Chapter 10 Plate Tectonics Vocabulary
Across
- 4. a long, undersea mountain chain that has a steep, narrow valley at its center, that forms as magma rises from the asthenosphere, and that creates new oceanic lithosphere (sea floor) as tectonic plates move apart
- 5. the process by which new oceanic lithosphere (sea floor) forms as magma rises to Earth’s surface and solidifies at a mid-ocean ridge
- 6. the boundary between tectonic plates that are moving away from each other
- 10. the boundary between tectonic plates that are colliding
- 12. a piece of lithosphere that has a unique geologic history and that may be part of a larger piece of lithosphere, such as a continent
- 14. the theory that explains how large pieces of the lithosphere, called plates, move and change shape
- 15. the solid, outer layer of Earth that consists of the crust and the rigid upper part of the mantle
Down
- 1. the supercontinent that formed 300 million years ago and that began to break up beginning 250 million years ago
- 2. the process by which supercontinents form and break apart over millions of years
- 3. the boundary between tectonic plates that are sliding past each other horizontally
- 7. the process by which Earth’s crust breaks apart; can occur within continental crust or oceanic crust
- 8. the study of the alignment of magnetic minerals in rock, specifically as it relates to the reversal of earth’s magnetic poles; also the magnetic properties that rock acquires during formation
- 9. the hypothesis that states that the continents once formed a single landmass, broken up, and drifted to their present locations
- 11. the solid, plastic layer of the mantle beneath the lithosphere; made of mantle rock that flows very slowly, which allows tectonic plates to move on top of it
- 13. the single, large ocean that covered Earth’s surface during the time the supercontinent Pangaea existed