Geology Basics
Earth's Layers
Plate Tectonics
Volcanoes and Rocks
Science Vocabulary
100

What is the study of Earth, what it is made of, and how it changes over time?

Geology

100

What is the thin, rocky layer of Earth covered by land or water?

Crust

100

Plates sliding past each other can cause these events.

Earthquakes and tsunamis

100

What is a volcano that has not erupted for at least 10,000 years considered?

Extinct

100

What word means "to leave behind in a particular spot?"

Deposit

200

What evidence is there that continents were once joined together?

Matching coastlines and fossils on separate continents.

200

What is the solid metal layer that may be as hot as the sun’s surface?

Inner Core
200

When one tectonic plate slides under another, this forms.

Oceanic Trench

200

What are rocks called that have formed from bits of material pressed together over time?

Sedimentary rocks

200

What word means to "use effort or force to do something?"

Exert

300

What are two ways tectonic plates move that change Earth’s surface?

Sliding past each other, pulling apart, or subducting.

300

What is the hot metal layer of Earth that is liquid, not solid?

Outer Core
300

The place scientists identify to locate an earthquake. It is directly above the earthquake's source.

Epicenter

300

What is the process that breaks rocks into smaller pieces?

Weathering

300

What is a crack in Earth’s crust called?

A fault

400

What do scientists measure to understand an earthquake’s intensity?

Seismic waves

400

What is the hot, dense rock layer with a moving middle section?

Mantle

400

Where volcanoes and geysers often form.

Plate boundaries or hotspots

400

What is one way the rock cycle changes rocks over time?

Erosion

400

What word means "experiencing something personally, not secondhand?"

Firsthand

500

What causes volcanoes and hot springs to form beneath Earth’s surface?

Heat and pressure forcing magma upward

500

Name all four layers of Earth.

Crust, Mantle, Outer and Inner Core.

500

What are two plate movements that can cause tsunamis?

Sliding past each other and pulling apart

500

What happens to the seafloor when one plate slides under another?

An oceanic trench forms

500

What word means "the condition of being solid, liquid, or gas?"

State

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