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| dense, intensely hot mass of molten metal, mostly iron and nickel, thousands of kilometers in diameter at the earth's center |
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| a hot, pliable layer of rock that surrounds the earth's core and underlies the cool, outer crust |
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| the cool, lightweight, outermost layer of the earth's surface that floats on the soft, pliable underlying layers: similar to the "skin" on a bowl of warm pudding |
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| huge blocks of the earth's crust that slide around slowly, pulling apart to open new ocean basins or crashing ponderously into each other to create new, larger landmasses |
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| molten rock from deep in the earth's interior; called lava when it spews from volcanic vents |
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| mountain ranges on the ocean floor created where molten magma is forced up through cracks in the planet's crust |
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| the process by which one techtonic plate is pushed down below another as plates crash into each other |
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| a naturally occurring, inorganic, crystalline solid with definite chemical composition and characteristic physical properties |
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| a solid, cohesive, aggregate of one or more crystalline minerals |
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| the process whereby rocks are broken down by chemical and physical forces; sediments are moved by wind, water, and gravity, sedimented and reformed into rock, and then crushed, folded, melted, and recrystallized into new forms |
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| crystalline minerals solidified from molten magma deep in the earth's interior; basalt, rhyolite, andesite, lava, and granite are examples |
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| igneous and sedimentary rocks modified by heat, pressure, and chemical reactions |
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| changes in rocks brought about by exposure to air, water, changing temperatures, and reactive chemical agents |
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| the deposition of organic materials or minerals by chemical, physical, or biological processes |
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| deposited material that remains in place long enough or is covered with enough material to compact into stone; examples include shale, sandstone, breccia, and conglomerates |
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| heating ores to extract metals |
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| sudden, violent movement of the earth's crust |
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| vents in the earth's surface through which gases, ash, or moldten lava are ejected. also a mountain formed by this ejecta |
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| mass movement of geological materials downhill caused by rockslides, avalanches, or simple slumping |
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