Plate Tectonics & Earth's Structure
The place where two plates come together, forming mountains or subduction zones.
What is a convergent boundary?
The breakdown of rock into smaller pieces by wind, water, or ice.
What is weathering?
The layer of gas surrounding the earth.
What is the atmosphere?
Scientists estimate the Earth to be about this old.
What is 4.6 billion years?
The rise and fall of sea levels caused by the gravitational pull of the moon and sun.
What are tides?
This supercontinent existed 200-300 million years ago before drifting apart.
What is Pangaea?
Type of rock formed by heat and pressure.
What is metamorphic rock?
This is the most common gas in Earth's atmosphere.
What is nitrogen?
These are the remains or traces of prehistoric life found in sedimentary rock.
What are fossils?
A giant, fast-moving ocean wave caused by an underwater earthquake or volcanic eruption.
What is a tsunami?
When oceanic crust sinks beneath continental crust, creating a deep trench.
What is a subduction zone?
The process of moving broken-down rock and soil to new locations.
What is erosion?
The layer of the atmosphere where weather occurs.
What is the troposphere?
An object that orbits a star, produces its own energy, and is a giant ball of gas.
What is a Star?
The movement of deep, cold, nutrient-rich water to the surface.
What is upwelling?
This layer is liquid, composed of iron and nickel, and responsible for Earth's magnetic field.
What is the outer core?
These two elements are the most common in Earth's crust.
What are silicon and oxygen?
The type of cloud that brings rain or storms.
What is cumulonimbus?
This type of astronomical body is known as a "dirty snowball" made of ice and dust.
What is a comet?
This effect, caused by Earth’s rotation, causes ocean currents to turn.
What is the Coriolis Effect?
The theory that explains how large, rigid plates move across the Earth's surface.
What is plate tectonics?
These are the five characteristics required for a substance to be a mineral.
What are solid, chemical composition, crystal structure, naturally occurring, and inorganic?
The high surface temperatures of this planet are caused by a runaway greenhouse effect.
What is Venus?
These dark, cooler spots on the surface of the sun.
What are sunspots?
The continuous, vast, and relatively flat area of the ocean floor.
What is the Abyssal Plain?