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Chapter 7 vocab
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Pangaea | over time Pangaea began breaking apart, and the continents slowly moved to their present positions. |
| continental drift | which suggested that continents are in constant motion on the surface of earth. |
| mid-ocean ridges | the mountain ranges in the middle of the oceans. |
| Seafloor spreading | is the process by which new oceanic crust forms along a mid-ocean ridge and older oceanic crust moves away form the ridge. |
| normal polarity | a state in which to point north |
| magnetic reversal | occurs and the magnetic field reverses direction |
| reversed polarity | a state in which magnetized objects would reverse direction and orient themselves to point south. |
| plate tectonics | states that Earth's surface is made of rigid slabs of rock, or plates |
| lithosphere | the cold and rigid outermost rock layer |
| divergent plate boundary | forms where to plates separate |
| transform plate boundary | forms where two plates slide past each other |
| convergent plate boundaries | form where two plates collide |
| subduction | the denser plate sinks below the more buoyant plate in process |
| convection | the circulation of material caused by differences in temperature and density |
| ridge push | ridge push moves thee lithosphere in opposite directions away from the mid-ocean ridge |
| slab pull | as a slab sinks, it pulls on the rest of the plate with a force |