Plate Tectonics and Earth's Interior
This layer of Earth is made of solid rock and forms the outermost shell.
What is the crust?
This flat, deep part of the ocean floor is found far from land.
What is the abyssal plain?
This weather tool measures atmospheric pressure.
What is a barometer?
This type of weathering breaks rocks into smaller pieces without changing their composition.
What is mechanical weathering?
This is the imaginary line Earth spins on.
What is the axis?
These waves are the fastest seismic waves and travel through both solids and liquids.
What are P-waves?
This instrument measures magnetic fields and helped discover magnetic striping on the seafloor.
What is a magnetometer?
This term describes a boundary between two air masses.
What is a front?
The top layer of soil, rich in organic material.
What is topsoil (or the A-horizon)?
The shape of Earth’s orbit around the Sun.
What is an ellipse?
This theory explains the movement of Earth's lithospheric plates.
What is plate tectonics?
This process creates new ocean crust at divergent boundaries.
What is seafloor spreading?
This violent storm system includes lightning, thunder, and heavy rain.
What is a thunderstorm?
This type of chemical weathering involves water reacting with minerals.
What is hydrolysis?
This theory suggests the universe began as a rapid expansion from a single point.
What is the Big Bang Theory?
This is the area where one tectonic plate dives beneath another.
What is a subduction zone?
In the 1940's the US military collected a lot of information about the seafloor while also performing what task?
What is looking for German Submarines (U-Boats)?
A large storm that forms over warm ocean water and has a well-defined eye.
What is a hurricane?
This soil type forms in hot, wet climates and is heavily leached.
What is laterite?
These dark, flat regions on the Moon were formed by ancient lava flows.
What are maria?
What is at the place where two tectonic plates come together (plate boundaries)?
This phenomenon suggests the magnetic poles have appeared to move over time, based on rock records.
What is apparent polar wander?
This has been reached when water condenses out of the air onto grass and vehicles, etc.?
What is the dewpoint?
This weathering process occurs when water freezes and expands in cracks.
What is ice wedging?
This outer layer of the Sun is visible during a total solar eclipse.
What is the corona?