Plate Tectonics

2. The process by which new oceanic lithosphere (sea floor) forms when magma rises to Earth’s surface at mid-ocean ridges and solidifies, as older, existing sea floor moves away from the ridge
4. The theory that explains how large pieces of the lithosphere, called plates, move and change shape
5. The boundary between tectonic plates that are colliding
6. The solid, outer layer of Earth that consists of the crust and the rigid upper part of the mantle
9. The boundary between tectonic plates that are sliding past each other horizontally.
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. 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. 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

1. The process by which Earth’s crust breaks apart; can occur within continental crust or oceanic crust.
2. The process by which supercontinents form and break apart over millions of years
3. the single, large ocean that covered Earth’s surface during the time the supercontinent Pangaea existed
7. 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
8. The hypothesis that a single large landmass broke up into smaller landmasses to form the continents, which then drifted to their present locations; the movement of continents
10. The boundary between two tectonic plates that are moving away from each other
12. the supercontinent that formed 300 million years ago and that began to break up 200 million years ago