Earth's Layers
This is the thinnest, outermost layer of the Earth that we live on.
What is the crust?
The San Andreas Fault is a famous example of this type of plate boundary where two plates slide past each other.
What is a transform boundary?
The preserved remains or traces of an ancient living thing, often found in rock.
What is a fossil?
The movement of tectonic plates is caused by slow-moving convection currents in this layer of the Earth.
What is the mantle?
How do the states of matter of the inner core and outer core differ?
What is the inner core is solid, and the outer core is liquid?
What are the three types of plate boundaries?
What are convergent, divergent, and transform boundaries?
If you find a fossil of a fish on top of a tall mountain, it's evidence that the area was once covered by this.
What is an ocean? (or water)
Geologic events like earthquakes and volcanic eruptions most often happen at the edges of tectonic plates, also known as these.
What are plate boundaries?
This is the reason the Earth’s inner core is solid, even though it is the hottest layer.
What is immense pressure?
What major geological event can occur at convergent boundaries?
What are earthquakes and volcanic eruptions?
Finding a fossil of a woolly mammoth in a warm state like Georgia is evidence that the climate there used to be much...
What is colder?
Alfred Wegener's original theory of Continental Drift was not accepted by scientists because he could not explain this.
What is the force that moved the continents?
If a newly discovered material is denser than the mantle, this is what would likely happen to it if placed on the crust.
What is it would sink through the crust and mantle?
Explain how transform boundaries can cause earthquakes.
Transform boundaries slide past each other, and the friction can cause stress to build up, resulting in earthquakes.
Finding a fossil of a tropical plant in Antarctica is evidence that the continent once had this type of climate.
What is a much warmer climate?
Why is the oldest rock on the ocean floor located far away from mid-ocean ridges?
What is new rock forms at the ridge and pushes the older rock away?
A hard-boiled egg is a good analogy for Earth's layers, with these parts representing the crust, mantle, and core.
What is the shell (crust), the egg white (mantle), and the yolk (core)?
Describe how the movement of lithospheric plates affects the Earth's surface.
The movement causes changes such as mountain building, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions.
Fossils of the same freshwater reptile, Mesosaurus, were found in both South America and Africa. This discovery is strong evidence that supports this major theory about the continents.
What is Continental Drift / Plate Tectonics?
Mount Everest has fossils of ancient sea creatures at its peak. This is evidence of what two major geologic processes?
What is rock formation under an ocean and uplift from a plate collision?