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Science 4
Plate Tectonics
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| crust | the outmost layer of the earth is the crust it is 5 to 100 km thick |
| mantle | the layer of earth between the crust and the core contains most of earths mass |
| core | the layer of the earth that extends from below the mantle to the center of the earth |
| lithosphere | the outmost rigid layer of the earth |
| asthenosphere | a plastic layer of the mantle on which pieces of lithosphere move made of solid rock |
| mesosphere | extends from the bottom of the asthenosphere to the earth's core |
| tectonic plate | a block of lithosphere that consists of the crust and the rigid outmost part of the mantle |
| continental drift | the hypothesis that states the continents once formed a single land mass broke up, and drifted to their present locations |
| Pangaea | existed when some of the earliest dinosaurs roamed the earth - a continent surrounded by a sea called panthalassa |
| Laurasuia - Gondwana | two continents that Pangaea broke up into |
| Eurasia | a continent that used to be connected to North America but separated from the other continents we know today |
| sea floor spreading | process by which new oceanic lithosphere forms as magma rises toward the surface and solidifies |
| Plate tectonics | the theory that the earths lithosphere is divided into tectonic plates that move around on top of the asthenosphere |
| convergent | when two tectonic plates collide |
| divergent boundary | when two tectonic plates separate |
| transform boundary | when two tectonic plates slide past each other horizontally |
| gps | also known as the global positioning system uses radio waves to sense things happening on earth |
| ridge push | when the oceanic lithosphere slides downhill under the force of gravity |
| slab pull | when oceanic lithosphere sinks and pulls the rest of the tectonic plate with it |
| convection | causes the oceanic lithosphere to move sideways and away from the mid ocean ridge |
| compression | type of stress that occurs when an object is squeezed such as when two tectonic plates collide |
| tension | is sress that occurs when forces act to stretch an object |
| folding | the bending of rock layers because of stress in the earth's crust |
| fault | is a surface along which rocks break and slide past each other |
| uplift | the rising of regions of the earth's crust to higher elevations |
| subsidence | the sinking of regions of the earth's crust to lower elevations |
Created by:
JaniceWlodyga
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