Name ____________________________ Hr ___
PLATE TECTONICS – VOCABULARY
Write the letter of the definition next to the correct vocabulary word.
____ Seismic Waves
____ Pangaea
____ Mid-Ocean Ridge
____ Outer Core
____ Lithosphere
A. Curve along the sea floor; Iceland is a part
of one.
B. Heat transfer by the movement of
currents within a fluid.
C. Earthquakes produce these; geologists
record their travel through the Earth.
D. The place where 2 plates come together.
____ Continental Drift
E. A measure of how much mass is in the
volume of a substance.
F. Dark rock with a fine texture; makes up
the crust beneath the ocean.
G. Supercontinent
____ Divergent Boundary
H. Dense ball of solid metal.
____ Plate
I. Idea that the continents slowly moved
over Earth’s surface.
J. Uppermost part of the mantle and the
crust together form this rigid layer.
K. Place where 2 plates slip past each other,
moving in opposite directions.
____ Convection
____ Inner Core
____ Crust
Name ____________________________ Hr ___
____ Fossil
L. Where the ocean floor plunges into deep
underwater canyons.
____ Transform Boundary M. The layer of hot, solid material between
Earth’s crust and core.
____ Plate Tectonics
N. A trace of an ancient organism that has
been preserved in rock.
____ Basalt
O. The process by which molten material
adds new oceanic crust to the ocean floor.
____ Density
P. The rock type that makes up most of the
crust that forms the continents.
____ Asthenosphere
Q. A theory that states that pieces of the
Earth’s lithosphere are in constant motion.
____ Sea-Floor Spreading
R. When oceanic crust sinks beneath a deepocean trench and back into the mantle.
____ Convergent Boundary S. The layer of rock that forms Earth’s outer
surface.
____ Granite
T. A break or crack in Earth’s lithosphere
along which the rocks move.
____ Deep-Ocean Trench
U. A layer of molten iron and nickel that
surrounds the inner core of the Earth.
____ Subduction
V. A section of the lithosphere that slowly
moves over the asthenosphere.
____ Mantle
W. A plate boundary where 2 plates move
away from each other.
____ Fault
X. The soft layer of the mantle on which the
lithosphere floats.