Plate Tectonics Terminology

The upper layer of the earth's mantle, below the lithosphere, in which there is relatively low resistance to plastic flow and convection is thought to occur.

• Pangaea

• Asthenosphere

• Convection

• Drift

The relatively thick part of the earth's crust that forms the large landmasses. It is generally older and more complex than the oceanic crust.

• Continental crust

• Atmosphere

• mantel

• Asthenosphere

The gradual movement of the continents across the earth's surface through geological time.

• Divergent boundary

• Convection

• Continental drift

• Pangaea

The movement caused within a fluid by the tendency of hotter and therefore less dense material to rise, and colder, denser material to sink under the influence of gravity, which consequently results in transfer of heat.

• Asthenosphere

• Island arc

• Lithosphere

• Convection

A current in a fluid that results from convection.

• Convection current

• Continental drift

• Divergent boundary

A fault-bounded area or region with a distinctive stratigraphy, structure, and geological history.

• Rift valley

• Plate tectonics

• Terrane

• Mid-ocean ridge

(also known as a destructive boundary) is an area on Earth where two or more lithospheric plates collide. One plate eventually slides beneath the other causing a process known as subduction. The subduction zone can be defined by a plane where many earthquakes occur, called the Wadati–Benioff zone.

• Convergent Boundary

• Lithosphere

• valcano

• ocean ridge

A curved chain of volcanic islands located at a tectonic plate margin, typically with a deep ocean trench on the convex side.

• mid ocean ridge

• Atlantic fault line

• Island arc

The rigid outer part of the earth, consisting of the crust and upper mantle.

• Island arc

• Lithosphere

• Continental drift

• Mid-Atlantic ridge

a supercontinent that existed during the late Paleozoic and early Mesozoic eras. It assembled from earlier continental units approximately 335 million years ago, and it began to break apart about 175 million years ago.

• Ocean trench

• Pangaea

• Plate tectonics

• Rift valley