Earth's Interior
What type of direct evidence do geologists use from Earth's interior to make inferences about its properties?
Rock samples
What are the three types of heat transfer?
Radiation, conduction, convection
Who proposed the idea of continental drift in 1910?
Alfred Wegener
What is the name of the theory that explains the movement of Earth's plates?
Theory of plate tectonics
What happens to the age of oceanic crust as it moves away from a mid-ocean ridge?
It gets older
What type of indirect evidence helps scientists determine Earth's interior structure?
Seismic waves
What type of heat transfer occurs when the Sun warms Earth’s surface?
Radiation
What was the name of the supercontinent that existed before the continents drifted apart?
Pangea
What type of plate boundary occurs when two plates slide past each other, often causing earthquakes?
Transform
What is the process where oceanic crust sinks back into the mantle at deep-ocean trenches called?
Subduction
Which layer of Earth is a layer of solid rock that forms Earth's outer skin?
Crust
What type of heat transfer happens when a metal spoon heats up in a pot of soup?
Conduction
What three pieces of evidence did Wegener use to support continental drift?
Land features, fossils, and climate change evidence
What type of plate boundary forms when two plates move apart?
Divergent
How do convection currents in the mantle affect Earth's lithosphere?
They move the plates
What are the three layers of the mantle?
Lithosphere, asthenosphere, and lower mantle
What process causes heated fluids to rise and cooler fluids to sink, creating currents?
Convection
Why was Wegener’s hypothesis initially rejected?
He couldn't explain how the continents moved
What landform can form when two continental plates collide?
Mountain ranges
What type of rock forms at mid-ocean ridges as molten material cools?
Pillow-shaped igneous rocks
What part of Earth generates the planet's magnetic field?
Movement of liquid in the outer core
What is the heat source that drives convection currents in the mantle?
Earth's core and heat from the mantle itself
What process did Harry Hess propose in 1960 that explained how the ocean floor moves?
Sea-floor spreading
What scientist proposed that the lithosphere is broken into separate plates?
J. Tuzo Wilson
How do magnetic stripes on the ocean floor support sea-floor spreading?
They record Earth's magnetic field reversals