Plate Tectonics

Question 1

lithosphere

Answer 1

solid outer section of Earth, which includes Earth’s crust

Question 2

Asthenosphere

Answer 2

lies below the lithosphere, at depths between approximately 80 and 200 km

Question 3

Mesosphere

Answer 3

the region of the earth’s atmosphere above the stratosphere and below the thermosphere, between about 30 and 50 miles (50 and 80 km) in altitude.

Question 4

Inner Core

Answer 4

Earth’s innermost part and according to seismological studies, it is primarily a solid ball with a radius of about 1220 kilometers, or 760 miles

Question 5

Outer Core

Answer 5

Earth is a liquid layer about 2,300 km

Question 6

Seismic Waves

Answer 6

waves of energy that travel through the Earth’s layers, and are a result of an earthquake, explosion, or a volcano that gives out low-frequency acoustic energy

Question 7

Oceanic Crust

Answer 7

the relatively thin part of the earth’s crust that underlies the ocean basins

Question 8

Continental Crust

Answer 8

layer of igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks that forms the continents and the areas of shallow seabed close to their shores

Question 9

Density

Answer 9

characteristic property of a substance. The density of a substance is the relationship between the mass of the substance and how much space it takes up (volume). The mass of atoms, their size, and how they are arranged determine the density of a substance.

Question 10

Wegener

Answer 10

came up with hypothesis of the continents drifting

Question 11

Continental Drift

Answer 11

idea that the continents were not originally where they are

Question 12

Convergent Boundary

Answer 12

also known as a destructive plate boundary (because of subduction), is an actively deforming region where two (or more) tectonic plates or fragments of the lithosphere move toward one another and collide.

Question 13

Divergent boundary

Answer 13

is a linear feature that exists between two tectonic plates that are moving away from each other.

Question 14

Transform Boundary

Answer 14

is a type of fault whose relative motion is predominantly horizontal in either sinistral or dextral direction.

Question 15

sea- floor spreading

Answer 15

process that occurs at mid-ocean ridges, where new oceanic crust is formed through volcanic activity and then gradually moves away from the ridge. Seafloor spreading helps explain continental drift in the theory of plate tectonics.

Question 16

Pangaea

Answer 16

supercontinent that existed during the late Paleozoic and early Mesozoic eras.

Question 17

Laurasia

Answer 17

was the northernmost of two supercontinents

Question 18

Gondwana

Answer 18

is the name given to the more southerly of two supercontinents that were part of the Pangaea supercontinent that existed from approximately 300 to 180 million years ago

Question 19

Mesosaurus

Answer 19

extinct genus of reptile from the Early Permian of southern Africa and South America

Question 20

Glossopteris

Answer 20

largest and best-known genus of the extinct order of seed ferns known as Glossopteridales