Earth System's Vocabulary

2. A tool that measures/ records details of earthquakes.
4. The study of earthquakes and related phenomena.
5. Below the lithosphere. Hotter and more fluid part of mantle.
7. Petroleum, natural gas, coal. Made from remains of plants & animals.
9. Boundary where tectonic plates divide.
11. Group of animals that occupy a certain area.
12. Water held underground in the soil in deep reservoirs.
14. When magma flows through a crack in the middle of a tectonic plate, & not at a plate boundary. Hawaiian islands were formed this way.
17. Move side to side through ONLY solids. Travel slower than P waves.
18. Compress or squeeze through solids & liquids. Travels faster than S waves.
19. The movement caused within a fluid when the hotter, less dense material rises, and colder, denser material sinks
20. When heat, pressure, cooling, melting, and weathering cause rocks to change from one type to another over time.
24. The outer part of the earth. Includes the crust & upper mantle.
25. Forms at a convergent boundaries where one plate subducts under another, and magma underground is pushed upward.
26. The supercontinent that existed before continents separated.
29. When a sudden release of energy in the lithosphere creates seismic waves.
30. No longer in existence.
31. Forms from pre-existing rock and fossils. Appears layerd.

1. The lower part of Earth's mantle, below the asthenosphere.
3. Occurs when divergent plate boundaries separate. Convection currents cause less dense material to rise. Creates new ocean floor.
6. Still in existence, surviving species.
8. Forms when molten rock crystallizes and solidifies. Appears glassy.
10. The solid, outermost layer of Earth, lying above the mantle.
13. Boundary where tectonic plates slide past each other.
15. Large pieces of lithosphere that the ocean & the continents rest on.
16. The layer that lies between Earth's crust and core. The majority of Earth's mass is in this layer.
21. The innermost layer of Earth. Divided into 2 parts, liquid outer and solid inner. Made of iron and nickel.
22. The study of Earth.
23. Boundary where tectonic plates collide.
27. Forms under extreme heat and pressure. Appears twisted.
28. A solid inorganic material found in nature.