Geology

It is a dynamic planet and constantly changing structure; and is a layered sphere.

Layer of Earth (3 answers)

or interior, is composed of a dense, intensely hot mass of metal, mostly iron, thousands of kilometers in diameter.

is surrounding the molten outer core. It is a hot, pliable layer of rock.

is the cool, lightweight, brittle rock outermost layer of the earth.

8 most common Chemical Elements

In 1885, _____went so far as to publish a sketch showing how the two continents could fit together, jigsaw-puzzle fashion.

Climatologist ______ was struck not only by the matching coastlines, but by geologic evidence from the continents.

It may preserve evidence of the ancient climate of the time and place in which this were deposited. Such evidence shows that the climate in many places has varied widely through time. It also preserve fossil remains of ancient life. Some plants and animals, long extinct, seem to have lived only in a few very restricted areas, which now are widely separated geographically on different continents.

remains of which are found in limited areas of widely separated lands including India, southern Africa, and even Antarctica.

A supercontinent (Greek for “all lands”)

Wegener proposed that all the continental landmasses had once formed a single supercontinent, Pangaea (Greek for “all lands”), which had then split apart, the modern continents moving to their present positions via a process called

Continental “drift” turned out to be just one consequence of processes encompassed by a broader theory known as. It relates such deformation to the existence and movement of rigid “plates” over a weaker, more plastic layer in the earth’s upper mantle.

is the study of large scale movement and deformation of the earth’s outer layers.

The earth’s crust and uppermost mantle are somewhat brittle and elastic. Together they make up the outer solid layer of the earth called the ______, from the Greek word lithos , meaning “rock.”

Lithosphere is thinnest underneath the oceans, where it extends to a depth of about _____

Lithosphere under the continents is both thicker on average than is oceanic lithosphere, and more variable in thickness, extending in places to about

The layer below the lithosphere is the ____, which derives its name from the Greek word asthenes, meaning “without strength.”

The asthenosphere extends to an average depth of about ________ in the mantle.

Type of Plate Boundaries (3 answers)

lithospheric plates MOVE APART.

are the most common type of divergent boundary worldwide, and it is already noted the formation of new oceanic lithosphere at these ridges.

If the continental rifting continues, a new ocean basin will form between the pieces of the continent as shown in above figure. This is happening now in northeast Africa, where three rift zones meet in what is called a ________.

plates are MOVING TOWARD EACH OTHER.