A

Absolute plate motion: The motion of a plate with respect to hot spots,
which appear to be at relatively fixed locations with respect to the Earth's
mantle.
Azimuth: A description of direction at a point on the Earth's surface with
respect to north, measured in degrees, minutes, and seconds.

B
Bathymetric map: A map showing sea-floor depths.

C
Caldera: A large, circular depression in a volcanic area formed by eruption or
collapse.
Cinder cone: A steep, cone-shaped hill formed around a volcanic vent by the
eruption of rock fragments.
Continent-continent collision: A tectonic collision between two large land
masses.
Convergent plate boundary: A zone where two tectonic plates are colliding
as they move towards each other.

D
Divergent plate boundary: A zone where two tectonic plates are pulling

apart as they move away from each other.

E
Earthquake: A sudden movement in the crust of the Earth caused by the
rapid release of tectonic strain.
Epicenter: The point on the Earth's surface directly above the focus or
hypocenter of an earthquake.

F
Fault: A fracture in the Earth's crust along which relative movement has
taken place. Faults are classified into three types based on the sense of fault
movement into normal, reverse, or strike-slip faults.
Frames of Reference: A system of locations used to describe the position or
movement of an object relative to these locations.

G
Geoid: An equipotential surface, defined by a surface of equal gravitational
force, that approximates where sea level would be in the absence of land.
Global plate motion model: A systematic description of tectonic plate
movement for the entire planet.
Global Positioning System (GPS): A navigation system, based on a
network of satellites, used to measure exact positions on the Earth.

H
Hot spot volcano: A volcano formed by a rising plume of magma that is not
located at a plate boundary. A hot spot is considered to be relatively fixed
with respect to the Earth's deep mantle.

I
Intraplate earthquake: An earthquake that occurs within a plate, as opposed
to those occurring at a plate boundary.
Intraplate volcano: A volcano located within a plate, as opposed to one
located at a plate boundary.

L
Latitude: A measurement of position in the north-south direction relative to
the Earth's equator. The equator has a latitude of 0 degrees. The north pole
has a latitude of 90 degrees north and the south pole has a latitude of 90
degrees south.
Lava: Magma or molten rock that has reached the Earth's surface.
Lithosphere: The outer, rigid layer of the Earth, located above the
asthenosphere. It includes the crust and the uppermost mantle.
Longitude: A measurement of position in the east-west direction relative to
the prime meridian, which runs through Greenwich, England.

Magma: Molten rock that cools to form igneous rocks.

Mantle: The layer of the Earth between the crust and the core, form a depth
of about 40 to 2900 kilometers, composed of dense silicate rock.
Mid-ocean ridge: A submarine mountain chain located along the divergent
plate boundaries in the ocean. New oceanic crust forms as magma cools and
solidifies at the ridge.
Mohorovicic discontinuity: The boundary between the crust and mantle.

N
No-Net-Rotation: A reference frame describing the "average" velocity for the
movement of the global system of tectonic plates.
Normal fault: A fault along which the hanging wall appears to move down
relative to the footwall, caused by extensional stresses.
"NUVEL-1A" plate model: A commonly used model for predicting relative
motion for any point on the Earth's surface, developed by Charles DeMets
and colleagues at Northwestern University.

P
Physiography: The shape of the land surface.
Plate: A piece of the Earth's lithosphere which is internally rigid and moves
independently over the asthenosphere.
Plate boundary: The edge between adjacent plates, classified by the relative
motion taking place: convergent, divergent, or transform.
Plate tectonics: The unifying theory of geology, which hypothesizes that the
Earth is broken into a mosaic of rigid lithospheric plates which move across
the Earth's surface. The theory has helped to explain much in global-scale
geology, including the formation of mountains and the distribution of

earthquakes and volcanoes.

P-wave: The primary, or fastest traveling wave moving away from a seismic
event, characterized by compressional vibration.

R
Reference frame: A system of locations used to describe the position or
movement of an object relative to these locations.
'Relative' plate motion: The relative movement that takes place along an
individual plate boundary. Controls the amount and type of earthquake
activity, the presence and style of volcanism, and the geologic processes
that take place along the plate boundary and in neighboring areas of the
adjacent plates.
Reverse fault: A fault along which the hanging wall appears to move up
relative to the footwall, caused by compressional stresses.

S
Sea-floor spreading: The concept that new oceanic crust is created at the
mid-ocean ridge as a result of divergence between plates.
Satellite geodesy: High-precision measurements of the size and shape of
the Earth, and surveying of precise locations on the Earth's surface, using
satellite systems such as GPS.
Satellite image: A picture of the Earth's surface taken from a satellite.
Seismic activity: The distribution of earthquakes about the Earth's surface.
Seismology: The study of earthquakes, seismic waves, and their
propagation through the Earth.
Shield volcano: A large, broad volcanic cone with gentle slopes.

Strike-slip fault: A fault along which movement takes place parallel to the
trace, or strike, of the fault.
Subduction zone: A convergent plate boundary where a dense oceanic plate
plunges into Earth's interior.
S-wave: The secondary wave, traveling slower than the P- wave, and
consisting of a seismic vibration transverse to the direction of travel.

T
Topography: The pattern of elevation of the land surface.
Transform plate boundary: An edge between two plates with motion parallel
to the boundary.

V
Vector addition and subtraction: A calculation based on combining
measurements of magnitude and direction of individual vectors.
Vector: A physical quantity characterized by measurement of both magnitude
and direction.
Volcanic ash: A volcanic sediment less than 4 mm in diameter, which is
usually made of glass.
Volcanic crater: A well-defined circular depression formed by the explosive
eruption of volcanic rock.
Volcano: A vent in the crust where magmas, gas, and ash erupt, and the
structure formed by the eruption.