Plate Techtonics
These are the vocabulary words to the science quiz.
Terms
undefined, object
copy deck
- convection
- The transfer of heat by movement of a fluid
- outer core
- A layer of molten iron and nickel that surrounds the inner core of Earth
- Pangaea
- The name of the single landmass that broke apart 200 million years ago and gave rise to today's continents
- radiation
- The transfer of energy through space
- fault
- A break in Earth's crust where masses of rock slip past each other
- inner core
- A dense sphere of solid iron and nickel at the center of the earth
- sonar
- A device that determines the distance of an object under water by recording echoes of sound waves
- mid-ocean ridge
- An undersea mountain chain where new ocean floor is produced; a divergent plate boundary
- convection current
- The movement of a fluid, caused by differences in temperature, that transfers heat from one part of the fluid to another
- basalt
- A dark, dense, igneous rock with a fine texure, found in the oceanic crust
- plate tectonics
- The theory that pieces of Earth's lithosphere are in constant motion, driven by convection currents in the mantle.
- sea-floor spreading
- The process by which molten material adds new oceanic crust to the ocean floor
- scientific theory
- A well-tested concept that explains a wide range of observations
- crust
- The layer of rock that forms Earth's outer surface
- rift valley
- A deep valley that forms where two plates move apart
- subduction
- The process by which oceanic crust sinks beneath a deep-ocean trench and back aback into the mantle at a convergent plate boundary
- plate
- A section of the lithosphere that slowly moves over the asthenospher,carrying pieces of continental and oceanic crust
- conduction
- The transfer of heat within a material or between materials that are touching
- fossil
- A trace of an ancient organism that has been preserved in rock
- Transform boundary
- A plate boundary where two plates move past each other in opposite directions
- granite
- A usually light colored with a rough texture that is found in the continental crust
- divergent boundry
- A plate boundary where two plates move away from each other
- convergent boundary
- A plate boundary where two plates move towards each other
- Seismic waves
- Vibrations that travel through Earth carrying the energy released during an earthquake
- density
- The amount of mass in a given space; mass per unit volume
- mantle
- The layer of hot, solid material between Earth's crust and core
- deep ocean trench
- A deep valley along the ocean floor beneath which oceanic crust slowly sinks toward the mantle
- asthenosphere
- The soft layer of the mantle on which the lithosphere floats
- lithosphere
- A rigid layer made up of uppermost part of the mantle and the crust
- continental drift
- The hypothesis that the continents slowly move across Earth's surface