The Theory of Plate Tectonics

3. A break along which the surrounding rock moves.
4. Any change in a rocks shape or volume caused by stress.
5. The single large ocean that surrounded Pangaea.
6. The theory explaining why and how continents move and is the study of formation of features in Earth's crust.
8. The theory that explains why and how continents move and is the study of the formation of features in Earth's crust.
10. The process by which Earth's crust breaks apart.
11. The supercontinent that formed 300 million years ago.
12. A movement or trembling of the ground that is caused by the sudden release of energy when rocks along a fault move.
15. The boundary between tectonic plates that are colliding.
18. Undersea mountain ranges through the center of which run steep, narrow valleys.
19. The layer of “plastic rock” just below the lithosphere.

1. The bending, tilting, and breaking of Earth's crust.
2. An area along a fault where relatively few earthquakes have occurred recently, but where strong earthquakes are known to have occurred in the past.
4. The process by which new oceanic lithosphere forms as magma rises to Earth's surface and solidifies at a mid-ocean ridge.
7. The boundary between tectonic plates that are moving away form each other.
9. The solid outer layer of Earth that consists of the crust and the rigid upper part of the mantle.
13. The boundary between tectonic plates that are sliding past each other horizontally.
14. A bend in rock layers that results from stress.
16. The sudden return of elastically deformed rock to its undeformed shape.
17. The amount of force per unit area that acts on a rock.