Lesson 10: Palaeogeography and Plate Tectonics

Question 1

The outermost layer of the earth
consists of the continents and ocean basins and
is called

Answer 1

the crust The thickness of the crust
varies but is usually between 5 and 25
kilometers deep.

Question 2

Below the crust is a layer called

Answer 2

The mantle is a layer over 2,500 kilometers deep.

Question 3

The
uppermost portion of the mantle is solid. Along
with the crust, this upper solid portion of the
mantle is called the

Answer 3

Lithosphere

Question 4

Below the lithosphere

is a portion of the mantle called the

Answer 4

asthenosphere.

Question 5

Below the mantle is the

Answer 5

CORE

Question 6

The core is primarily composed of iron

and nickel and is subdivided into the

Answer 6

outer core

and the inner core

Question 7

The outer core is __ __, while the inner core is __ __.

Answer 7

molten liquid, a solid Ball

Question 8

Plates, or pieces of the

Answer 8

lithosphere

Question 9

The movement of the lithosphere is called

Answer 9

plate
tectonics, and it provides the explanation for
the drifting continents that Alfred Wegner
theorized.

Question 10

By the end of the Permian
period and the beginning of the Triassic period,
all the world’s continents had collided together
and formed the single supercontinent

Answer 10

Pangaea.

Question 11

Pangaea began to split into

two massive continents. Laurasia was the

Answer 11

northern of the two and was composed of what
we today call North America, Europe, and Asia
(excluding India)

Question 12

Gondwana was the

Answer 12

southern of the two and
was composed of what we today call South
America, Australia, Africa, Antarctica,
Madagascar, and India.

Question 13

This warmer
global climate was largely caused by high __
, which released large quantities
of __ into the atmosphere.

Answer 13

volcanic activity, carbon dioxide