A | B |
Pangaea | super continent that existed 200 million years ago |
Atlantic | ocean created when the super continent broke apart |
Alfred Wegener | scientist who thought that the continents were once one super continent |
Mesosaurus | reptile fossil found in South America and in Africa |
sea-floor spreading | theory that new ocean crust is formed at the mid ocean ridges by molten lava |
magnetic clues | bands of basalt that show many magnetic reversal |
lithosphere | crust and upper mantle |
mantle | the largest layer inside Earth |
crust | outer most layer of Earth |
inner core | solid core composed of dense iron and nickel |
outer core | liquid core composed of iron and nickel |
asthenosphere | plastic layer below the lithosphere |
plates | large sections of Earth's crust and upper mantle, lithosphere |
plate tectonics | theory that Earth's crust and upper mantle are broken into sections |
continental drift | theory that the continents move |
divergent boundary | boundary between two plates that are moving apart |
convergent boundary | boundary where two plates are moving toward each other |
transform fault boundary | boundary where two plates are moving past each other |
convection current | cycle of heating, rising, cooling and sinking |
subduction zone | area where a denser converging plate desends or sinks under a less dense converging plate |
San Andreas Fault | example of a transform fault boundary |
mid-ocean ridge | example of a divergent boundary in ocean crust |
Great Rift Valley in Africa | example of divergent boundary in continental crust |
Marianas trench | deepest spot in any ocean, an example of converging oceanic plates |
Himalaya Mountains | example of boundary where continental crust collided |