Science Information
science vocabulary
Terms
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- Seismologist
- A scientist who studies earthquakes.
- Richter Scale
- The scale used to measure the strength of an earthquake.
- Theory of Plate Tectonics
- the theory that links together the ideas of continental drift and ocean floor spreading.
- Convergent Boundaries
- Plate boundaries that move toward each other.
- Vent
- An opening in a volcano through which lava erupts.
- Theory of Continental Drift
- The theory that the continents were once combined and then drifted apart.
- Volcano
- An opening in the Earth's surface where molten rock and other particles reach the surface.
- Epicenter
- The point directly above the focus where the most violent shaking occurs.
- Lava
- Molten rock when it has reached the Earth's surface.
- Tectonic Plates
- Large irregularly shaped pieces of the Earth's crust.
- Pangaea
- The name given to the giant supercontinent that existed 200 million years ago
- Strike-Slip Boundaries
- Plate boundaries that collide, then one slips past the other horizontally.
- Alfred Wegener
- A German meteorologist who proposed the theory of continental drift.
- Earthquake
- The shaking that occurs from a sudden movement in the Earth's crust.
- Focus
- The point below the Earth's surface where plates move and the earthquake begins.
- Fault
- A crack in the Earh's crust.
- Tsunami
- A giant sea wave caused by an underwater earthquake.
- Divergent Boundaries
- Plate Boundaries that move away from each other.
- Magma
- Molten rock deep inside the Earth.
- Seismic Wave
- An earthquake wave.