Continental Drift
Who was the scientist who first proposed continental drift?
Wegener
List the three types of plate boundaries.
convergent, divergent, transform
What is the layer we live on?
Crust
Where do volcanoes form?
At boundaries between plates
What era are we currently living in?
The Cenozoic era
What is seafloor spreading?
Magma is rising at the mid-ocean ridge and pushing old crust away as new crust is formed.
Describe the movement at each boundary.
Divergent- moves away
Convergent- moves toward each other
transform- slides past
What is the innermost layer?
the core
What type of waves to earthquakes produce?
seismic waves
What is the law of superposition?
A type of relative dating that states that in undisturbed rock layers, the oldest rocks will be on the bottom and newer rocks will be on top
What are the chunks of lithosphere called?
tectonic plates
List a landform formed by divergent boundaries.
mid-ocean ridges, rift valleys
What is the core made of?
iron and nickel
What are the three main types of volcanoes?
Shield, Composite, Cinder-cone
How do we figure out the absolute age of rocks?
Radioactive decay of carbon and uranium
What was the name of the super continent?
Pangaea
What landform might occur at a convergent boundary?
Mountains
What is the biggest layer?
mantle
What is a focus?
The place underground where the earthquake begins
What is the principle of cross-cutting?
If a rock cuts across other rock layers, the cross-cutting rock is the youngest
Give three pieces of evidence Wegener used to prove seafloor spreading.
Answers will vary
What might happen at a transform boundary?
earthquakes
Name all 5 layers of the earth (physical properties) in order from inside to outside.
inner core, outer core, mesosphere, asthenosphere, lithosphere
What is the Ring of Fire?
A spot in the Pacific Ocean that has great volcanic activity due to great amounts of plate movement
How do we know what the inside of our earth looks like/is made of?
Seismic waves, magma pushed to the surface