Chapter 6: Earth's Moving Continents

Question 1

What is the theory of continental drift?

Answer 1

The theory of continental drift is the continents can move, did move, and continue to move.

Question 2

What is Pangaea? How and when was Pangaea created?

Answer 2

Pangaea was a super-continent that existed 250 million years ago that was caused by a long series of continent-continent collisions.

Question 3

How is a suture zone formed?

Answer 3

A suture zone is formed when two continents collide.

Question 4

Why is the Pacific Ocean shrinking?

Answer 4

The Pacific Ocean is shrinking because the Pacific Ocean is surrounded by subduction zones so the floor of the Pacific Ocean is being consumed at the subduction zones.

Question 5

What are some examples of evidence that Pangaea existed?

IMPORTANT

Answer 5

Evidence that can be used to identify the former existence of a super-continent is the continents’ coastlines seem to fit together like puzzle pieces, SIMILAR fossils on different continents match up when the land is connected, SIMILAR glacier trails found on different continents match up when land is connected, and SIMILAR suture zones/mountain ranges when land is connected.
Other evidence is the rock layers match up with the continents when pushed together, the climate is similar in places where the continents used to be connected at, and the continents move a few centimeters a year.

Question 6

Why did it take so long for geoscientists to accept the theory of continental drift?

Answer 6

It took so long for geoscientists to accept the theory of continental drift because the continents move slowly and the continents only move a few centimeters a year, also geoscientists didn’t understand what force made the continents move and geoscientists didn’t have technology or evidence/proof of the fossils, suture zones, continental drift, etc.

Question 7

What is Pangaea?

Answer 7

Pangaea is a super-continent that existed 200 to 300 million years ago and included most of the continental crust of the Earth.

Question 8

Define continent.

Answer 8

A continent is one of the Earth’s major landmasses.

Question 9

What is continental drift?

Answer 9

(ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW: Continents can move, have moved, and continue to move) Continental drift is a theory proposed by Alfred Wegener (1912) that proposed that the continents’ positions on the globe are not fixed and that the continents have moved (and continue to move) about the globe during the course of geologic time.

Question 10

Define plate tectonics.

Answer 10

The theory in which the lithosphere is divided into a number of plates, and the study of how the plates move and interact with one another.

Question 11

Define geoscientist.

Answer 11

A geoscientist is a person who is trained in and works in any of the geological sciences.

Question 12

What is a super-continent?

Answer 12

A super-continent is a term for a large landmass formed by the collision and joining of several continental landmasses into a single, large continent.

Question 13

What is the theory of plate tectonics?

Answer 13

The theory of plate tectonics is that the outermost layer of Earth, the lithosphere, is broken up into pieces called plates and those plates move relative to one another a their boundary.

Question 14

What does the word “Pangaea” literally mean?

Answer 14

The word “Pangaea” literally means “all land.”

Question 15

What is a suture zone?

Answer 15

A suture zone is the evidence of the existence of former continent-continent collisions in the interiors of today’s continents that are the places where the earlier continents came together to form Pangaea.

Question 16

What caused Pangaea to break up?

Answer 16

Pangaea broke apart because about 200 million years ago THE PATTERN OF CONVECTION CELLS IN THE MANTLE CHANGED, for reasons scientists are not sure about yet, however that caused Pangaea to slowly split apart into several pieces, a process that is called continental drifting.

Question 17

Which oceans grew when Pangaea split apart?

Answer 17

The oceans that grew when Pangaea split apart are the Atlantic Ocean, Antarctic Ocean, and Indian Ocean.

Question 18

Wad Pangaea the only super-continent that existed?

Answer 18

There is evidence that Pangaea was not the only super-continent that existed as there seems to have been one that rifted apart 600 million years ago.

Question 19

What do scientists think will happen in the geologic future?

Answer 19

Scientists think that the Pacific Ocean will expand again and the new oceans will close up to form a super-continent where Pangaea once existed.

Question 20

How do scientists measure the plates’ movements?

Answer 20

Scientists measure the plates’ movements by using orbiting space satellites to directly measure the plates’ movements as they happen.

Question 21

When the theory of what was developed in the 1960’s, it gave a natural explanation for continental drift?

Answer 21

When the theory of PLATE TECTONICS was developed in the 1960’s, it gave a natural explanation for continental drift.

Question 22

The lithosphere is broken into what?

Answer 22

The lithosphere is broken into plates.

Question 23

Subduction can lead to the closing of a what and then a continent-continent collision?

Answer 23

Subduction can lead to the closing of an ocean and then a continent-continent collision.

Question 24

Geoscientists believe that about 250 million years ago there was a single, very large what named what?

Answer 24

Geoscientists believe that about 250 million years ago there was a single, very large supercontinent named Pangaea.

Question 25

What is an example of a suture zone?

Answer 25

The Appalachian Mountains are an example of a suture zone.

Question 26

The drifting apart of the continents caused all the oceans (except the Pacific Ocean) to get what?

Answer 26

The drifting apart of the continents caused all the oceans (except the Pacific Ocean) to get formed.

Question 27

At the time of Pangaea, the what was the world’s only ocean?

Answer 27

At the time of Pangaea, the Pacific Ocean was the world’s only ocean.

Question 28

Today the Pacific Ocean may continue to what (because of what) as the Atlantic, Indian, and Antarctic Oceans widen?

Answer 28

Today the Pacific Ocean may continue to shrink (because of subduction zones) as the Atlantic, Indian, and Antarctic Oceans widen.

Question 29

A what is trained in and works in the geological sciences?

Answer 29

A geoscientist is trained in and works in the geological sciences.

Question 30

One of the Earth’s major landmasses is a what?

Answer 30

One of the Earth’s major landmasses is a continent.

Question 31

The what states that the continents’ positions on the globe are not fixed. The continents have moved and will continue to move?

Answer 31

The Continental Drift Theory states that the continents’ positions on the globe are not fixed. The continents have moved and will continue to move.

Question 32

The theory that the lithosphere is divided into a number of plates that move because of convection below is the what Theory?

Answer 32

The theory that the lithosphere is divided into a number of plates that move because of convection below is the Plate Tectonic Theory.

Question 33

As a result of Continental Drift, what happened to the oceans?

Answer 33

As a result of Continental Drift, the Pacific Ocean shrunk and the other oceans opened up.

Question 34

What is the difference between the theory of continental drift and plate tectonics? Which one came first?

Answer 34

The continental drift theory is continents can move and have moved, and the plate tectonics theory is that the lithosphere is broken into plates and the plates move.
The Continental Drift theory came first.