Plate Tectonics Vocabulary

The soft layer of the mantle on which tectonic plates move

• core

• mesophere

• asthenosphere

• mantle

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS2-3

The Earth's outer layer or shell

• asthenosphere

• core

• Theory of Continental Drift

• crust

The layer of rock that surrounds the core

• crust

• mantle

• lithosphere

• divergent boundary

Movement of a fluid caused by differences in temperature that transfers heat from one part of the fluid to another

• convection currents

• mesophere

• asthenosphere

• lithosphere

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS2-6

The central region of Earth made mostly of iron and nickel

• lithosphere

• mantle

• core

• mesophere

The outer zone of Earth made of the crust and upper mantle

• mesosphere

• lithosphere

• asthenosphere

• plate tectonics

The layer of Earth that contains the mantle

• asthenosphere

• mesosphere

• lithosphere

• mantle

The hypothesis that the continents slowly move across the Earth's surface

• plate tectonics

• convection currents

• Theory of Continental Drift

• convergent boundary

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS2-3

Who developed the Theory of Continental Drift?

• Christopher Columbus

• Ronald McDonald

• Alfred Wegner

• Alfred Smith

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS2-3

The theory that pieces of Earth's lithosphere are in constant motion, driven by convection currents

• plate tectonics

• core

• convergent boundary

• divergent boundary

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS2-3