Earth's Layers
This is the thin, outermost layer of Earth where we live.
What is the crust?
At this boundary, plates move away from each other.
What is a divergent boundary?
Plates float on this soft layer of the upper mantle.
What is the asthenosphere?
These form when magma rises at divergent boundaries.
What are volcanoes?
Large pieces of Earth’s crust and upper mantle.
What are tectonic plates?
This thick layer beneath the crust is semi-molten and moves slowly.
What is the mantle?
At this boundary, plates slide past one another.
What is a transform boundary?
Heat transfer that causes hot material to rise and cool material to sink.
What is convection?
These often form at convergent boundaries between continental plates.
What are mountains?
The movement of continents over time proposed by Alfred Wegener.
What is continental drift?
This layer is made mostly of liquid iron and nickel and creates Earth’s magnetic field.
What is the outer core?
At this boundary, plates move toward each other.
What is a convergent boundary?
These currents in the mantle are the main cause of plate movement.
What are convection currents?
This landform forms where plates pull apart under the ocean.
What is a mid-ocean ridge?
A crack in Earth’s crust where movement can occur.
What is a fault?
This is the hottest and most dense layer of Earth.
What is the inner core?
This type of boundary often causes earthquakes but no volcanoes.
What is a transform boundary?
This process explains how heat from Earth’s core helps move tectonic plates.
What is convection?
These deep underwater features form at subduction zones.
What are deep-sea trenches?
Sudden shaking of Earth caused by movement along a fault.
What is an earthquake?
Convection currents occur mainly in this Earth layer and help move tectonic plates.
What is the mantle?
This boundary can create mountain ranges when two continental plates collide.
What is a convergent boundary?
This theory explains how and why tectonic plates move.
What is plate tectonics?
This feature forms when one plate sinks beneath another.
What is a subduction zone?
The scientific explanation that replaced continental drift by explaining the mechanism of movement.
What is the theory of plate tectonics?