Plate Tectonics Test

Question 1

Continental Drift Theory

Answer 1

the continents used to be joined, forming a supercontinent

Question 2

Continental Drift Evidence

Answer 2

continental puzzle, matching fossils, rock types and ancient climates

Question 3

Why evidence might not be supported

Answer 3

Matching fossils: most people believed in land bridges more than moving continents

Question 4

Why was Wegener’s hypothesis wasn’t liked?

Answer 4

he was the first to suggest such a thing

Question 5

Pangaea

Answer 5

our last supercontinent; it means “all land”

Question 6

mid ocean ridges

Answer 6

long chain of mountains as long as the ocean

Question 7

deep ocean trenches

Answer 7

curved valleys on the edge of ocean basins

Question 8

Harry Hess

Answer 8

published a theory of sea floor spreading

Question 9

sea floor spreading

Answer 9

when new ocean floor opens on mid ocean ridges and slowly moves outward then sinks again

Question 10

Evidence for sea floor spreading

Answer 10

magnetic strips, earthquake patterns, and ocean floor age

Question 11

ocean floor is less than 200 million year old because. . .

Answer 11

anything older would have entered the mantle and melted

Question 12

Earthquakes at depth of 700 km. . .

Answer 12

don’t happen because at that point, they enter the mantle and melt

Question 13

theory of plate tectonics

Answer 13

Earth’s lithosphere plates move slowly, driven by currents in the mantle

Question 14

3 plate boundries

Answer 14

Divergent
Convergent
Transform

Question 15

Divergent

Answer 15

the plates move away from each other

Question 16

Convergent

Answer 16

the plates collide with each other

Question 17

Transform

Answer 17

the plates slide sideways past each other

Question 18

divergent is a constructive plate margin because. . .

Answer 18

its where new oceanic lithosphere is produced

Question 19

oceanic lithosphere collides with oceanic lithosphere

Answer 19

volcanic island arc because under water volcanos form more volcanos and eventually they become islands

Question 20

oceanic lithosphere collides with continental lithosphere

Answer 20

continental volcanic arc made by the subduction of oceanic lithosphere

Question 21

continental lithosphere collides with other continental lithosphere

Answer 21

complex mountains because the land crashes and pushes against each other

Question 22

Cause of plate motions in the lithosphere

Answer 22

the weakness of the asthenosphere allows the stiff lithosphere to shift across it

Question 23

slab pull

Answer 23

gravity pulls COOL, dense OCEANIC lithosphere down into the mantle

Question 24

ridge push

Answer 24

gravity causes stiff, OCEANIC lithosphere to slide down the ASTHENOSPHERE which is elevated near mid ocean ridges

Question 25

Lithosphere

Answer 25

the rigid outer part of the earth, consisting of the crust and upper mantle

Question 26

Asthenosphere

Answer 26

the upper layer of the earth's mantle, below the lithosphere