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Earth Science
Plate Tectonic Vocabulary
Term | Definition |
---|---|
earthquake | shaking of the Earth's surface |
energy | the ability to cause change |
fault | a break in rock along which rock slabs moved |
tectonic plate | a slab of rock that makes up the Earth's crust |
plate boundary | the border of a plate |
theoryeir | an idea based on a large body of evidence that explains how something happens |
theory of continental drift | a theory that states that the continents were once joined in a single landmass but drifted to their present locations |
theory of plate tectonics | a theory that Earth's lithosphere is broken into very large pieces of rock called plates that are in constant motion |
lithosphere | the crust plus the upper mantle |
crust | the thin, rocky outer layer of Earth |
asthenosphere | just below the lithoesphere; soft and flowing |
mantle | the layer of Earth beneath the crust |
core | the innermost, densest layer of Earth |
density | how much mass is in a given volume of matter |
matter | anything that has mass and takes up space |
convection | the transfer of energy through liquids and gases ; occurs in asthenosphere |