DEFINITIONS+OF+THE+EARTH´S++STRUCTURE

ATMOSPHERE. Gaseous layer which surrounds the solid part of the Earth. The gases which make up the atmosphere form the air. HYDROSPHERE. The Earth´s layer formed by the planet´s waters. It includes the oceans, continental water and clouds. MOUNTAIN RANGE: Groups of large mountains located on the continents, which spread over a large area. RIDGE. __**Underwater mountain range which can be thousands of kilometres long. Ridges, have a central crack called a rift, which runs**__ __**along their entire length.**__ ||  || DISCONTINUITIES. The bordes between the layers and sublayers of the geosphere, usually named after the scientists who discovered them. LITHOSPHERIC PLATES. The large fragments into which the lithosphere is divided. __**Lithospheric plates are regions of Earth´ crust and upper mantle that are**__ __**fractured into plates that move across a deeper soft mantle.**__ ||  || GEO: Earth THERMO: Heat GEOTHERMAL is "heat of the Earth", energy which comes from the inside of our planet and which we perceive and detect as heat. ||  || constantly changing. __**MAGMA. Mass of molten minerals created inside the geosphere by geothermal energy**__.
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 * __CONTINENTAL PLATFORM. Gently sloping underwater extension of the continent which ends in a steep slope called the continental__**
 * __slope.__**
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 * DYNAMICS**. Adjective which indicates continuous change and which is applied here to the layers of the Earth, because they are
 * CONVECTION CURRENTS**. **__Cyclical movements of materials capable of flowing, which occur as the result of temperature and density__**
 * __changes in different parts of the material mass__**.
 * GRAVITY**. A force which attracts material masses to each other. On Earth, we perceive gravity as the force which attracts things towards the centre of the planet, and makes them fall downwards.
 * PRECIPITACION**. Any phenomenon which involves the fall of liquid water (rain) or ice (snow or hail) from the clouds to the Earth´s surface.
 * GROUNDWATER.** Water which enters the subsoil and accumulates in the pores and fissures of the rocks of the Earth´s crust. ||  ||
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SEDIMENTS. Loose fragments of different sizes which have broken away from rocks and transported to other places where they sink to the floor. PRESSURE. The force exercised on a body per unit of surface area. FOSSIL. Remains of living creatures that existed in the remote past and which was buried by sediment when it died. ||  ||