Continental Drift
Who proposed the hypothesis of continental drift?
Alfred Wegener
What technology allowed scientists to map the ocean floor after WWII?
Echo sounder
The theory stating Earth’s surface is divided into rigid moving plates is called what?
Plate tectonics
What layer of Earth is made of rigid rock and forms tectonic plates?
Lithosphere
What principle states that the oldest rocks are found at the bottom of undisturbed layers?
Superposition
What was the name of the supercontinent that existed about 225 million years ago?
Pangaea
What feature discovered in the center of oceans provided evidence for seafloor spreading?
Mid‑ocean ridges
Which layer of Earth behaves like plastic and allows tectonic plates to move?
Asthenosphere
What drives convection currents in Earth’s mantle?
Radioactive decay
What do scientists use fossils to determine in rock layers?
Relative age
Which plant fossil found across multiple continents helps support continental drift?
Glossopteris
What process explains how new oceanic crust forms and old crust moves away?
Seafloor spreading
What force pulls dense tectonic plates downward at subduction zones?
Slab Pull
What part of Earth is responsible for generating convection currents that move plates?
The mantle
What type of evidence comes from identical fossils found on different continents?
Fossil evidence
What kind of evidence includes scratches made by glaciers on rocks across continents?
Glacial evidence
What do magnetic stripes on the seafloor record?
Magnetic reversals
What force pushes plates away from mid‑ocean ridges?
Ridge push
Which layer is solid metal due to extreme pressure?
Inner Core
What principle explains that Earth changes slowly over long periods of time?
Uniformitarianism
What evidence helped scientists realize continents once fit together like puzzle pieces?
Rock and mountain correlations
What type of rock forms when lava cools rapidly underwater during seafloor spreading?
Basalt or Igneous Rock
Which process happens when one tectonic plate sinks beneath another?
Subduction
What layer is located below the asthenosphere and is more rigid?
Mesosphere
Matching fossils of Mesosaurus found in Africa and South America supported what idea?
Continental drift