| Meaning |
Term |
| The thin, outermost layer of the Earth, or the uppermost part of the lithosphere | crust |
| the outermost, rigid layer of the Earth that consists of the crust and the rigid upper part of the mantle | lithosphere |
| the strong, lower part of the mantle between the asthenosphere and the outer core | mesosphere |
| the soft layer of the mantle on which pieces of the lithosphere move | asthenosphere |
| the liquid layer of the Earth's core that lies beneath the mantle and surrounds the inner core | outer core |
| soild, dense ball of iron | inner core |
| the theory that continents can drift apart from one another and have done so in the past | continental drift |
| all the Earth's land masses joined together were once called this | Pangaea |
| as tectonic plates move away from each other, the sea floor spreads apart and magma rises to fill in the gap | sea-floor spreading |
| the theory that the Earth's lithosphere is divided into tectonic plates that move around on top of the asthenosphere | plate tectonics |
| process by which hot material from deep within the Earth rises while cooler material near the surface sinks | convection |
| when two tectonic plates push into one another, this is the boundary where they meet | convergent boundary |
| when two tectonic plates move away from each other this is the boundary they create between them | transform boundary |
| this is used to measure the rate of tectonic plate movement | Global Positioning System or GPS |
