Plate Motion Vocabulary Flashcards

Front

Absolute dating

Back

Dating rocks or fossils using radioactivity to determine age within a certain number of years.

Front

Alfred Wegener

Back

The scientist who introduced the concept of moving continents and the former supercontinent called Pangea.

Front

Asthenosphere

Back

The layer of the mantle where the Earth’s plate floats on its molten rock.

Front

Carbon dating

Back

A type of absolute dating that uses Carbon 12 to date the fossils of living things less than 60,000 years old.

Front

Continental Crust

Back

The part of the crust that makes up the land; thicker but lighter.

Front

Continental drift

Back

The theory that continents move, join, and break apart.

Front

Convection Currents

Back

The circular movement of hot rock rising and cooler rock sinking in the mantle, which causes plates to move.

Front

Convergent

Back

Plates moving towards the same place.

Front

Divergent

Back

Plates moving in different directions.

Front

Divergent boundaries

Back

Plate boundaries that occur where two plates move apart from each other. Plates moving in different directions.