Plate Tectonics & Boundaries

Continental Drift

100

This supercontinent once connected all of today’s landmasses.

Pangaea

200

The Scientist who is credited with the theory that the continents were once joined called Pangaea was?

Alfred Wegener

300

Name the missing piece of evidence that scientists believed prove the existence of Pangaea:  

1. Climate Changes 

2. Similar Land features like rocks and mountains

3.

Identical Fossils found

400

The changing positions of the continents from 200 mya to today was caused by Earth's slow and constant changes and what?

Sea Floor Spreading (continental drift)

500

This theory explains that Earth’s plates move slowly due to forces within Earth’s mantle.

Plate Tectonics

Layers of the Earth

100

This is the thinnest and outermost solid layer of the Earth.

The crust

200

This hot, semi-solid layer is Earth’s thickest and is found just below the crust.

The Mantle

300

Earth’s plates are located in this rigid layer that includes the crust and uppermost mantle.

The Lithosphere

400

This layer, made of mostly iron and nickel, is liquid due to high heat.

Outer Core

500

This is the deepest layer of Earth, and is extremely hot, but due to intense pressure it is solid. 

Inner Core

Plate Boundaries

100

This boundary occurs where plates slide past each other.

Transform Boundary

200

This boundary occurs when plates move apart from each other.

Divergent Boundary

300

This boundary occurs when one plate collides with and may sink under another.

Convergent Boundary

400

At subduction zones, one plate sinks beneath another because it has this property.

Greater Density

500

This type of boundary is responsible for mid-ocean ridge formation.

Divergent Boundary

Volcanoes & Subduction

100

Volcanoes often form when this type of plate goes under a continental plate.

Oceanic Plate

200

This word describes one plate being forced beneath another.

Subduction

300

This feature forms from rising magma created when a sinking plate melts.

Volcano

400

Subduction zone volcanoes form at what type of boundary?

Convergent boundary

500

A convergent boundary at these types of crust creates volcanic mountain ranges such as the Andes.

Oceanic-Oceanic      Oceanic-Continental

                 Continental-Continental

Oceanic-Continental

Seafloor Spreading

100

In an area of sea floor spreading, in which part of the mid-ocean ridge can the newer crust be found?

In the middle 

200

New sea floor forms as the plate do what?

spread/move apart

300

As you move farther away from a mid-ocean ridge towards the outer edges, what will the rocks be like there?

Older

400

This major discovery helped confirm the theory of continental drift by showing new crust forming and old crust recycling.

Seafloor Spreading

500

During the process of seafloor spreading, hot material is brought upward to create new oceanic crust from where?

The Mantle