Plate Tectonics and Earth's Interior

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering fundamental terms in plate tectonics, types of plate boundaries, historical scientists, and the layers of Earth's interior.

Continental Drift

The idea proposed by Alfred Wegener suggesting that the Earth's continents are not stationary but slowly move across the planet's surface.

Theory of Plate Tectonics

The scientific theory explaining how the Earth's lithosphere is divided into several large lithospheric plates that rest on top of the mantle, slowly moving and interacting.

Lithospheric Plates

Giant pieces of the Earth's outermost shell (crust and upper mantle) that include both the continents and the ocean floor and move slowly over time.

Continental Crust

The thick lithospheric plates that make up the landmasses of the world.

Oceanic Crust

The thin lithospheric plates that reside beneath the world's oceans.

Alfred Wegener

The scientist who proposed the theory of continental drift, suggesting that plates and continents drift around on top of the Earth.

Sir Francis Bacon

The historical thinker who proposed that the continents must have once fit together like a jigsaw puzzle.

SONAR

The technology that provided evidence and proof to support the theory of plate tectonics.

Pangaea

A supercontinent that existed millions of years ago before eventually splitting into Gondwanaland and Laurasia.

Pangaea Ultima

The predicted future supercontinent that will form in millions of years as continents continue to move.

Convergent Boundary

A plate boundary where two lithospheric plates collide or move into each other, creating subduction zones, volcanic island arcs, or mountain ranges.

Divergent Boundary

A plate boundary where two lithospheric plates separate or pull apart, causing seafloor spreading, mid-ocean ridges, and rift valleys.

Transform Boundary

A plate boundary where two lithospheric plates shift or slide horizontally past one another, acting as the primary cause of earthquakes along fault lines.

Subduction Zone

A specific feature of convergent boundaries where one plate (usually the thinner oceanic crust) is forced underneath another plate and melts back into the mantle.

Mantle Convection

The heat-driven circulation currents of magma in the molten mantle that move the solid lithospheric plates above them like a conveyor belt.

Lithosphere

The solid, hardened outermost layer of the Earth, consisting of the crust and the upper mantle.

Asthenosphere

The partially molten, plastic-like layer in the mantle beneath the lithosphere that allows tectonic plates to slide.

Mantle

The molten layer of the Earth's interior situated under the crust.

Outer Core

The liquid center layer of the Earth composed of iron and nickel.

Inner Core

The solid center layer of the Earth composed of iron and nickel.

Ring of Fire

A seismologically active circle of volcanoes and earthquake zones situated along the plate boundaries surrounding the Pacific Plate.

Hot Spot

A thin area in the middle of a plate where magma breaks through the crust, which formed the Hawaiian islands.