SCieNCee Flashcards
Pangaea
What Wegener called a supercontinent
Continental Drift
Wegener’s idea that the continents slowly moved over Earth’s surface.
Fossil
Any trace of an ancient organism that has been preserved into a rock.
Mid-Ocean Ridges
Form long chains of mountains.
Sea-Floor Spreading
Material that is continually being added to the ocean floor.
Deep-Ocean Trenches
Deep underwater canyons.
Subduction
The process of how the ocean floor sinks beneath a deep-ocean trench.
Plates
Earth’s lithosphere broken into tiny pieces.
Divergent Boundary
Plates move apart, or diverge, for each other.
Transform Boundary
Plates slip past each other.
Convergent Boundary
Plates come together, or converge.
Plate Tectonics
Earth’s plates, and plate motions into a single theory.
Faults
Breaks in Earth’s crust where rocks have slipped past each other.
Rift Valley
Where pieces of Earth’s crust diverge on land.
