OST Week 1 Vocabulary Review

Front

continental drift

Back

The hypothesis that a single large landmass broke up into smaller landmasses to form the continents, which then drifted to their present locations; the movement of continents.

Front

convection

Back

The movement of matter due to differences in density; the transfer of energy due to the movement of matter.

Front

sea floor spreading

Back

The process by which new oceanic lithosphere (sea floor) forms when magma rises to Earth's surface at mid-ocean ridges and solidifies, as older, existing sea floor moves away from the ridge.

Front

plate tectonics

Back

The theory that explains how large pieces of the lithosphere, called plates, move and change shape.

Front

elastic rebound

Back

The sudden return of elastically deformed rock to its undeformed shape.

Front

athenosphere

Back

The soft layer of the mantle on which the tectonic plates move.

Front

continental crust

Back

The thin and solid outermost layer of Earth above the mantle.

Front

divergent boundary

Back

The boundary between two tectonic plates that are moving away from each other.

Front

convergent boundary

Back

The boundary between tectonic plates that are colliding.

Front

lithosphere

Back

The solid, outer layer of Earth that consists of the crust and the rigid upper part of the mantle.