Plate Tectonic Vocab

6. A theory that the Earth’s surface is broken into plates that move.
7. Thicker, less dense, older crust.
11. A layer of hot slow-flowing rock located between the crust and the core.
13. A plate boundary where two plates move toward each other.
14. A dense sphere of solid iron and nickel at the center of Earth.
18. caused by the rising of heated fluid and the sinking of cooled fluid.
20. the process by which one lithospheric plate moves beneath another as a result of tectonic forces.

1. The strong, lower part of the mantle between the asthenosphere and the outer core.
2. A rigid layer made up of the uppermost part of the mantle and the crust.
3. A supercontinent containing all of the Earth’s land that existed about 225 million years ago.
4. The hypothesis that states the continents were once one single land mass
5. Process where molten rock comes up through the mid ocean ridge and adds to crust to the ocean floor.
8. A layer of molten iron and nickel. This layer behaves like a thick liquid.
9. The soft layer of the mantle below the lithosphere.
10. an underwater mountain chain where new ocean floor is formed
12. A plate boundary where plates slide past each other.
15. A plate boundary where two plates move apart from each other.
16. A crack in Earth’s surface along which movement has occurred.
17. The large pieces of Earth that move over the Earth’s surface,
19. Thinner, denser younger crust.