Continental Drift
This scientist proposed the hypothesis of continental drift.
Who is Alfred Wegener?
The solid outer layer of Earth made up of the crust and upper mantle.
What is the lithosphere?
An underwater mountain belt where magma rises to the surface.
What is a mid-ocean ridge?
A cycle of rising warm material and falling cool material due to density differences.
What is a convection current?
Plate tectonic research helps locate these types of valuable Earth materials.
What are mineral resources?
The name of the single landmass that all continents were once part of.
What is Pangaea?
The lower, molten layer of the mantle where convection currents occur.
What is the asthenosphere?
The process by which new seafloor forms at mid-ocean ridges.
What is seafloor spreading?
The force created when new rock is pushed out at a mid-ocean ridge.
What is ridge push?
Plate tectonic research helps scientists predict future occurrences of these TWO dangerous natural events.
What are earthquakes and volcanic eruptions?
The two major landmasses that Pangaea split into.
What are Laurasia and Gondwana?
Giant moving slabs that make up Earth's lithosphere.
What are tectonic plates?
Deep underwater valleys where old seafloor is destroyed.
What are deep-ocean trenches?
The force created when old material is pulled down at a trench during subduction.
What is slab pull?
The youngest rocks on the seafloor will be located here.
What is closest to the mid-ocean ridge?
These THREE types of evidence supported Wegener's continental drift hypothesis.
What are shapes of coastlines, matching rocks and fossils, and ancient climate evidence?
These are the THREE pieces of evidence support the theory of plate tectonics.
What are seafloor spreading, magnetic reversals, and locations of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions?
The process where old seafloor is destroyed at deep-ocean trenches.
What is subduction?
These are the THREE forces that work together to cause plate motion.
What are convection currents, ridge push, and slab pull?
Magnetic reversals are recorded by this element in the seafloor.
What is iron?
Coal deposits found in Antarctica and glacial deposits found in Africa are examples of this type of evidence.
What are TWO examples ancient climate evidence used by Wegener?
The force that causes tectonic plates to move in the asthenosphere.
What are convection currents?
Changes in Earth's magnetic poles that are recorded in the iron of seafloor rock.
What are magnetic reversals?
At mid-ocean ridges, this type of magma (1) rises, while at trenches, this type of magma (2) falls.
What are (1) warm magma (rises) and (2) cool magma (falls)?
Plate tectonic theory helps scientists understand these two things about Earth's history.
What are past climate and fossil locations?