Plate Tectonics

The outermost shell of a rocky planet.

Layer of molten rock between the crust and core.

Made up of mostly iron. Seperated into the outer core (molten) and inner core (solid)

The layer of rock that makes up the outer part of the Earth including the crust and upper mantle (lithospheric plates)

The theory that continents gradually drifted over time to their present positions.

A thin layer of Earth about 150 miles thick, at the border between the mantle and the crust.

The process in which the hotter parts of a gas or liquid rise to the top and the cooler, denser parts sink.

When two tectonic plates come together.

Uplift of crustal plates that form elevated landmasses.

A vent or fissure in Earth’s surface through which magma and gasses are expelled.

When tectonic plates split apart.

When tectonic plates slide past each other.

Breaks in the crust. The movement causes seismic waves which produce earthquakes.

A long ridge of underwater volcanoes between two diverging oceanic plates.

A place where one tectonic plates sinks under another and melts.