Term | Definition |
Core | Earth's center, where pressures and temperatures are very high |
Mantle | The section of Earth's interior that lies above the outer core and has the most mass |
Plate tectonics | The theory that earth's crust is divided into rigid plates that slowly move across the upper mantle. |
Continental drift | The process by which earth's plates slowly move across the upper mantle. |
rift valley | places on earth's surface where the crust stretches until it breaks. |
abyssal plains | Areas of the ocean floor where rocks gradually sink because they have no supporting heat below them;the world's flattest and smoothest regions, |
continental shelves | Areas where continental surfaces extend under the shallow ocean water around the continents. |
trench | a deep valley marking a collision of plates, where one plates slides under another. |
folds | places where rocks have been compressed into bends by colliding plates. |
faults | Places where rocks masses have been broken apart and moving away from each other. |
weathering | the process by which rocks break and decay over time. |
sediment | small particles of weathered rock |
erosion | Movement of surface material from one location to another by water, wind, and ice. |
glaciers | Thick masses of ice, including great ice sheets and bodies of ice that flow down mountains like slow rivers. |
plateau | An elevated flatlands that rises sharply above nearby land on at least one side |
alluvial fan | Fan-shaped deposit of mud and gravel often alng the bases of mountains. |
delta | Accumulation sediments at the mouth of a river. |