8th Grade Unit 5 Plate Tectonics Vocabulary

Front

Asthenosphere

Back

The semi-fluid layer beneath the lithosphere on which tectonic plates move.

Front

Convergent Boundaries

Back

Plate boundaries where the plates are moving toward each other.

Front

Fossil

Back

The impression of a prehistoric organism preserved in rock.

Front

Harry Hess

Back

An American geologist who confirmed Wegener’s ideas of continental drift by using the evidence of seafloor spreading.

Front

Law of Superposition

Back

Each rock layer is older than the one above it.

Front

Lithosphere

Back

The rigid outer layer of the Earth, consisting of the crust and upper mantle.

Front

Divergent Boundaries

Back

Plate boundaries where the plates are moving apart.

Front

Transform Boundaries

Back

Plate boundaries where the plates slide past each other.

Front

Seafloor Spreading

Back

The process by which new oceanic crust is formed at mid-ocean ridges and older crust is pushed away.

Front

Pangaea

Back

The supercontinent that existed during the late Paleozoic and early Mesozoic eras.