Continental Drift Theory
Evidence of Continental Drift
Plate Tectonics
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100
This German astronomer/meteorologist came up with the Continental Drift Theory.
Who is Alfred Wegener?
100
This scientific principle helps to establish the chronological age of rock layers and states that the older layers are located below the younger layers.
What is superposition?
100
The model shows a plate boundary separating over time. What is the name of the process modeled in the image?
What is seafloor spreading?
100
What two factors determine the amount of gravity an object has?
What are mass and distance?
100
This is the oldest layer pictured in the image.
What is layer 1?
200
This was the name given to the supercontinent that existed 250 million years ago.
What is Pangaea?
200
The fitting of the coastlines of these two continents were the first piece of evidence that lead a German scientist to believe the continents were once connected.
What are South America and Africa?
200
This is the driving force behind plate movement.
What are convection currents?
200
This is the layer of Earth where convection currents drive plate movement.
What is the mantle?
200
This is the force that causes the Earth to travel a curved path around the Sun instead of following the dashed line in the diagram.
What is the gravitational force (gravity) between the Earth and the Sun?
300
This was the first piece of observational evidence that present-day continents were once a supercontinent.
What is "The continental coastlines matched up like pieces of a puzzle."?
300
What is "The continents were once joined together when these plants and animals were alive?"
300
Mid-ocean ridges on the ocean floor are evidence that support this theory.
What is "Plate Tectonic Theory" or "plate tectonics?"
300
Climatic evidence like the glacial scrapings found on the surface of the continents Africa and South America were part of the evidence that supported which scientific idea (theory) about plate movement?
What is the Continental Drift Theory?
300
Explain the difference between a continent and a supercontinent.
What is "A continent is one of Earth's seven landmasses and a supercontinent is a giant landmass composed of most or all of Earth's land."
400
Explain why Germany's Geological Society rejected Alfred Wegener's Continental Drift Theory.
What is "Wegener could not explain what caused the continents to move."?
Wegener was also not a geologist.
400
List the four types of evidence that were used by the German scientist to support his Continental Drift Theory.
What are "Geological Evidence, Fossil evidence, Superposition, and Climatic Evidence."
400
This is where molten magma rises to the surface and creates new crust as the plates of oceanic crust move apart.
What is a mid-ocean ridge?
400
This is one of the MAIN factors that determines the climate of an area. This is what made the warmer climate of Antarctica become colder.
What is "distance from the equator."
400
This is the name of the process that creates mid-ocean ridges.
What is seafloor spreading?
500
Explain the difference between Wegener's Continental Drift Theory and modern Plate Tectonics Theory.
What is "The Continental Drift Theory states that the continents were once connected and drifted apart over time. Plate tectonics explains HOW the continents drifted apart (convection currents in the mantle cause the plates to move.)
500
Explain how fossils provide evidence that Earth’s geological history has changed over time.
What is "Fossil evidence shows that Earth’s environment and climate were once different and supported different types of organisms." or "Similar fossils were found in now separated continents. These were fossils of organisms who did not have traits for flying or swimming."
500
This American geologist hypothesized that magma oozes out of the Earth's mantle along mid-ocean ridges, creating new seafloor that spreads away from the active ridge and eventually sinks into deep ocean trenches.
Who is Henry Hess?
500
This is the layer of Earth that is divided into tectonic plates.
What is the lithosphere?
500
What two forces allow smaller objects to orbit larger objects?
What are gravity and intertia?