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16 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
FOSSIL
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preserved remains or evidence of ancient organisms
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PANGEA
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the single giant landmass that existed more than 200 million years ago from which today's continents were formed; all Earth.
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CONTINENTAL DRIFT
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Alfred Wegner's theory that the continents had once been joined together and have since moved horizontally apart.
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MID-OCEAN RIDGE
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An undersea mountain chain where new ocean floor is produced; a constructive (divergent) plate boundary.
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OCEAN FLOOR SPREADING
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A process in which old ocean floor is pushed away from a mid-ocean ridge by the formation of new ocean floor.
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TRANSFORM FAULT
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A fault that runs across a mid-ocean ridge.
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TRENCH
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A V-shaped valley on the ocean floor where old ocean floor is subducted; a destructive (convergent) plate boundary.
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SUBDUCTION
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A process in which crust plunges back into the interior of the Earth.
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PLATE
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One of the moving, irregularly shaped slabs that make up Earth's lithosphere.
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TECTONICS
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The branch of geology that studies the movements that shape the Earth's crust.
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PLATE TECTONICS
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The theory that links continental drift and ocean floor spreading to explain how the Earth has evolved over time.
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LITHOSPHERE
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The topmost solid part of the Earth, comprised of the crust and the uppermost mantle, broken into tectonic plates.
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DIVERGENT BOUNDARY
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A plate boundary at which plates move apart.
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CONVERGENT BOUNDARY
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A plate boundary at which plates come together.
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STRIKE-SLIP BOUNDARY
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A plate boundary at which two plates slip past each other horizontally.
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CONVECTION CURRENT
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The movement of air, water, or molten rock caused by cool, dense material sinking and warm, less dense material rising.
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