Across
- 4. The study of the alignment of magnetic minerals in rock, specifically as it relates to the reversal of Earth’s magnetic poles; also the magnetic properties that rock acquires during formation
- 5. The boundary between tectonic plates that are sliding past each other horizontally.
- 6. The solid, outer layer of Earth that consists of the crust and the rigid upper part of the mantle
- 7. The process by which supercontinents form and break apart over millions of years
- 9. The boundary between two tectonic plates that are moving away from each other
- 11. The process by which new oceanic lithosphere (sea floor) forms when magma rises to Earth’s surface at mid-ocean ridges and solidifies, as older, existing sea floor moves away from the ridge
- 15. The theory that explains how large pieces of the lithosphere, called plates, move and change shape
Down
- 1. A piece of lithosphere that has a unique geologic history and that may be part of a larger piece of lithosphere, such as a continent.
- 2. the supercontinent that formed 300 million years ago and that began to break up 200 million years ago
- 3. The boundary between tectonic plates that are colliding
- 8. The hypothesis that a single large landmass broke up into smaller landmasses to form the continents, which then drifted to their present locations; the movement of continents
- 10. A long, undersea mountain chain that has a steep, narrow valley at its center, that forms as magma rises from the asthenosphere, and that creates new oceanic lithosphere (sea floor) as tectonic plates move apart
- 12. The solid, plastic layer of the mantle beneath the lithosphere; made of mantle rock that flows very slowly, which allows tectonic plates to move on top of it
- 13. The process by which Earth’s crust breaks apart; can occur within continental crust or oceanic crust.
- 14. the single, large ocean that covered Earth’s surface during the time the supercontinent Pangaea existed