7: Earth Materials and Plate Tectonics

Question 1

accumulates substantial inferential information
about the Earth’s interior

monitors vibration patterns

Answer 1

geophysical means

Question 2

basic materials of the solid earth

Answer 2

rocks and minerals

Question 3

describes how different rock types develop as earth materials are cycled and recycled through geologic time

Answer 3

rock change

Question 4

75% of the earth’s crust is made up of ___

the rest are ___

Answer 4

oxygen and silicon

metallic and base elements (iron, aluminum)

Question 5

elements of the crust

Answer 5

combined in inorganic chemical compounds

Question 6

combined in inorganic chemical compounds

Answer 6

minerals

Question 7

combined minerals

Answer 7

rocks

Question 8

3 major classes of rocks

Answer 8

igneous
sedimentary
metamorphic

Question 9

forms when molten material from the earth’s interior cools and solidifies in the crust

Answer 9

igneous

Question 10

coarse-textured magma cooled slowly

Answer 10

intrusive igneous rocks

Question 11

fine-textured, lava cooled rapidly

Answer 11

extrusive igneous rocks

Question 12

mainly consists of silicate materials (silicon, oxygen, metallic elements

Answer 12

igneous

Question 13

less dense felsic minerals

Answer 13

upper crust

Question 14

denser mafic and ultramafic minerals

Answer 14

lower crust

Question 15

silicate materials undergo chemical changes when exposed to air and water

Answer 15

mineral alteration

ex. clay minerals

Question 16

breakdown of rocks into smaller particles known collectively as sediment (mineral alteration and physical disintegration

Answer 16

weathering

Question 17

forms through weathering

layers of mineral sediment and organic matter accumulate in oceans and low-lying areas to be compacted and hardened

Answer 17

sedimentary

Question 18

different types of ___ produce different kinds of sedimentary rock

Answer 18

sediment

Question 19

igneous and sedimentary rocks and altered by heat, pressures, chemically

Answer 19

metamorphic

Question 20

describes the circulation of rock material between the earth’s interior and the crust

very slow process, powered by radioactive decay deep within the earth

Answer 20

cycle of rock changes

Question 21

how the continents and ocean basin of the earth’s surface slowly changes as forces within deep within the earth cause vast tectonic plates to converge, collide, split and separate

Answer 21

grand cycle of plate tectonics

Question 22

metallic

surrounded by the mantle

Answer 22

core

Question 23

ultramafic rock

covered by crust

Answer 23

mantle

Question 24

mafic rocks exposed on the ocean floor and felsic rocks exposed on the continents

Answer 24

crust

Question 25

earth’s outer layer of rigid, brittle rocks, extends through the crust and upper mantle

Answer 25

lithosphere

Question 26

beneath the litho, soft plastic rock layer

Answer 26

asthenosphere

Question 27

subdivided the history of the earth into various time intervals

Answer 27

geologic time scale

Question 28

65 m years ago, most of the landscape features developed

Answer 28

Cenozoic era

Question 29

earth’s surface two major relief features

Answer 29

continents

ocean basins

Question 30

consist of extensive, smooth abyssal plains marked by long, narrow mid-oceanic ridges.

Answer 30

ocean basins

Question 31

contain young, dynamic alpine belts, and old stable continental shields

Answer 31

continents

Question 32

found beneath the ocean next to continental shields

Answer 32

continental shelves

Question 33

found beneath the ocean next to continental shields

Answer 33

oceanic trenches

Question 34

2 basic tectonic processes

Answer 34

• compression

- extension

Question 35

divided into 6 great plates and several lesser plates

Answer 35

lithosphere

Question 36

plates move apart

• forms new ocean crust
• marked by mid-oceanic ridges on the ocean floor
• rift valleys on continents

Answer 36

spreading boundaries

Question 37

collide

Answer 37

converging boundaries

Question 38

move past one another

Answer 38

transform boundaries

Question 39

continents meet the ocean floor long a converging boundary and the denser rock of the ocean floor plunges beneath the continents

• oceanic trench
• leads o the formation of island arcs and
  alpine belts- continental margin

Answer 39

subduction

Question 40

driven by convection currents

Answer 40

plate movement

Question 41

tie together major relief features, volcanic and earthquake activities, a pattern of the rock age, and type at the earth’s surface

Answer 41

plate tectonics cycle