asthenosphere | A region of Earth’s outer shell beneath the lithosphere. The asthenosphere is of indeterminate thickness and behaves plastically.
(See page(s) 84)
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continental drift | A concept suggesting that continents move over Earth’s surface.
(See page(s) 77)
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convection (convection current) | A very slow circulation of a substance driven by differences in temperature and density within that substance.
(See page(s) 82)
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convergent plate boundary | A boundary between two plates that are moving toward each other.
(See page(s) 85)
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divergent plate boundary | Boundary separating two plates moving away from each other.
(See page(s) 85)
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island arc | A curved line of islands.
(See page(s) 94)
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lithosphere | The rigid outer shell of Earth, 70 to 125 or more kilometers thick.
(See page(s) 84)
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magmatic arc | A line of batholiths or volcanoes. Generally the line, as seen from above, is curved.
(See page(s) 85)
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mantle plume | Narrow column of hot mantle rock that rises and spreads radially outward.
(See page(s) 102)
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plate | A large, mobile slab of rock making up part of Earth’s surface.
(See page(s) 84)
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plate tectonics | A theory that Earth’s surface is divided into a few large, thick plates that are slowly moving and changing in size. Intense geologic activity occurs at the plate boundaries.
(See page(s) 76)
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polar wandering | An apparent movement of the earth’s poles.
(See page(s) 79)
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sea-floor spreading | The concept that the ocean floor is moving away from the mid?oceanic ridge and across the deep ocean basin, to disappear beneath continents and island arcs.
(See page(s) 77)
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subduction | The sliding of the sea floor beneath a continent or island arc.
(See page(s) 82)
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transform fault | The portion of a fracture zone between two offset segments of a mid-oceanic ridge crest.
(See page(s) 88)
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transform plate boundary | Boundary between two plates that are sliding past each other.
(See page(s) 85)
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