Earth’s Crust	The outermost layer of our planet is a thin shell that surrounds the entire Earth—consisting of the continental crust and oceanic crust.
Lithosphere	The rigid outer part of the earth, consisting of the crust and upper mantle.
Oceanic Crust	The relatively thin part of the earth's crust which underlies the ocean basins. It is geologically young compared with the continental crust, which consists of basaltic rock overlain by sediments.
Continental Crust	The relatively thick part of the earth's crust that forms the large landmasses. It is generally older and more complex than the oceanic crust.
Mantle/Asthenosphere	the upper layer of the earth's mantle, below the lithosphere, in which there is relatively low resistance to plastic flow and convection is thought to occur.

Mantle	the thick, mostly solid layer of rock that lies between the Earth's crust and its core,
Density	the amount of matter in a substance compared to its volume
Heat Distribution	transfer of heat for distance heating and/or distance cooling or industrial use by steam, hot water or cooling fluid through distribution systems
Convection Currents	The movement of heat and energy in a fluid or gas caused by differences in temperature and density.
Slab-Pull	the force that occurs when a tectonic plate sinks into the mantle, pulling the rest of the plate behind it
Ridge-Push	The pushing force that plates experience as they slide down the raised asthenosphere underneath the Mid Ocean Ridges

Convergent Boundaries	An area on Earth where two or more lithospheric plates collide
Subduction Zone	The process that occurs when two tectonic plates meet at convergent boundaries, and one of the plates moves under the other one due to gravity and differences in density
Continent to Continent	When two continental plates collide
Oceanic to Continent	When a tectonic plate, primarily composed of oceanic lithosphere, collides with a plate with continental lithosphere
Oceanic to Oceanic	a collision between two plates composed of oceanic lithosphere

Divergent Boundary	where two tectonic plates move apart, creating a gap that can fill with magma to form a new crust.
Continental Divergence	where two continental plates move away from each other. Along these boundaries, earthquakes are common and magma ( molten rock) rises from the Earth’s mantle to the surface, solidifying to create a new oceanic crust.
Ocean Crust Divergence	Where two tectonic plates made of oceanic crust pull apart at a divergent plate boundary, causing new oceanic crust to be created as magma rises from the Earth's mantle to fill the gap between the separating plates

Transform Fault Boundary	portions of the crust move past each other horizontally.

Hot Spots (Hawaii, Iceland, Yellowstone Ntnl. Park, Canary Islands, Galapagos Islands)	a large plume of hot mantle material rising from deep within the Earth.
Volcanoes	openings, or vents where lava, tephra (small rocks), and steam erupt onto the Earth's surface.
Earthquakes	the sudden release of strain energy in the Earth's crust, resulting in waves of shaking that radiate outwards from the earthquake source.
Tsunamis	giant waves caused by earthquakes or volcanic eruptions under the sea

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