Landform Vocabulary

Front 1

Erosion

Back 1

The process that moves sediment, created by weathering, from place to place using wind and water.

Front 2

Weathering

Back 2

Breaking down rocks by rubbing rocks together, temperature changes, wetting and drying rocks.

Front 3

Chemical Weathering

Back 3

Rocks breaking down or dissolving by reactions to water, gases or acids.

Front 4

Physical Weathering

Back 4

Wearing away of the earth's surface by running water, glaciers, wind, and waves.

Front 5

Inner Core

Back 5

This layer is solid due to pressure. It is a mass of hot, heavy metals.

Front 6

Alfred Wegener

Back 6

Meteorologist who thought about how the continents looked like they fit together like puzzle pieces as he studied maps. He developed the supercontinent theory.

Front 7

Asthenosphere and Lithosphere

Back 7

The two parts of the mantle

Front 8

Continental and Oceanic

Back 8

The two types of crust

Front 9

Pangaea

Back 9

The large supercontinent created when all the continents were joined together into one land mass.

Front 10

Crust

Back 10

The top and thinnest layer of earth, consisting of igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rock.

Front 11

Mantle

Back 11

The second, thickest layer of earth, consisting of liquid rock or magma. Strong convection currents exist.

Front 12

Outer Core

Back 12

Part of the third main layer, this layer is molten and made up of mostly iron and nickel.

Front 13

Sea Floor Spreading

Back 13

Occurs when oceanic plates separate along a mid-ocean ridge, and the cracks fill with molten-magma making a new, wider ocean floor.

Front 14

Magma

Back 14

Molten rock within the layer underneath the earth's crust, the mantle

Front 15

Tectonic Plate Theory

Back 15

A theory that states that Earth changes because plate movements cause earthquakes, volcanoes, and mountains. Plates carrying crust can collide, move apart, and slide past each other.

Front 16

Transform Boundary

Back 16

The boundary at which two tectonic plates slide past each other. Friction occurs where the plates slide; pressure builds, and earthquakes can occur.

Front 17

Divergent Boundary

Back 17

The boundary at which two plates move away from each other. The Mid-Atlantic ridge is the most important example of a Divergent Boundary. Magma comes up through the crack and cools, creating new land.

Front 18

Convergent Boundary

Back 18

The boundary at which two plates collide. There are 3 types: continental plate to continental plate (which creates mountains), continent to oceanic (when these meet, the oceanic plate dives under the continental plate), and oceanic plate to oceanic plate (one plate sinks below the other, creating a trench).