Plate Tectonics

Question 1

What is continental drift hypothesis

3 points

Answer 1

• by Alfred Wegener
• origin of continents
• pangaea and panthalassa to laurasia (n. america, europe, asia) and gondwandaland (s. america, africa, india, australia, antartica)

Question 2

Evidences of Continental Drift Theory

4 points

Answer 2

• continental jigsaw puzzle
• fossil match
• rock type & geological features
• paleoclimate

Question 3

Explain continental jigsaw puzzle

2 points + example

Answer 3

• evidence for continental drift
• connecting continents through continental shelf
• ex. south america & africa

Question 4

Counter for continental jigsaw puzzle

Answer 4

reworked by surface processes/erosion

Question 5

Explain fossil match

3 points (CSAF;LAFMIAN; GloGondwa; MeSOA)

Answer 5

• evidence for continental drift
• same species of fossils found in faraway continents
• ex. cynognathus in s. am. & africa; lystrosaurus in africa, madagascar, india, antartica; glossopteris in whole gondwa; mesosaurus in south america & africa (CSAF;LAFMIAN; GloGondwa; MeSOA)

Question 6

counter for fossil match

3 points (think ramayana)

Answer 6

• rafting
• isthmian link / transoceanic land bridges
• island stepping stones

Question 7

explain rock type & geologic features

2 points (DEH meets Queen Mary of Scots)

Answer 7

• rock’s age and structure are similar/same
• appalachian mountains & caledonian (N. Am & Scotland)

Question 8

explain paleoclimate

Answer 8

• glacial sediment/till, deposits & striations in gondwa
• coal seams & tropical trees in laurasia
• south continents in south pole; north continents near equator = glacial deposits in gondwa; laurasia has swamps

Question 9

counter for continental drift theory

Answer 9

lack of mechanical evidence

Question 10

wegener suggestion for counter & thots

Answer 10

tides (wrong; affects Earth’s rotation)
continents broke oceanic crust (no seafloor imaging)

Question 11

what is seafloor spreading

2 points (think flat tops; underwater fluted filter paper; ring of fire)

Answer 11

• by harry hess in 1960s due to WWII
• showed submarine features like guyots (underwater mountains with flat tops), seamounts (underwater volcanoes), and mid-ocean ridges (chain of volcanoes)

Question 12

what seafloor spreading proved

2 points

Answer 12

• mid-ocean ridges spread
• age in continents are older than new ridges with increase in thickness

Question 13

evidences of plate tectonics

5 points (PMMHS)

Answer 13

• paleomagnetism & polar wandering
• magnetic reversal
• magnetic strips on ocean floor
• hotspot volcanism
• seismicity & plate boundaries