten or partially molten rock (magma) that has been expelled on Earth’s surface.

Question 8

Plate Tectonics

Answer 8

Plate Tectonics is the idea or theory that the earth’s crust is made of large chunks of land, or plates, that move over time.

Question 9

Convergent boundaries

Answer 9

A convergent boundary (also known as a destructive boundary) is an area on Earth where two or more lithospheric plates collide. One plate eventually slides beneath the other, a process known as subduction.

Question 10

Divergent boundaries

Answer 10

In plate tectonics, a divergent boundary or divergent plate boundary is a linear feature that exists between two tectonic plates that are moving away from each other.

Question 11

Transform boundaries

Answer 11

Transform boundaries are places where plates slide sideways past each other. At transform boundaries lithosphere is neither created nor destroyed.

Question 12

Subduction

Answer 12

A geologic process in which one edge of one lithospheric plate is forced below the edge of another. The denser of the two plates sinks beneath the other.

Question 13

Fault

Answer 13

A fault is a fracture or zone of fractures between two blocks of rock. Faults allow the blocks to move relative to each other. This movement may occur rapidly, in the form of an earthquake.

Question 14

Volcano

Answer 14

A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates are diverging or converging, and most are found underwater.

Question 15

Volcanic Arc

Answer 15

A belt of volcanoes formed above a subducting oceanic tectonic plate, with the belt arranged in an arc shape as seen from above.

Question 16

Earthquake

Answer 16

A sudden and violent shaking of the ground, sometimes causing great destruction, as a result of movements within the earth’s crust or volcanic action.

Question 17

Fault Zone

Answer 17

A fracture or zone of fractures between two blocks of rock.

Question 18

Landslide

Answer 18

A mass movement of material, such as rock, earth or debris, down a slope.

Question 19

Tsunami

Answer 19

Giant waves caused by earthquakes or volcanic eruptions under the sea.

Question 20

Impact Craters

Answer 20

Craters produced by the collision of a meteorite with the Earth (or another planet or moon)

Question 21

Weathering

Answer 21

The breaking down or dissolving of rocks and minerals on the surface of the Earth.

Question 22

Erosion

Answer 22

The geological process in which earthen materials are worn away and transported by natural forces such as wind or water.

Question 23

Deposition

Answer 23

The laying down of sediment carried by wind, flowing water, the sea or ice.

Question 24

Glacier

Answer 24

A glacier is a large, perennial accumulation of crystalline ice, snow, rock, sediment, and often liquid water that originates on land and moves down slope under the influence of its own weight and gravity.

Question 25

Rock

Answer 25

A natural substance composed of solid crystals of different minerals that have been fused together into a solid lump.

Question 26

Mineral

Answer 26

A naturally occurring inorganic element or compound having an orderly internal structure and characteristic chemical composition, crystal form, and physical properties.

Question 27

Crystallization

Answer 27

The solidification of a liquid substance into a highly structured solid.

Question 28

Extrusive Rock

Answer 28

Extrusive rock refers to the mode of igneous volcanic rock formation in which hot magma from inside the Earth flows out (extrudes) onto the surface as lava or explodes violently into the atmosphere to fall back as pyroclastics or tuff.

Question 29

Intrusive Rock

Answer 29

Igneous rock formed from magma forced into older rocks at depths within the Earth’s crust, which then slowly solidifies below the Earth’s surface, though it may later be exposed by erosion.

Question 30

Lithification

Answer 30

Complex process whereby freshly deposited loose grains of sediment are converted into rock.

Question 31

Compaction

Answer 31

Happens when sediments are deeply buried, placing them under pressure because of the weight of overlying layers.

Question 32

Cementation

Answer 32

The precipitation of a binding material around grains, thereby filling the pores of a sediment.

Question 33

Rock Cycle

Answer 33

The rock cycle is a web of processes that outlines how each of the three major rock types—igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary—form and break down based on the different applications of heat and pressure over time. For example, sedimentary rock shale becomes slate when heat and pressure are added.