Plate Boundaries
What type of plate boundary is characterized by plates moving apart from each other?
Divergent boundary.
In 79 AD, which famous ancient city was destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius?
Pompeii.
What is the name of the massive tectonic plate beneath the Pacific Ocean?
The Pacific Plate.
Who is often credited as the scientist who proposed the theory of continental drift in the early 20th century?
Alfred Wegener.
What type of landform is formed at divergent plate boundaries on land?
Rift valleys.
Which tectonic boundary is responsible for the formation of mid-ocean ridges?
Divergent boundary.
The 1906 earthquake, one of the most destructive in U.S. history, struck which city in California?
San Francisco.
Which tectonic plate is responsible for the majority of earthquakes and volcanic activity in and around the Pacific Ring of Fire?
The Pacific Plate
What evidence did Alfred Wegener use to support his theory of continental drift?
Fossil evidence, geological evidence (such as matching mountain ranges and rock formations), and paleoclimatic evidence (e.g., glacial deposits) from different continents.
What is the term for a long, narrow valley that forms at a divergent plate boundary on the ocean floor?
Mid-ocean ridge.
At which type of plate boundary do earthquakes occur due to the grinding of two plates against each other horizontally?
Transform boundary.
What volcanic eruption in 1980 devastated the landscape and surroundings of Washington State, USA?
Mount St. Helens eruption.
What is the name of the tectonic plate that includes most of North America, Greenland, and parts of the Atlantic Ocean?
The North American Plate.
What term describes the process by which new oceanic crust is formed at mid-ocean ridges, supporting the theory of plate tectonics?
Seafloor spreading
Which mountain range is formed by the convergent boundary between the Indian Plate and the Eurasian Plate?
The Himalayas.
What type of plate boundary is responsible for the formation of deep ocean trenches?
Convergent boundary.
The deadliest volcanic eruption in recorded history occurred in 1815. Which volcano erupted, causing the "Year Without a Summer"?
Mount Tambora (located in Indonesia).
Which tectonic plate is being subducted beneath the South American Plate along the western coast of South America?
The Nazca Plate.
Who were the scientists responsible for developing the theory of plate tectonics in the 1960s?
Harry Hess, Robert Dietz, and J. Tuzo Wilson, among others.
What type of landform is formed when one tectonic plate is forced beneath another at a convergent boundary?
Subduction zone or ocean trench.
Which type of convergent boundary involves the collision of two continental plates, resulting in the formation of mountain ranges?
Continental-continental convergent boundary.
What catastrophic earthquake and subsequent tsunami struck Japan in 2011, causing widespread devastation and a nuclear accident?
The Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, also known as the Great East Japan Earthquake.
What is the name of the tectonic plate boundary where the African Plate and the Eurasian Plate are currently moving apart, causing the formation of the East African Rift Valley?
The East African Rift boundary
What is the name of the supercontinent proposed by Alfred Wegener, which he suggested broke apart over millions of years to form the continents as we know them today?
Pangaea.
What is the term for a long, narrow depression in the ocean floor formed by the subduction of one tectonic plate beneath another?
Ocean trench.