Plate Tectonics Review

1. Plate Tectonics Review

2. 1. List the layers of the Earth in order from the interior out. • Inner core • Outer core • Mantle • Crust

3. 2. Temperature and pressure both ______________ with depth. • Increase

4. 3. How do scientists study the interior of the Earth? • Seismic Waves

5. 4. What makes up the inner core and outer core? • Iron • Nickel

6. 5. What 3 types of evidence did Alfred Wegener use to support his theory of continental drift? • Evidence from Landforms • Evidence from Fossils • Evidence from Climate

7. 6. What is Pangaea? • Alfred Wegener’s supercontinent

8. 7. What is a fossil? • Any trace of an ancient organism that has been preserved in rock

9. 8. What is the mid-ocean ridge • Longest chain of mountains located on the ocean floor

10. 9. Explain the process of sea-floor spreading and where does it take place. • Process by which new material is continually added to the ocean floor and happens at the mid-ocean ridge

11. 10. The movement of the plates is caused by ________________. • Convection currents

12. 11. Explain the Theory of Plate Tectonics and Continental Drift. • Plate Tectonics – pieces of Earth’s lithosphere are in constant slow motion, driven by convection currents in the mantle. • Continental Drift – all continents were once joined together in a single landmass and has since drifted apart.

13. 12. List and describe the 3 types of plate boundaries • Transform boundary – 2 plates slip past each other causing earthquakes • Divergent boundary – 2 plates move apart • Convergent boundary – 2 plates come together

14. 14. What is the lithosphere? • Uppermost part of the mantle and the crust together form a rigid layer of rock

15. 15. What is the asthenosphere? • Layer beneath the lithosphere that is less rigid then the rock above it

16. 16. Explain how convection currents in the mantle cause the lithospheric plates to move • The warm less dense material rises and the cool more dense material sink causes movement of the plates

17. 17. Where is new ocean crust created? • At the mid-ocean ridge through sea-floor spreading

18. 18. Explain the 3 types of convergent boundaries and what each produces. • Convergent oceanic and oceanic plates – 1 plate is subducted (the more dense plate) through a trench and forms a chain of volcanic islands • Convergent oceanic and continental plates – oceanic is more dense and is subducted under the continental plate. Volcanoes on land are produced. • Convergent continental and continental plate – 2 continental plates collide, crust buckles and mountain ranges are formed.

19. 19. Earth’s magnetic field is processed by the Earth’s __________. • Core

20. 20. Why is ocean crust younger than continental crust? • It moves through the rock cycle faster than continental crust. New ocean crust is created at the mid-ocean ridge and old ocean crust is subducted at a trench.

21. 21. What happens at trenches on the ocean floor? • Oceanic crust is pushed back into the mantle and forms molten material (subducted).

22. 22. What is density? • The amount of matter in a given amount of space. • Density = mass/volume

23. 23. What type of boundaries form at the mid-ocean ridge? • Divergent boundary

24. 24. Which layer do the Earth’s plates float on? • Asthenosphere

25. 25. Explain why oceanic crust is subducted at an oceanic and continental convergent boundary • Oceanic crust is more dense than continental