Plate Tectonics

Question 1

When was the continental drift idea proposed?

Answer 1

1915

Question 2

Who proposed the continental drift idea?

Answer 2

Alfred Wegener

Question 3

Wegener’s first proof

Answer 3

Similarity of Coastlines

Question 4

Weneger’s second proof

Answer 4

Mountain Ranges on separate coasts

Question 5

examples of mountain ranges on separate coasts 1

Answer 5

Appalachians and mountain ranges in Ireland and New Britain are the same

Question 6

examples of mountain ranges on separate coasts 2

Answer 6

The Cape of Good Hope and the southern tip of Africa contain the same rock type, same foundations, minerals, and structures

Question 7

Wegener’s third proof

Answer 7

Fossils of similar animals on separate coasts

Question 8

Dinosaur fossils are

Answer 8

found on every continent

Question 9

Mammal fossils are

Answer 9

not found on every continent

Question 10

would mammals or dinsoaurs migrate?

Answer 10

mammals

Question 11

how did dinosaurs end up on every continent if they don’t migrate?

Answer 11

the continents had to be together in order for them to migrate from place to place

Question 12

Wegener’s fourth proof

Answer 12

Paleoclimates

Question 13

what do coal deposits in antarctica indicate?

Answer 13

a warm, swampy environment

Question 14

Wegener’s fifth proof

Answer 14

Modern animals

Question 15

what does the strange evolutionary pattern of marsupials indicate?

Answer 15

it indicates an isolation from other land masses after a certain point in evolution

Question 16

Wegener’s sixth proof

Answer 16

Glaciation

Question 17

Why did Wegener’s theory fail?

Answer 17

There was no way to prove how the continents moved

Question 18

Why did Wegener’s theory fail?

Answer 18

There was no way to prove how the continents moved

Question 19

What are other ideas opposing Wegener’s?

Answer 19

Rafting, Island stepping stones, Isthmian links

Question 20

Wegener’s ideas went cold until-

Answer 20

World War 2 submarines

Question 21

While searching for submarines, what happened?

Answer 21

the sea floor was inadvertently mapped by sonar

Question 22

what fueled the idea of continental drift?

Answer 22

the discovery of the mid atlantic ridge

Question 23

what are the dimensions of the mid atlantic ridge?

Answer 23

40,000 miles long, 1,500 miles wide, 2 miles high

Question 24

why is the mid-Atlantic ridge so intriguing?

Answer 24

it lies in between the continents, almost equidistant from each shoreline

Question 25

what expression did Harry Hess and Robert Dietz coin?

Answer 25

seafloor spreading

Question 26

what is the seafloor spreading theory?

Answer 26

magma forces itself to the surface, and forces the plates apart

Question 27

who led the deep sea drilling team set to prove sea floor spreading?

Answer 27

Frederick Vine, and Drummond Matthews

Question 28

what was the name of the ship the drilling team used?

Answer 28

the Glomar Challenger

Question 29

Paleomagnetism

Answer 29

the study of ancient magnetism in basalts

Question 30

which minerals are magnetic?

Answer 30

magnetite and hematite

Question 31

when do they aquire magnetism?

Answer 31

when magma hardens

Question 32

how do they acquire magnetism?

Answer 32

they line up like a series of bar magnets according to the magnetic orientation of the earth

Question 33

What are changes in the ocean called?

Answer 33

anomalia

Question 34

what natural event allows geologists to see inside the earth?

Answer 34

earthquakes