Plate Tectonics

Front

Continental drift

Back

The gradual movement of the continents across the earth's surface through geological time.

Front

Pangaea

Back

A supercontinent that existed during the late Paleozoic and early Mesozoic eras, forming approximately 335 million years ago.

Front

Magnetometer

Back

An instrument used for measuring magnetic forces, especially the earth's magnetism.

Front

Paleomagnetism

Back

The study of the record of the Earth's magnetic field in rocks, sediment, or archeological materials.

Front

Magnetic reversal

Back

A change in the Earth's magnetic field resulting in the magnetic north being aligned with the geographic south, and vice versa.

Front

Isochron

Back

A line on a diagram or map connecting points relating to the same time or equal times.

Front

Seafloor spreading

Back

The formation of new areas of oceanic crust through the upwelling of magma at mid-ocean ridges and its subsequent outward movement on either side.

Front

Theory of Plate tectonics

Back

A scientific theory describing the large-scale motion of the plates making up the Earth's lithosphere.

Front

Divergent boundary

Back

A tectonic boundary where two plates are moving away from each other and new crust is forming from magma that rises to the Earth's surface between the two plates.

Front

Rift valley

Back

A lowland region that forms where Earth’s tectonic plates move apart, or rift.