A German scientist that introduced the idea of continental drift.
Who is Alfred Wegner?
100
The theory that explains why Earth's features appear as they do.
What is plate tectonics?
100
The sudden shifting of rock as tectonic plates shift positions.
What is an earthquake?
100
An opening in the surface of one of Earth's plates through which magma rises.
What is a volcano?
100
The outermost layer of the Earth, made mostly of oxygen and other materials- silicon, aluminum, iron, and calcium
What is the crust?
200
Glossopteris and Mesosaurus
What were the fossils found on different continents that helped support continental drift theory?
200
This is the way that scientists can figure out how tectonic plates move, where satellites in space determine the distance between points on different plates and how the distances change over time.
What is Global Positioning System?
200
The underground point where an earthquake occurs.
What is the focus?
200
The location where most volcanoes occur.
What are plate boundaries?
200
The middle layer of the Earth that contains the most mass. The outher part is solid, like the crust. The inner part is so hot that rock can flow very slowly over time.
What is the mantle?
300
The super-continent that existed 225 million years ago.
What is Pangaea?
300
The area where two plates meet.
What are plate boundaries?
300
The point on Earth's surface directly over the focus
What is the epicenter?
300
One plate sinks under another at a plate boundary and the sinking crust melts into magma. Pressure builds up from the gasses trapped in the magma and the magma explodes.
What is the process that makes volcanoes?
300
The innermost layers of the Earth, made mostly of iron. These layers are the most dense, because of the weight of all the rock above it.
What are the inner and outer core?
400
The scientist that explained new crust forms at ocean ridges.
Who was Harry Hess?
400
The tree types of plate boundaries that describe if plates are coming together, drifting apart, or moving past each other.
What are spreading, colliding, and fracture boundaries?
400
The measurement of the strength of an earthquake, given as a series of numbers
What is magnitude?
400
When magma trapped in the lithosphere heats groundwater and causes steam to spew from the crust.
What is a geyser?
400
The thin layer of gasses above the surface of the earth, containing nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide, and water that cycle through the environment.
What is the atmosphere?
500
The process when two oceanic plates move apart, magma rises, cools and forms new crust. More magma comes up and pushes the newly formed crust and the old crust aside.
What is seafloor spreading?
500
The force that moves the Earth's plates, where currents in the mantle constantly rise, circle around, and fall.
What are convection currents?
500
The energy increase for each 1 on the Richter scale
What is 31 times the energy?
500
The tiny bits of rock that spew into the air during an eruption.