Shifting Plates
What was the name of the ancient supercontinent where all of Earth's landmasses were joined together millions of years ago?
Pangaea
What is the term for the process that breaks rocks down into smaller pieces right where they are?
Weathering
What is the process called when weathered rock, sand, and soil are picked up and moved away to a new location?
Erosion
What sudden event happens when tectonic plates get stuck, pressure builds up, and they suddenly slip and release seismic energy?
Earthquake
True or False: Earth's continents move across the globe at a rapid speed of several miles per year.
False (they move very slowly, only a few centimeters per year).
What is the primary force inside Earth's mantle that causes the tectonic plates to move?
Convection currents (or heat from the core)
When water seeps into cracks in rock, freezes, expands, and splits the rock physically, what specific type of weathering is occurring?
Ice wedging (or frost wedging / mechanical weathering)
What force is primarily responsible for pulling soil, rocks, and mud down a steep slope during mass wasting?
Gravity
What is the difference between magma and lava?
Magma is underground molten rock; lava is molten rock that has broken through Earth's surface.
Which layer of the Earth is broken up into the giant moving pieces we call tectonic plates
The lithosphere (or the crust and upper mantle).
At which type of plate boundary do tectonic plates pull apart from each other, allowing magma to rise and form new crust?
Divergent boundary
Rust forming on an iron-rich rock due to exposure to oxygen and water is an example of what general type of weathering?
Chemical weathering (or oxidation)
What is the term for the dropping or settling of eroded sediment when water, wind, or ice slows down?
Deposition
What type of massive ocean wave is triggered by an abrupt vertical displacement of the ocean floor, usually caused by an underwater earthquake?
A tsunami
While weathering breaks a rock down, what does erosion do to that broken material?
It moves / transports it.
What landform is most commonly created when two continental plates crash into each other at a convergent boundary?
Tall mountain ranges
When a tree root grows inside a rock crack and slowly forces the rock apart over time, this is called physical or __________ weathering.
Biological
Name the triangle-shaped landform created at the mouth of a river where it slows down into an ocean and deposits its sediment.
Delta
Why are volcanic eruptions classified as a "sudden" process rather than a "gradual" process
What feature forms on the ocean floor at a convergent boundary where an oceanic plate is forced downward beneath another plate?
A deep ocean trench
The San Andreas Fault in California is a famous example of which type of plate boundary, where plates slide horizontally past each other?
Transform boundary
How does acid rain cause chemical weathering to rocks like limestone?
Over millions of years, what major agent of erosion carved out the steep walls of the Grand Canyon?
Running water (or the Colorado River)
What sudden event involves a massive, rapid downslope movement of rock, soil, and debris, often triggered by heavy rainfall or earthquakes?
Landslide
Sand dunes in a desert are a classic landform built by which specific agent of deposition?
Wind