"There are approximately 1,010,300 words in the English Language, but I could never string enough words together to properly express how much I want to hit you with a chair"-Alexander Hamilton to Thomas Jefferson. ch. 5 words

fault

A break in the earth's crust

basalt

A dark, dense, igneous rock with a fine texture, found in oceanic crust

rift valley

A deep valley that forms where two plates move apart

inner core

A dense sphere of solid iron and nickel at the center of Earth

outer core

A layer of molten iron and nickel that surrounds the inner core of Earth

divergent boundary

A plate boundary where two plates move away from each other.

transform boundary

A plate boundary where two plates move past each other in opposite directions

convergent boundary

A plate boundary where two plates move toward each other.

lithosphere

A rigid layer made up of the uppermost part of the mantle and the crust.

plate

A section of the lithosphere that slowly moves over the asthenosphere, carrying pieces of continental and oceanic crust.

Pangea

A supercontinent containing all of Earth's land that existed about 225 million years ago.

plate tectonics

A theory stating that the earth's surface is broken into plates that move.

fossil

A trace of an ancient organism that has been preserved in rock.

granite

A usually light colored igneous rock that is found in continental crust

mid-ocean ridge

An undersea mountain chain where new ocean floor is produced; a divergent plate boundary.

radiation

Energy that is radiated or transmitted in the form of rays or waves or particles.

density

Mass per unit volume

convection

Process by which, in a fluid being heated, the warmer part of the mass will rise and the cooler portions will sink.

conduction

The direct transfer of heat from one substance to another substance that it is touching.

continental drift

The hypothesis that states that the continents once formed a single landmass, broke up, and drifted to their present locations

mantle

The layer of hot, solid material between Earth's crust and core.

sea-floor spreading

The process by which molten material adds new oceanic crust to the ocean floor

Subduction

The process by which oceanic crust sinks beneath a deep-ocean trench and back into the mantle at a convergent plate boundary.

asthenosphere

The soft layer of the mantle on which the lithosphere floats.

crust

The thin and solid outermost layer of the Earth above the mantle

convection current

a current caused by the rising of heated fluid and sinking of cooled fluid

deep-ocean trench

a deep valley along the ocean floor beneath which oceanic crust slowly sinks toward the mantle

Sonar (Sound Navigation and Ranging)

a system that uses reflected sound waves to detect and locate objects underwater

scientific theory

a well-tested concept that explains a wide range of observations

pressure

the amount of force exerted per unit area of a surface

seismic waves

vibrations that travel through Earth carrying the energy released during an earthquake