Geology and Plate Tectonics

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Plate tectonics

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A theory stating that the earth's surface is broken into plates that move.

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Subduction

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The process by which oceanic crust sinks beneath a deep-ocean trench and back into the mantle at a convergent plate boundary.

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Convection

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Process by which, in a fluid being heated, the warmer part of the mass will rise and the cooler portions will sink.

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Trenches

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Deepest parts of the ocean caused by the oceanic crust going under the continental crust.

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Asthenosphere

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The soft layer of the mantle on which the tectonic plates move.

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Lithosphere

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A rigid layer made up of the uppermost part of the mantle and the crust.

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Rift valley

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A deep valley that forms where two plates move apart.

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Continental Drift

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The hypothesis that states that the continents once formed a single landmass, broke up, and drifted to their present locations.

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Pangea

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A supercontinent containing all of Earth's land that existed about 225 million years ago.

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Divergent plate boundary

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Boundary between tectonic plates in which the two plates move away from each other, and new crust is created between them.