Plate Movement
Which layer of Earth has tectonic plates? What layer do they travel on?
The crust and the mantle
The scientist responsible for introducing Continental Drift Theory.
Alfred Wegener
What are the three boundary types?
convergent, divergent, transform fault
This process continually adds new sea floor
Sea floor spreading
Earthquakes cause tectonic plates to move. True or false and why?
FALSE!!!! Earthquakes are a result of plates moving
What are the places in the crust called that carry the ocean and continents?
Tectonic plates
The super continent that was once one land mass and separated into the continents we have today.
Pangaea
Name the two place (or 2 types of crusts) tectonic plates meet to make mountains.
oceanic meets continental
continental meets continental
Name the geological feature formed when plates diverge and magma rises (where spreading occurs)
Mid-Ocean Ridge
Most geologic activity takes place far from plate boundaries. True or false and why?
False - geological activity is caused by movement of the plates (earthquakes, volcanoes)
What layer of the Earth is soft like plastic and flows?
Asthenosphere
Scientists believe that this is what causes the movement of tectonic plates
Convection currents in the mantle
Which plate boundary is responsible for most of the earthquakes? Describe how they move there
Transform Boundary, slip/slide past each other, cause cracks
What were the three evidence types used to support sea floor spreading?
Magnetic stripes, rock samples with age differences, pillow shaped rocks from rapid cooling
What direction does a compass point when there is reversed magnetic polarity?
South
What layer of Earth includes the crust and the plates - and is where geological activities occur?
Lithosphere
Three kinds of evidence used by Scientist to support Pangaea existed.
plant & animal fossils
observe that continents fit like puzzle
earthquakes & volcanoes
mountain building
Hawaiian Islands
Name the two place (or 2 types of crusts) tectonic plates meet to make mountains.
oceanic meets continental
continental meets continental
Flat empty regions of the ocean floor are called _____
Abyssal Plains
What is the process called where crust is recycled by being pushed under crust at a convergent boundary?
Subduction
When a crack forms in continental crust near subduction, what can happen?
Volcanic arc from magma flowing up (volcano)
How far do plates move in a year?
About 1 to 5 centimeters (roughly the rate that a fingernail grows)
What three things can happen at a convergent boundary? Hint: not new crust formation
Subduction (crust recycling), Mountains, Volcanoes
Where does subduction occur between two plates?
Ocean to continent boundaries (Dense ocean plate goes under continent plate)
Where do trenches form on the earth with respect to plates?
At convergent boundaries where subduction happens. Plate sliding under. can be ocean to ocean or ocean to continent