Plate Tectonics

2. sideways and downward movement of the edge of a plate of the earth's crust into the mantle beneath another plate
5. any movement of matter that is caused by different densities
6. the change of the magnetic poles
9. the formation of new areas of oceanic crust which occurs through the upwelling of magma at midocean ridges
11. sudden release of stored energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves
13. tectonic plates at the bottom of the ocean
15. Earth’s outer layer made up of tectonic plates
16. geologist that proposed the theory of sea-floor spreading
19. moving slabs that make up Earth’s surface
20. ideas that explain various related observations of the natural world

1. theory that Earth’s surface is made of moving slabs
3. idea or explanation that you then test through study and experimentation
4. A tectonic boundary where two plates are moving away from each other and new crust is forming
7. when the force of gravity moves a plate downward and away from a ridge
8. hypothesis that today’s continents were a single landmass before becoming continents
10. layer of Earth below lithosphere that has differences in pressure and temperature causing the plates to move
12. name of the theorized supercontinent that
14. opening in the crust where molten rock, hot rock fragments, and hot gases erupt from
17. German geophysicist who proposed the theory of continental drift
18. the pulling of a tectonic plate as its edge subducts deep into the mantle