Plate Tectonics Basics
This scientist proposed continental drift and the supercontinent Pangaea.
Who is Alfred Wegener?
This boundary is where plates move apart.
What is a divergent boundary?
This layer is Earth’s outermost solid layer.
What is the crust?
These remains of ancient plants and animals found on different continents support continental drift.
What are fossils?
These sudden releases of energy caused by plate movement shake the ground.
What are earthquakes?
This giant landmass existed about 300 million years ago.
What is Pangaea?
This boundary is where two plates collide.
What is a convergent boundary?
This is Earth’s thickest layer, where convection currents occur.
What is the mantle?
These large moving sheets of ice carve out U-shaped valleys and leave behind evidence of past climates.
What are glaciers?
These mountains of lava and ash are formed where magma reaches Earth’s surface.
What are volcanoes?
These large slabs of Earth’s crust and upper mantle move slowly over the asthenosphere.
What are tectonic plates?
This boundary is where two plates slide past each other.
What is a transform boundary?
Plumes of hot rock rising from deep within the mantle form these volcanic hot zones.
What are hotspots?
This process wears down Earth’s surface through wind, water, and ice.
What is erosion?
A hotspot under the Pacific Plate created this famous island chain.
What are the Hawaiian Islands?
This layer of Earth is broken into plates.
What is the lithosphere?
Earthquakes commonly occur along this type of boundary because plates grind past one another.
What is a transform boundary?
This process in the mantle drives plate movement.
What are convection currents?
Molten rock rising at divergent boundaries creates underwater mountain chains known as this.
What is the mid-ocean ridge?
This type of evidence shows that the youngest ocean rocks are found closest to the mid-ocean ridge.
What are patterns of seafloor rock ages?
This soft, flowing layer allows tectonic plates to move on top of it.
What is the asthenosphere?
Mountain ranges such as the Himalayas form at this type of boundary.
What is a convergent boundary?
This central layer is made mostly of iron and nickel, and is divided into a liquid and solid part.
What is the core?
This process forms new oceanic crust as magma rises and spreads apart at divergent boundaries.
What is seafloor spreading?
These deep areas in the ocean form when one plate is pushed beneath another at a convergent boundary.
What are deep-ocean trenches?