Tectonic Plates

Front

What is the North American Plate?

Back

A tectonic plate division of the lithosphere that includes the continental crust of Greenland, North America, Siberia, and the surrounding oceanic crust.

Front

What are plate boundaries?

Back

The places where two different tectonic plates have contact.

Front

What was the name given to the supercontinent that existed millions of years ago?

Back

Pangea.

Front

What is the African Plate?

Back

A tectonic plate division of the lithosphere that includes the continental crust of Africa and the surrounding oceanic crust.

Front

What are tectonic plates?

Back

Huge pieces of lithosphere that slowly move on the asthenosphere and consist of the crust and the rigid, uppermost part of the mantle.

Front

What is the lithosphere?

Back

The rigid outer layer of the Earth, consisting of the crust and the uppermost part of the mantle.

Front

What is the asthenosphere?

Back

The semi-fluid layer of the mantle beneath the lithosphere that allows tectonic plates to move.

Front

What is the theory of plate tectonics?

Back

A scientific theory that explains the movement of the Earth's plates and the processes that occur at their boundaries.

Front

What are divergent boundaries?

Back

Plate boundaries where two tectonic plates move away from each other, often resulting in the formation of new crust.

Front

What are convergent boundaries?

Back

Plate boundaries where two tectonic plates move towards each other, often resulting in one plate being forced beneath another.