Vocabulary crossword

3. / The breaking down of rocks into smaller pieces by wind, water, or chemicals.
5. dating / A method to determine the age of fossils or rocks using carbon isotopes.
6. / Cracks in Earth’s crust where movement occurs.
8. ooze / Deep sea sediment made mostly of calcium carbonate from shells.
10. sediments / Sediments made from the breakdown of rocks on land.
11. ridge / An underwater mountain chain formed by seafloor spreading.
12. / The process of one tectonic plate sinking beneath another.
14. sediment/ Sediment formed from the remains of living organisms.
16. tectonics / The theory that explains how Earth’s surface is shaped by moving plates.
17. boundary/ A place where two tectonic plates slide past one another.

1. anomalies / Differences in Earth’s magnetic field caused by variations in rocks on the seafloor.
2. plates / Large pieces of Earth’s crust that move and interact at their boundaries.
4. / The theory that continents slowly move across Earth’s surface.
7. / Particles of rock, shell, or organic matter that settle to the bottom.
9. Tiny fossilized remains of organisms.
12. spreading / The process where new ocean crust forms at mid-ocean ridges.
13. / Deep, narrow areas in the ocean floor formed at subduction zones.
15. ooze / Deep-sea sediment rich in silica from microscopic plankton shells.
18. / Long cracks where Earth’s crust is pulling apart.