ES30: 1 - Earth Formation and Plate VOCAB

A supercontinent that assembled at the end of the Paleozoic Era

• Pangaea

• Nebulae

• The Moho

• Magnitude

The gradual widening of an ocean basin as new oceanic crust forms at a mid-ocean ridge axis and then moves away from the axis.

• Slab pull force

• Sea-Floor Spreading

• Divergent Boundary

• Transform Boundary

A cloud of gas or dust in space

• Stellar nucleosynthesis

• Nebular Theory

• Nebulae

• Protoplanet

The seismic-velocity discontinuity that defines the boundary between the Earth’s crust and mantle

• Pangaea

• Subduction

• Asthenosphere

• The Moho

the point on the surface of the Earth directly above the focus of an earthquake

• Seismogram

• Magnitude

• Epicenter

• Core

The layer of the mantle that is relatively soft and can flow when acted on by force

• Asthenosphere

• Lithosphere

• Core

• Crust

The number that represents the max. amplitude of ground motion from the epicenter

• Differentiation

• Seismograph

• Magnitude

• The Moho

A process early in a planet’s history during which dense iron alloy melted and sank downward to form the core, leaving less-dense mantle behind

• Planetesimal

• Protoplanet

• Nebular Theory

• Differentiation

The concept that planets grow out of rings of gas, dust, and ice surrounding a newborn star

• Nebular Theory

• Stellar nucleosynthesis

• Planetesimal

• Protoplanet

The record of ancient magnetism preserved in rock

• Seismograph

• Magnitude

• Paleomagnestism

• Subduction