Cenozoic Era - Plate Tectonics

Question 1

The ongoing fragmentation of _________, the supercontinent that existed at the end of the Paleozoic, accounts for the present distribution of Earth’s landmasses

Answer 1

Pangaea

Question 2

What are the two cenozoic orogenic belts?

Answer 2

Alpine-Himalayan Orogenic Belt and Cicum-Pacific Orogenic Belt

Question 3

The Alpine-Himalayan orogenic belt extended to which regions?

Answer 3

Spain, Mediterranean, Middle East, India, and Southeast Asia

Question 4

During the Mesozoic time the _________ Sea separated much of Gondwana from Eurasia.

Answer 4

Tethys

Question 5

The closure of the Tethys Sea took place in the _________ as the African and Indian plates collided with the huge landmass up north.

Answer 5

Cenozoic

Question 6

During the ____________ orogeny, deformation occurred in a linear zone in southern Europe extending from Spain eastward through Greece and Turkey.

Answer 6

Alpine

Question 7

Concurrent deformation also occurred along ________ northwest margin

Answer 7

Africa’s

Question 8

Events leading to Alpine deformation began during the __________, yet Eocene to Late Miocene deformation was also important.

Answer 8

Mesozoic

Question 9

Northward movements of the __________ ______ ___________ plates against __________ caused compression and deformation, but the overall picture is complicated by the collision of several smaller plates with Europe.

Answer 9

African and Arabian Plates, Eurasia

Question 10

Due to the compression of the African and Arabian Plates against the Eurasian Plate, several smaller plates with Europe were also involved, and they can now be found within the mountains of _________ orogeny.

Answer 10

Alpine

Question 11

During the _________ ____________, India broke away from Gondwana and began moving north, and oceanic lithosphere was consumed at a subduction zone along the southern margin of Asia.

Answer 11

Early Cretaceous

Question 12

During the early cretaceous, the descending plate partially melted, forming magma that rose to form
a volcanic chain and large granitic plutons in what is now __________.

Answer 12

Tibet

Question 13

The Indian plate eventually approached these volcanoes and destroyed them as it collided with Asia. As a result, two continental plates were sutured along a zone now recognized as the ___________ ___________.

Answer 13

Himalayan Orogeny

Question 14

Sometime between 40 and 50 million years ago, India’s drift rate decreased abruptly from 15 to 20 cm/ year to about _______ cm/year .

Answer 14

5

Question 15

As a result of India’s low density and resistance to subduction, it was underthrust about 2000 km beneath Asia, causing crustal thickening and uplift , a process that continues at about _____ cm/year.

Answer 15

5

Question 16

Furthermore, sedimentary rocks formed in the sea south of Asia were
thrust northward into _________.

Answer 16

Tibet

Question 17

two huge thrust faults carried Paleozoic and Mesozoic rocks of Asian origin onto the _________ plate.

Answer 17

Indian

Question 18

In the Himalayan orogeny there is no __________ because the Indian plate
does not penetrate deeply enough to generate magma, but seismic
activity continues.

Answer 18

Volcanism

Question 19

the entire Himalayan region including the
Tibetan plateau and well into China is __________ active.

Answer 19

Seismically

Question 20

The May 12, 2008 Sichuan earthquake in China in which about 70,000 people perished was a result of this collision between ________ and _________.

Answer 20

India and Asia

Question 21

The ________-_________ __________ ________ consists of orogens along the western margins of South, Central,
and North America as well as the eastern margin of Asia and the islands north of Australia and New
Zealand.

Answer 21

circum-Pacific orogenic belt