Plate Tectonics Vocab
Name: __________________________ Hour: _____
A boundary where
tectonic plates smash
into one another,
creating mountains,
volcanoes, islands, and
trenches.
A boundary where
tectonic plates move
apart from one another,
creating rift valleys or a
mid-ocean ridge.
A boundary where
tectonic plates move
sideways past one
another, creating
earthquakes. Also
known as strike-slip.
Chunks of the
lithosphere that are in
motion, moving on
average as fast as your
fingernails grow.
Scientific theory that
states that chunks of the
lithosphere are in
motion, caused by
convection currents in
the mantle.
A rigid layer of the Earth
consisting of the top
portion of the mantle
and the bottom portion
of the crust.
The layer of the Earth
just below the crust that
is made of molten
material and known for
its convection currents.
The solid, rocky layer of
the Earth just above the
mantle but underneath
the oceans. It is
typically only a few
miles thick.
The solid, rocky layer of
the Earth just above the
mantle and forming the
land that makes up the
continents. It is typically
about 25 miles thick.
Cycles of magma in the
mantle, which include
the hottest magma
rising due to a lower
density, and the slightly
cooler magma sinking
due to a higher density.
The scientist who
originally proposed the
hypothesis of
continental drift based
on fossil, climate, and
land feature evidence…
but he was not able to
prove it.
These landforms may be
the result of a
convergent plate
boundary.
These landforms may be
the result of a divergent
plate boundary.
These may be the result
of a transform (strikeslip) plate boundary.
The process by which
the ocean floor sinks
beneath a trench and
recycles the rock back
into the mantle by
melting into magma.
The process by which
the oceanic crust
spreads apart along
both sides of a midocean ridge. As new
crust is added, it pushes
the old crust away.
The hypothesis that the
continents were slowly
pushed apart from a
single land mass to their
current locations today.
The one huge
supercontinent
~300mya that slowly
broke apart as land
masses moved to their
current positions today.
A type of volcano that
forms in the middle of a
tectonic plate, where a
huge plume of magma
pushes through the
crust to form an arc of
volcanoes, such as
Hawaii.
The southernmost
section of Pangaea as it
began to break apart.
Plate Tectonics Vocab
Vocab Terms (In order above!):
Convergent
Divergent
Transform
Tectonic Plates
Plate Tectonics
Lithosphere
Mantle
Oceanic Crust
Continental Crust
Convection Currents
Alfred Wegener
Volcano, Mountain, Island, Trench
Earthquakes
Mid-Ocean Ridge, Rift Valley
Subduction
Sea Floor Spreading
Continental Drift
Pangaea
Hot Spot
Gondwanaland
Name: __________________________ Hour: _____