Plate Boundaries
Name the 3 plate boundaries and the direction of their movements
Convergent- towards each other
Divergent- Away from each other
Transform- Sliding
What is the theory of continental drift?
Earth's continents were once part of a single supercontinent called Pangaea, which fragmented and drifted to their current positions over millions of years.
What are the four layers of Earth
Inner core, outer core, mantle, crust
What are the names of the large sections of Earth's lithosphere float on the semi-fluid asthenosphere beneath them
Tectonic Plates
What two continents look like they fit together the best?
South America and Africa
A plate subducts under the less dense plate. What boundary does this occur at?
Convergent
This German scientist first proposed the idea of Pangaea as part of his theory of continental drift.
Alfred Wegener
What are the two types of crust? Which one is more dense?
Oceanic and continental
What part of Earth do convection currents occur in?
The mantle
What is the name of the rock on the seafloor that emerges from mid-ocean ridges?
Basalt
The Atlantic Ocean formed as Pangaea split apart, primarily along this type of plate boundary.
Divergent
What is seafloor spreading?
What is the name of the layer of the Earth that contains the semi-plastic layer?
Asthenosphere
What is the source of heat for convection in the mantle?
The core
The volcanoes that make up the Hawaiian islands are located thousands of miles from a plate boundary. How is this possible?
They're above a hot spot
What is the age of the rocks closest to the mid ocean ridge?
They're younger
The matching of fossil records across continents supports the theory that they were once joined in Pangaea. One such fossil is this ancient reptile found in South America and Africa.
Mesosaurus
Which of the Earth’s layers is truly liquid?
Outer core
Convection currents occur in things heated from the bottom, why?
Heat rises
What are the directions of longitude and latitude?
Latitude is horizontal
Longitude is vertical
Earth's crust is created at what feature and destroyed at what feature?
Mid-ocean ridge, subduction zone
Why was the continental drift hypothesis not widely accepted?
At they time, they couldn't explained how the plates moved
What layer is the biggest by volume?
Mantle
What are convection currents, what do they do?
In Earth's mantle, it's a heat cycle, these currents drive the movement of tectonic plates.
What is evidence of seafloor spreading?
Magnetic striping
Magma on the seafloor