Plate Tectonics

Question 1

Lithosphere

Answer 1

the solid, outer layer of the earth that consist of the crust and the rigid upper part of the mantle

Question 2

asthenosphere

Answer 2

the soft layer of the mantle on which the tectonic plates move

Question 3

mesosphere

Answer 3

the strong, lower part of the mantle between the asthenosphere and the outer core

Question 4

tectonic Plates

Answer 4

a block of lithosphere that consists of the crust and the rigid, outermost part of the mantle

Question 5

Continental Drift

Answer 5

The hypothesis that states the the continents once formed a single landmass, broke up, and drifted to their present locations

Question 6

inner core

Answer 6

The inner core is the fourth layer inside the Earth. It is a solid metallic ball made mainly of iron.

Question 7

Outer core

Answer 7

Earth’s outer core is a fluid layer about 2,400 km thick and composed of mostly iron and nickel that lies above Earth’s solid inner core and below its mantle. Its outer boundary lies 2,890 km beneath Earth’s surface

Question 8

Seismic Waves

Answer 8

Seismic waves are waves that travel through or over Earth. They are usually generated by movements of the Earth’s tectonic plates (earthquakes) but may also be caused by explosions, volcanoes and landslides.

Question 9

oceanic crust

Answer 9

oceanic crust, the outermost layer of Earth’s lithosphere that is found under the oceans and formed at spreading centers on oceanic ridges, which occur at divergent plate boundaries.

Question 10

Continental crust

Answer 10

continental crust, the outermost layer of Earth’s lithosphere that makes up the planet’s continents and continental shelves and is formed near subduction zones at plate boundaries between continental and oceanic tectonic plates.

Question 11

Density

Answer 11

the degree of compactness of a substance

Question 12

Alfred Wegener

Answer 12

Alfred Lothar Wegener was a German climatologist, geologist, geophysicist, meteorologist, and polar researcher

Question 13

Convergent Boundary

Answer 13

The impact of the colliding plates can cause the edges of one or both plates to buckle up into a mountain ranges or one of the plates may bend down into a deep seafloor trench. when two plates come together

Question 14

Divergent Boundary

Answer 14

when two tectonic plates move away from each other. Along these boundaries, earthquakes are common and magma (molten rock) rises from the Earth’s mantle to the surface, solidifying to create new oceanic crust.

Question 15

Transform Boundary

Answer 15

Transform boundaries are places where plates slide sideways past each other. At transform boundaries lithosphere is neither created nor destroyed.

Question 16

Sea-floor Spreading

Answer 16

Seafloor spreading is a geologic process in which tectonic plates—large slabs of Earth’s lithosphere—split apart from each other

Question 17

Pangaea

Answer 17

Pangea, also spelled Pangaea, in early geologic time, a supercontinent that incorporated almost all the landmasses on Earth.

Question 18

Laurasia

Answer 18

Laurasia was the more northern of two large landmasses that formed part of the Pangaea supercontinent from around 335 to 175 million years ago, the other being Gondwana

Question 19

Gondwana

Answer 19

Gondwana was a supercontinent that formed during the late Neoproterozoic and began to break up during the Jurassic, with the final stages of breakup, including the opening of the Drake Passage separating South America and Antarctica occurring during the Paleogene.

Question 20

Mesosaurus

Answer 20

Mesosaurus is an extinct genus of reptile from the Early Permian of southern Africa and South America.

Question 21

Glossopteris

Answer 21

Glossopteris is the largest and best-known genus of the extinct Permian order of seed ferns known as Glossopteridales.