Earth Science Vocabulary

A rock that forms from other rocks as a result of intense heat, pressure, or chemical processes

• Granite

• Sedimentary Rock

• Igneous Rock

• Metamorphic Rock

• Continental Drift

A block of lithosphere that consists of the crust and the rigid, outermost part of the mantle

• Weathering

• Sedimentary Rock

• Tectonic Plate

• Erosion

• Subduction

The solid, outer layer of Earth that consists of the crust and the rigid upper part of the mantle

• Lithosphere

• Asthenosphere

• Mineral

• Erosion

• Continental Drift

The movement of matter due to differences in density that are caused by temperature variations.

• Continental Drift

• Mantle

• Convection

• Plate Boundary

• Rock Cycle

A geologic process in which one edge of one crustal plate is forced below the edge of another.

• Convection

• Geological Time

• Continental Drift

• Subduction

• Erosion

The upper layer of the mantle made of partially molten rock and where the convection currents occur that cause the tectonic plates to move

• Lithosphere

• Asthenosphere

• Erosion

• Plate Boundary

• Rock Cycle

A location where two tectonic plates interact and they can be divergent, convergent or transform.

• Plate Boundary

• Lithosphere

• Geological Time

• Erosion

• Continental Drift

The hypothesis that a single large landmass broke up into smaller land masses to form the continents

• Geological Time

• Erosion

• Subduction

• Continental Drift

• Plate Boundary

A naturally formed, inorganic solid with a crystalline structure

• Rock Cycle

• Metamorphic

• Igneous Rock

• Sedimentary Rock

• Mineral

The series of processes in which rock forms, changes from one type to another, is destroyed, and forms again by geologic processes

• Geological Time

• Erosion

• Rock Cycle

• Convection

• Weathering