Geographic Timescale and Fossil Fuels

Question 1

What is a Geologic timescale?

Answer 1

refers to the vast periods of time over which the Earth changes (over millions and millions of years, not human lifetimes.)

Question 2

What are fossil fuels?

Answer 2

which are created by the compression of biological matter beneath many many layers of sedimentary rock, are renewable over a geologic timescale, but not over a human timescale (causes it to become oil, coal, or gaseous, natural gas)

Question 3

What is the theory of plate tectonics?

Answer 3

states that all Earth’s continents at one time were joined as a single “super-continent” called Pangaea. Over time, the continents drifted apart.

Question 4

What things support the theory of plate tectonics and that Pangaea existed?

Answer 4

1. most important, when you put the continents together, they fit!
2. Seafloor spreading (look at the sea floor, year after year its slowly moving apart from the atlantic. We can see them moving even today. The “puzzle piece” argument and fossil records all support the idea of continental drift (ex: certain organisms among the east coast in South America that shouldn’t be there).
3. shifting plates cause earthquakes, volcanoes, and mountain building.

Question 5

Where does plate movement occur? (along what three major fault types?)

Answer 5

1. Convergent
2. Divergent (pulling apart)
3. Transform (sliding past one another) (all are types of plate boundaries)

Question 6

What is the Ring of Fire?

Answer 6

Surrounds the pacific plate (under the Pacific Ocean) why we have lots of volcanos in that area.
**the test might as why certain places have more quake damage than other ares- how solid the ground is underneath the buildings. Why the shoreline of San Fran is damaged the most, jars up and down more.