Tectonic Plates - Earth Science

Front 1

Continental Drift

Back 1

A hypothesis that states that continents have moved horizontally around the globe, over time, to reach their current locations.

Front 2

Pangaea

Back 2

A large land mass made up of all the continents before it broke up to what are the continents of today.

Front 3

Seafloor Spreading

Back 3

The theory that magma from the earth's mantle rises to the surface at mid-ocean ridges and cools to form new sea floor, which pushes the older floor away.

Front 4

Magnetometer

Back 4

A sensitive instrument that's used to measure magnetic data, and is used to measure the earth's magnetic field.

Front 5

Plate Tectonics

Back 5

The theory that the earth's crust and upper mantle (lithosphere) are broken into sections, called plates, and move slowly above the mantle.

Front 6

Plates

Back 6

Sections of the earth's crust that move above the upper mantle.

Front 7

Lithosphere

Back 7

The rigid, outer most layer of the earth, about 100km thick, composed of the crust and part of the mantle.

Front 8

Asthenoshpere

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The plastic-like layer below the lithosphere in the earth's mantle.

Front 9

Divergent Boundary

Back 9

A boundary between two plates that are diverging, or moving away from each other.

Front 10

Convergent Boundary

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The boundary between two plates that are converging, or moving away from each other.

Front 11

Subduction Zone

Back 11

The area where an ocean floor plate collides with a continental plate, and the denser ocean plate sinks under the continental plate.

Front 12

Convection Current

Back 12

A driving force in which hot, plasticlike material material from the mantle rises to the lithosphere, moves horizontally, cools, and sinkes back to the mantle.