Tectonic Plates
List characteristics of the tectonic plates.
Made of crust, different sizes, different shapes, cover the entire Earth with no gaps, fit together like puzzle pieces, they are movable
Name of Scientist to come up with the theory of Continental Drift
Alfred Wegener
What are the three types of plate boundary movements? Describe their movements.
Transform, convergent, and divergent.
Where do mid ocean ridges occur?
At a divergent plate boundary on the seafloor.
Name the three major rock types in the rock cycle.
Sedimentary, igneous, metamorphic
What are the two types of crust?
1. Continental crust
2. Oceanic crust
Explain the animal fossils evidence.
Mesosaurus and lystrosaurus fossils were found in South America and Antarctica.
Mesosaurus was an amphibian who couldn't swim across an ocean.
Lystrosaurus lived on land and fossils were found in Antarctica.
What type of geologic event occurs at a transform boundary?
Earthquake.
Faults.
Describe what subduction is.
When a denser plate "sinks" under another.
How do igneous rocks form?
Cooled lava/magma
Explain the different densities of the two types of crust.
Oceanic crust is denser than oceanic.
Explain the plant fossils evidence.
Fern type fossils, Glossopteris, were found in present day South America, India, Africa, Antarctica. It needs a temperate climate to thrive. These present day places are not temperate.
Describe the motion of a convection current.
Magma rises, spreads outwards, falls. The cycle repeats itself, pulling the plates along with it.
Explain how mountains are formed on land.
Two continental plates collide, crumple, uplift.
Explain how sedimentary rocks form in 1–2 sentences.
Weathering/erosion, sediments deposit, compaction and burial, cementation
Continents and oceans are a part of the plate. True or False?
True
Explain the rock sequence evidence.
Sedimentary rocks were found in South America and Africa. Exact layers were found on each continent.
What is the Ring of Fire?
The area along the rim of the Pacific Ocean that has most of the world's volcanoes and earthquakes.
Explain how volcanoes are formed.
Plates collide, oceanic plate subducts under another one, the plate melts, magma rises and forms a volcano on top of the continental plate.
Explain how a metamorphic rock forms in 1-2 sentences.
gets pushed deep below earth's surface, intense heat and pressure changes it into a metamorphic rock.
The name of the places where two plates meet.
Plate Boundary
Explain the glacier evidence.
Glacier scratches were found on rocks in very dry places such as Africa and Australia. These places were once covered with sheets of ice 300 million years ago.
Describe what a trench is and how it is formed.
V shaped canyon on ocean floor that occurs from a subducting oceanic plate.
How is the age of the sea floor different? Explain this process.
At a divergent boundary, magma rises on the seafloor and pushes outwards. Old crust pushes away from the new crust.
How would an igneous rock get large crystals vs small crystals?
By taking longer to cool.