Science Vocab

3. The process by which tectonic plates sink or slide back from Earth’s outer layer into its middle layer, called the mantle.
6. The rising and falling of material in a fluid due to uneven temperatures.
9. plates The gigantic slabs — some spanning thousands of miles — that make up Earth’s outer layer.
10. An area around the Pacific Ocean’s edge where plate tectonics processes cause relatively frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

1. In geology, an area where tectonic plates move past each other.
2. tectonics The study of massive moving pieces that make up Earth’s outer layer, which is called the lithosphere, and the processes that cause those rock masses to rise from inside Earth, travel along its surface, and sink back down.
4. The process by which material rises from Earth’s middle layer into its outer layer, where it will become part of the tectonic plates.
5. In geology, Earth’s middle layer.
6. Able to carry an electric current.
7. In geology, Earth’s innermost layer.
8. The study of Earth’s physical structure, history and processes.