Plate tectonics Key words

3. the slow, cyclic movement of Earth's semi-solid mantle rock, driven by heat from the core. These currents drive the movement of tectonic plates.
4. when two plate boundaries slide horizontally past each other.
6. when two plate boundaries move toward each other.
8. part of the solid lithosphere, the thinnest, outermost layer of the earth’s structure.
11. layer of the Earth’s structure between the outer core and crust. It is very hot and acts like a slow-moving liquid.
12. a sudden shaking of the ground caused by the release of strain energy in the Earth’s crust. They typically occur at transform boundaries.
15. when two plate boundaries move away from each other.
16. the supercontinent proposed by continental drift theory to have existed around 300 to 175 million years ago, where all of Earth’s present-day landmasses were joined together.

1. a geological process in which one tectonic plate slides beneath another at a convergent boundary; it explains the formation of mountain ranges and volcanoes.
2. (2 words) the process that happens at mid-ocean ridges, forming new oceanic crusts at a divergent boundary.
5. Typically forms at convergent boundaries between continental and continental crusts.
7. a vent in the Earth's crust where molten rock (magma) erupts onto the surface as lava. They can form along convergent and divergent plate boundaries, as well as at hotspots.
9. (2 words) an updated theory to explain many phenomena as a result of slow plate movements over a semi-fluid mantle.
10. a graph that records seismic wave caused by an earthquake; it can help determine the epicentre of an earthquake.
13. (2 words) an early theory that proposed continents moved over time from a supercontinent to where they are today.
14. (2 words) is like an underwater mountain range, typically form at divergent boundaries between oceanic and oceanic crusts.