2.1 Distribution of earthquakes and volcanoes

Question 1

What is an earthquake?

Answer 1

➢ It is a sudden and violent period of ground shaking

Question 2

How thick are plates usually?

Answer 2

➢ 100km

Question 3

How do plates move?

Answer 3

➢ Move-in relation to each other due to convection currents from deep within the Earth

Question 4

Where do the majority of volcanoes form?

Answer 4

➢ They occur in long belts that follow the plate margins

Question 5

Where are most volcanoes likely to form?

Answer 5

➢ Areas in which the crust is thin

Question 6

Explain why the majority of volcanoes occur at plate margins?

Answer 6

➢ This is because at the plate margins magma rises up to fill the gaps between the plates and cools down to from volcanoes

Question 7

What are volcanoes made from?

Answer 7

➢ Magma

Question 8

What is the difference between magma and lava?

Answer 8

Scientists use the term magma for molten rock that is underground and lava for molten rock that breaks through the Earth’s surface