Earth's Layers
This is the thinnest layer of Earth
This theory explains how Earth’s plates move and interact, causing earthquakes, volcanoes, and mountains.
What is the Theory of Plate Tectonics?
This human activity involves cutting down large areas of trees, often to clear land for farming or building.
What is deforestation?
This type of rock forms when lava or magma cools and hardens.
What is igneous rock?
This is a well-tested explanation of natural events, supported by evidence, that can change if new evidence is found.
What is a scientific theory?
This layer is made of hot, semi-solid rock that moves slowly and causes tectonic plates to drift.
What is the mantle?
These rigid pieces of Earth’s lithosphere move slowly over the asthenosphere.
What are tectonic plates?
This process happens when forests are removed and soil loses nutrients, leading to land turning into desert-like areas.
What is desertification?
This type of rock is formed when sediments are compacted and cemented together.
What is sedimentary rock?
This describes a pattern in nature that happens the same way every time under the same conditions, often using math.
What is a scientific law?
This layer is made of liquid metal and is responsible for Earth’s magnetic field.
What is the outer core?
At this type of boundary, two plates move apart, forming rift valleys on land or mid-ocean ridges under the sea.
What are divergent boundaries?
This human impact occurs when cities and towns grow larger, replacing natural land with buildings, roads, and houses.
What is urbanization?
Heat and pressure deep within Earth change existing rock into this type of rock.
What is metamorphic rock?
Scientists use these simplified representations to help explain, study, or predict natural phenomena, such as the solar system or an atom.
What are scientific models?
This is Earth’s hottest layer, made of solid iron and nickel, with temperatures reaching over 9,000°F.
What is the inner core?
When an oceanic plate collides with a continental plate, the denser oceanic plate sinks beneath the other. This process is called ____.
What is subduction?
When humans clear forests or over-farm land, wind and water can carry away the top layer of soil in this process.
What is erosion?
According to this law, the oldest rock layers are found at the bottom, and the youngest layers are found at the top, as long as the layers haven’t been disturbed.
What is the Law of Superposition?
This type of scientific study involves carefully controlling variables to test a hypothesis
What is an experiment?
This rigid outer layer includes the crust and the very top of the mantle, and it is broken into tectonic plates.
What is the lithosphere?
These circular movements of hot rock in the mantle drive the movement of tectonic plates by pushing and pulling them along.
What are convection currents?
When humans drill deep into Earth for oil, gas, or minerals, they are removing resources from this rigid outer layer made of the crust and upper mantle.
What is the lithosphere?
Scientists use this method, which measures the decay of radioactive elements in rocks, to determine their exact age in years.
What is absolute dating (radiometric dating)?
This broader type of scientific study may include experiments, but also uses observations, modeling, or comparisons when variables cannot be strictly controlled.
What is an investigation?