Learning Objectives

This chapter has several goals and objectives:

• Compare and describe each of these Earth layers: lithosphere, oceanic crust, and continental crust.
• Describe how convection takes place in the mantle and compare the two parts of the core and describe why they are different from each other.
• Explain the concepts of the following hypothesis: continental drift hypothesis, seafloor spreading hypothesis, and the theory of plate tectonics.
• Describe the three types of tectonic plate and how the processes lead to changes in Earth’s surface features.