Chapter 5 Vocabulary

2. The standard accepted secular model for the origin of all the stars and planetary systems throughout the universe.
5. The tectonic process by which a relatively thin and denser oceanic crust slowly slides down and under a more massive but less dense continental crust.
8. The basic assumption that, in any undisturbed sequence of rock strata, the oldest or first laid stratum is at the bottom of the sequence and the younger layers were placed in order above it.
9. Molten rock deep within the earth. When magma escapes at the earth’s surface, it becomes lava.
10. The forces, energy, and processes that formed and reshaped the earth’s continents, mountains, and ocean basins.
11. A secular model of the earth’s geologic history that classifies and arranges rocks in the time periods of their supposed formation from 4.5 billion years ago to the present.
12. The major unifying concept that ties together nearly all areas of secular geology today.
13. A rock layer in a sequence of strata.

1. A creationary model of the earth’s geologic history that classifies and arranges rocks in the sequence of their formation relative to the biblical flood.
3. The motion of oceanic tectonic plates away from mid-ocean ridges where mantle rocks rise to form new ocean crust.
4. A creationary version of the plate tectonics theory that relies on the Christian narrative in the Bible.
6. A model that explains the shape and arrangement of present continents and their features as the product of slow motion of tectonic plates.
7. A section of the earth’s crust that has tectonic boundaries and moves as a unit compared to other regions of crust.