Earth's Interior Vocabulary

6. the thin layer of rock that forms Earth's outer surface
8. a layer of molten (melted) iron and nickel that surrounds the inner core
9. The name of the single landmass (supercontinent) that broke apart 200 million years ago and gave rise to today's continents.
10. A break in the earth's crust.
11. A trace of an ancient organism that has been preserved in rock.
14. A tectonic plate boundary where two plates collide, come together, or crash into each other.
15. the soft layer of the mantle, on which the lithosphere floats
17. The shaking that results from the movement of rock beneath Earth's surface.

1. A plate boundary where two plates move away from each other.
2. a dense sphere of solid iron and nickel at the center of the Earth
3. the layer of hot rock (solid material) between the crust and the core
4. a rigid layer made up of the upper part of the mantle and the crust
5. The theory that pieces of Earth's lithosphere are in constant motion, driven by convection currents in the mantle.
7. Boundary A plate boundary where two plates move past each other in opposite directions.
12. A weak spot in the crust where magma has come to the surface.
13. A major belt of volcanoes that rims the Pacific Ocean
16. A block of lithosphere that consists of the crust and the rigid, outermost part of the mantle that moves due to convection currents.