Crust-In geology, the crust is the outermost solid shell of a rocky planet.
Mantle-A mantle is a layer inside a planetary body bounded below by a core and above by a crust.
Core-is the innermost part of the earth, comprised of the inner core, at the center of the earth, made of iron; and b) the outer core, which surrounds the inner core, made of iron and magma.
Lithosphere-rigid, rocky outer layer of the Earth, consisting of the crust and the solid outermost layer of the upper mantle.
Athenosphere-the upper layer of the earth's mantle, below the lithosphere, in which there is relatively low resistance to plastic flow and convection is thought to occur.
Mesosphere-the region of the earth's atmosphere above the stratosphere and below the thermosphere, between about 30 and 50 miles (50 and 80 km) in altitude.
Sea floor spreading-the formation of new areas of oceanic crust, which occurs through the upwelling of magma at midocean ridges and its subsequent outward movement on either side.
Plate Tectonics- a theory explaining the structure of the earth's crust and many associated phenomena as resulting from the interaction of rigid lithospheric plates which move slowly over the underlying mantle.
Tectonic plates- A tectonic plate (also called lithospheric plate) is a massive, irregularly shaped slab of solid rock, generally composed of both continental and oceanic lithosphere. ... By contrast, oceanic crust is composed of basaltic rocks, which are much denser and heavier.
Convergent boundary- A convergent boundary is an area on Earth where two or more lithospheric plates collide. One plate eventually slides beneath the other causing a process known as subduction.
Divergent boundary- In plate tectonics, a divergent boundary or divergent plate boundary is a linear feature that exists between two tectonic plates that are moving away from each other.
Transform boundary- A transform fault or transform boundary is a fault along a plate boundary where the motion is predominantly horizontal.
Radioactive decay- a radioactive process in which a nucleus undergoes spontaneous transformation into one or more different nuclei and simultaneously emits radiation, loses electrons, or undergoes fission.
Subduction zone- Subduction is a geological process that takes place at convergent boundaries of tectonic plates where one plate moves under another and is forced to sink due to high gravitational potential energy into the mantle.
Continental drift- Continental drift is the hypothesis that the Earth's continents have moved over geologic time relative to each other, thus appearing to have "drifted" across the ocean bed.
Deformation- the action or process of changing in shape or distorting, especially through the application of pressure.
Folding- A fold is a bend in the rock strata. Folding: Is a type of earth movement resulting from the horizontal compression of rock layers by internal forces of the earth along plate boundaries.
Fault- A fault is a fracture or zone of fractures between two blocks of rock. Faults allow the blocks to move relative to each other. ... Earth scientists use the angle of the fault with respect to the surface (known as the dip) and the direction of slip along the fault to classify faults.
Shear stress- Shear stress is the stress component parallel to a given surface, such as a fault plane, that results from forces applied parallel to the surface or from remote forces transmitted through the surrounding rock.
Tension- in physics, tension is described as the pulling force transmitted axially by the means of a string, a cable, chain, or similar one-dimensional continuous object, or by each end of a rod, truss member
Compression- Compression, decrease in volume of any object or substance resulting from applied stress. Compression may be undergone by solids, liquids, and gases and by living systems.
Syncline- a trough or fold of stratified rock in which the strata slope upward from the axis.
Anticlines- an arch of stratified rock in which the layers bend downward in opposite directions from the crest.
Law of Universal Gravitation- Newton's law of universal gravitation is usually stated as that every particle attracts every other particle in the universe with a force that is directly proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between their centers.
Law of superposition- Law of superposition, a major principle of stratigraphy stating that within a sequence of layers of sedimentary rock, the oldest layer is at the base and that the layers are progressively younger with ascending order in the sequence.
law of conservation of mass- The law of conservation of mass or principle of mass conservation states that for any system closed to all transfers of matter and energy, the mass of the system must remain constant over time, as the system's mass cannot change, so quantity can neither be added nor be removed.
