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Definition
| The layer od Earth made up of the crust and the rigid rock of the upper mantle, averaging about 40 kilometers thick and broken into tectonic plates. |
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Definition
| The layer of Earths upper mantle and directly under the lithosphere in which rock is soft and weak because its close to melting. |
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Definition
| A long line of sea-floor mountains where new ocean crust is formed by volcanic activity along divergent boundary |
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Term
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Definition
| One of the large, moving pieces into which Earths lithosphere is broken and which commonly carries both both oceanic and continental crust. |
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Continental Drift
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Definition
| The hypothesis that Earth's continents move on Earth's surface. |
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Term
Theory of plate tectonics
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Definition
| A theory stating that Earth's lithosphere is broken into huge plates that move and change in size over time. |
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Term
Divergent Boundary
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Definition
| A boundary along which two tectonic plates move apart, characterized by either a mid-ocean ridge or a continental rift valley. |
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Convergent Boundary
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Definition
| A boundary which two tectonic plates push together, characterized either by subduction or continental collision. |
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Transform Boundary
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Definition
| A boundary along which two tectonic plates scrape past each other, and crust is neither formed nor destroyed. |
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Definition
| A deep valley formed as tectonic plates move apart, such as along mid-ocean ridge. |
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Definition
| An area where a column of hot material rises from deep within a planet's mantle and heats the lithosphere above it, often causing volcanic activity at the surface. |
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Definition
| The process by which an oceanic tectonic plate sinks under another plate into Earth's mantle. |
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Term
Convection Current
[image] |
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Definition
| A circulation pattern in which materials is heated and rises in one area, then cools and sinks in another area, flowing in a continuous loop. |
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Term
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Definition
| The mechanical process of wearing or grinding something down. |
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