STEMscopedia: Plate Tectonics & Vocab

The thin, solid, outermost layer of Earth; is either continental (landmasses) or oceanic (ocean floors)

• mantle

• crust

• Pangea

• earthquake

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS2-1

The theory that continents were once connected but have drifted apart

• plate tectonics

• Pangea

• continental drift

• pyroclastic flows

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS2-3

NGSS.MS-ESS2-2

The mineralized remains of organisms, showing how long-dead organisms lived and how their bodies were structured

• fossils

• Pangea

• lava

• magma

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS4-1

NGSS.MS-LS4-2

Fossils that are widespread, come from organisms that lived over a relatively short period of time, and can be used to correlate (match up) rock strata

• fossils

• mantle

• index fossils

• lithosphere

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS2-3

NGSS.MS-ESS1-4

The solid layer of Earth between the crust and the core; made of dense silicates. (Convection currents happen here.)

• mantle

• crust

• magma

• Pangea

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS2-1

The theory that the crust is divided into large pieces called tectonic plates that slowly move on top of the mantle

• seafloor spreading

• continental drift

• tectonic plate

• plate tectonics

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS2-3

Huge piece of crust that slowly moves on the upper, ductile (able to be molded, like plastic) part of the mantle

• pangea

• continental drift

• tectonic plate

• plate tectonics

The upper layer of the Earth, consisting of the crust and upper mantle.

• mantle

• crust

• core

• lithosphere

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS2-1

Molten rock below the surface of the Earth

• magma

• mantle

• lava

• crust

A shaking of the Earth’s surface due to a release of energy within the crust that generates seismic waves

• pyroclastic flows

• lithosphere

• seafloor spreading

• earthquake

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS3-2