Evidence for plate tectonics

Question 1

Areas of South America and Africa have rocks of the same…

Answer 1

age and composition

Question 2

You can also match up the age, rock type and distribution of some mountain ranges. For example mountains in Scotland, Norway, Sweden and Finland are similar to those on the…

Answer 2

east coast of North America.

Question 3

These Rocks and mountains must have formed under the ____ __________and in the same place in order to match so well

Answer 3

same conditions

Question 4

By fitting land masses together you can match up the distribution of some….

Answer 4

fossils

Question 5

It is very unlikley that these species migrated accross thousands of miles of water or that they _______ in different places

Answer 5

evolved

Question 6

So the fossils records surgest these places were joined when the organisms were…

Answer 6

alive

Question 7

The same living organisms can also be found on different continents - like with fossilised organisms it is unlikely that they…

Answer 7

migrated accross oceans or evolved in different places

Question 8

For example earthworms of the family megascoleciade are found in ___ _______, parts of ____ and _____ _______, surgesting the continents were once joined allowing the earthworms to travel between them.

Answer 8

New Zealand, Asia North America

Question 9

Theres evidence that the past cliamtes of some continenets were similar, despite being thousands of miles apart now. For example similar glacial deposits are found in _________, ______, _____ _______, _____, and _________.

Answer 9

Antartica, Africa, South America, India and Australia

Question 10

By fitting these places together you can match up the distribution of the deposits, which surggests they were joined closer together and located near the….

Answer 10

South Pole

Question 11

Large coal deposits that were formed in tropical conditions have been found in _____ _______ and parts of ______ surggesting thse regions were once closer to the equator than they are - they have drifted over time

Answer 11

North America and Europe

Question 12

Palaeomagnetism is the study of…

Answer 12

the history of the aerths magnetic field.

Question 13

One every ___,___ years or so the earths magnetic field reverses polarity

Answer 13

200,000

Question 14

As magma erupts from mid ocean ridges, magnetic minerals in the molten rock align themselves with the direction of the…

Answer 14

earths magnetic field

Question 15

The magnetic minreals in the earths crust created in periods of normal polarity (magnetic north near the north pole, south near the south pole) are aligned in the opposite direction to those created in periods of…

Answer 15

reverse polarity

Question 16

This creates a series of alternating magnetic stripes along the sea floor. The further away you go from a mid ocean ridge the older the stipes and therefore the older the…

Answer 16

crust - meaning the plates are moving apart.