Plate Tectonics

Front

What is a transform boundary?

Back

A place where two tectonic plates slip past each other, moving in opposite directions.

Front

What is Pangaea?

Back

The name of the supercontinent that existed millions of years ago.

Front

What process adds new crust to the ocean floor?

Back

Seafloor spreading.

Front

What does Wegener’s hypothesis of continental drift state?

Back

The continents were once joined together in a single landmass.

Front

What is sediment?

Back

Solid material that is moved and deposited in a new location.

Front

What is a convergent boundary?

Back

A place where two tectonic plates move towards each other, often causing one plate to be forced below the other.

Front

What is a divergent boundary?

Back

A place where two tectonic plates move away from each other, creating new crust as magma rises to the surface.

Front

What is the lithosphere?

Back

The rigid outer layer of the Earth, consisting of the crust and upper 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 subduction?

Back

The process by which one tectonic plate is forced under another plate.