Name __________________________________________ Date _________________ Period __________
Plate Tectonics Vocabulary
Term
Lithospheric Plates
Plate Tectonics
Definition
A number of rigid, but
moving, pieces of the
Earth’s surface.
The theory of the
formation and
movement of the
plates that cover the
Earth’s surface.
Lithosphere
The outer shell of Earth
that extends to a depth
of 100km.
Asthenosphere
The partially melted
layer of the mantle that
underlies the
lithosphere.
Continental Drift
Seafloor Spreading
Boundary Type
The theory that all
continents are
fragments of Pangaea
now drifting apart.
States that youngest
rocks of ocean floor are
at diverging
boundaries, moving
outward.
Divergent
Illustration
Name __________________________________________ Date _________________ Period __________
Diverging Boundaries
Transform Boundaries
Converging Boundaries
Trench
Rift Zone
Oceanic Ridges
Underwater Mountain
Ranges
Forms when two
(Crustal) Lithospheric
plates move apart.
Forms when two
(Crustal) Lithospheric
plates slide past each
other.
Forms when two
(Cristal) Lithospheric
plates come together.
A deep depression of
the sea floor caused by
the subduction of one
plate under another.
Convergent
A large valley shaped
area of the earth in
which plates of the
Earth’s crust are
moving away from
each other, forming a
system of cracks and
faults.
Divergent
Underwater mountain
ranges where the crust
is spreading apart
creating new ocean
floor.
Divergent
Long, continuous
volcanic chain of
various mountains.
Divergent
Name __________________________________________ Date _________________ Period __________
Mountain Ranges on
Land
Ring of Fire
Fault
A series or chain of
mountains that are
close together and rise
300m (1000ft) above
its surrounding area.
Convergent
An area where
volcanoes are
concentrated on the
edges of continents,
along island chains or
beneath the sea
forming long mountain
ranges. More than half
of the world’s active
volcanoes above sea
level encircle the
Pacific Ocean.
Convergent
A break or crack in the
Earth’s Lithosphere
along which rocks
move, sliding past each
other in opposite
directions causing
earthquakes.
Transform