The thin layer and solid outermost layer of the Earth above the mantle.
Crust
100
The central part of the Earth below the mantle.
Core
100
The hypothesis that states that the continents once formed a single land mass, broke up, and drifted to their present location.
Continental Drift
100
The boundary formed by the collision of two lithosphere plates.
Convergent Boundary
100
Stress that occurs when forces act to squeeze an object.
Compression
200
A large, semicircular depression that forms when the magma chamber below a volcano partially empties and causes the ground above to sink.
Caldera
200
The soft layer of the mantle on which the tectonic plates have.
Asthenosphere
200
The boundary between two tectonic plates that are moving away from each other.
Divergent Boundary
200
The point on Earth's surface directly above an earthquake's starting point, or focus.
Epicenter
200
A break in a body of rock along which one block slides relative to another.
Fault
300
The bending of rock layers due to stress.
Folding
300
A wide, flat and landform that results from repeated nonexplosive eruptions of lava that spread over a large area.
Lava Plateau
300
The solid, outer layer of the Earth that consists of the crust and the rigid upper part of the mantle.
Lithosphere
300
The layer of rock between the Earth's crust and core.
Mantle.
300
the body of molten rock that feeds a volcano.
Magma Chamber.
400
The strong, lower part of the outer mantle between the atmosphere and the center core. also, the layer of the atmosphere between the stratosphere and the thermosphere and in which temperature decreases as altitude increases.
Mesosphere
400
An area of deep cracks that forms between two tectonic plates that are pulling away from each other.
Rift Zone.
400
The process by which new oceanic lithosphere forms as magma rises towards the surface and solidifies.
Sea-floor Spreading
400
The study of earthquakes.
Seismology.
400
A wave of energy that travels through the Earth and away from an earthquake in all directions.
Seismic Wave.
500
A block of lithosphere that consists of the crust and the ridig, outermost part of the mantle.
Tectonic Plates.
500
A boundary between tectonic plates that are sliding past each other horizontally.
Transform Boundary
500
Stress that occurs when forces act to stretch an object.
Tension
500
The theory that explains how large pieces of the Earth's outermost layer, called tectonic plates, move and change shape.
Plate Tectonics
500
A vent or fissure in the Earth's surface through which magma and gases are expelled.