PLATE TECTONICS: The Grand Unifying Theory Of Geology

Question 1

This is a hypothesis that suggested all present continents once existed as a sngle supercontinet known as ¨pangaea¨.

Answer 1

Continental Drift Theory

Question 2

A german meteorologist and geophysicist who wrote ¨The Origin of Continents and Oceans¨.

Answer 2

Alfred Wegener

Question 3

200 million years ago, the supercontinent began breaking into smaller continents, which then drifted to their positions.

Answer 3

Pangaea

Question 4

What is the first evidence of the continental drift theory?

Answer 4

The continental jigsaw puzzle

Question 5

Two other associates constructed a map that pieced together the edges of the continental shelves of South America and Africa at a depth of about 900 meters.

Answer 5

Sir. Edward Bullard

Question 6

What is the second evidence of the continental drift theory?

Answer 6

Fossil Evidence

Question 7

A freshwater reptile incapable of swimming the 5000 kilometers of open ocean that now separate the continents.

Answer 7

Mesosaurus

Question 8

A fossil ¨seed fern¨identified by its tongue’shaped leaves and seeds, found in Australia, Africa, South America, Antartica, and India (it only grew on subpolar cliamtes)

Answer 8

Glossopteris

Question 9

A land- dwelling reptile

Answer 9

Lystrosaurus

Question 10

What is the third evidence of the continental drift theory?

Answer 10

Rock Types and Geologic Structures

Question 11

Who found the 2.2- billion- years old igneous rocks in Brazil that closely resembled similarly aged rocks in Africa.

Answer 11

Alfred Wegener

Question 12

What is the fourth evidence of the continental drift theory?

Answer 12

Ancient Climates

Question 13

What climate was discovered in Southern Africa, South Aerica, Australia, and India?

Answer 13

Glacial Period that dated to the late Paleozoic

Question 14

This is known to be the uppermost mantle and the overlaying crust behave sa a strong, rigid layer

Answer 14

Lithosphere

Question 15

What do you call crust broken into segments?

Answer 15

Plates

Question 16

The lithosphere overlies a weak region in the mantle known as the _______________.

Answer 16

Asthenosphere

Question 17

What was the main objections towards the continental drift theory?

Answer 17

Its inability to provide an acceptable mechanism for the movement of the continents.

Question 18

Any plate within an area greater than 20 million km^2

Answer 18

Major plate

Question 19

How many major plates are there?

Answer 19

7 major plates

Question 20

What is the largest major plate?

Answer 20

Pacific plate

Question 21

Any plate with an area less than 20 million km^2

Answer 21

Minor plate

Question 22

Any plate with an area less than 1 million km^2

Answer 22

Microplate

Question 23

What are the three types of plate boundaries?

Answer 23

• Divergent boundaries
• convergent boundaries
• transform boundaries

Question 24

Constructive margin

Answer 24

Divergent Boundary

Question 25

Destructive Margin

Answer 25

Convergent boundary

Question 26

Conservative margin

Answer 26

Transform fault boundaries

Question 27

This is also called ¨spreading centers¨

Answer 27

Divergent boundary

Question 28

Boundaries between two plates that are diverginf or MOVING AWAY from each other.

Answer 28

Divergent Boundary

Question 29

Give two examples of divergent boundary

Answer 29

- mid- oceanic ridge | - continental rift zone

Question 30

This is the longest topographic feature on the earth´s surface

Answer 30

Global ridge system (Mid- atlantic ridge, east pacific rise, and mid- indian ridge)

Question 31

The boundaries between two plates that are converging or MOVING TOWARDS each other

Answer 31

Convergent boundary

Question 32

What are the three types of convergent boundaries?

Answer 32

- oceanic- continental = volcanic arc - oceanic- oceanic = island arc - continental- continental = mountain range

Question 33

An ocean floor plate collides with a less dense continental plate

Answer 33

Oceanic- continental = volcanic arc

Question 34

An ocean floor plate collides with another ocean floor plate

Answer 34

Oceanic- oceanic = island arc

Question 35

A continental plate collides with another continental plate

Answer 35

Continental-continental = mountain range

Question 36

The boundaries between two paltes that are sliding horizontally past one another.

Answer 36

Transform Fault Boundaries

Question 37

Two types of Tranform Fault Boundaries

Answer 37

1. Left-lateral strike-slip or sinistral fault | 2. Right-lateral strike-slip or dextral fault

Question 38

Rift valleys in mid-oceanic ridges

Answer 38

Divergent in oceanic crust

Question 39

Rift Valleys in continental rift zones

Answer 39

Divergent in continental crust

Question 40

Mountain ranges

Answer 40

Convergent that is continental- continental

Question 41

Volcanic arcs

Answer 41

Convergent that is oceanic- continental

Question 42

Island arcs

Answer 42

Convergent that is oceanic- oceanic

Question 43

Faults

Answer 43

Transform Fault

Question 44

Denser Plate

Answer 44

Oceanic plate

Question 45

What causes the movement of plate tectonics?

Answer 45

Mantle convection

Question 46

What is the primary mechanism of transporting heat away from the Earth´s interior to the surface where it is eventually radiated into space.

Answer 46

Convective flow in the mantle

Question 47

What are the two evidences of plate tectonics?

Answer 47

Ocean Drilling and Hot Spots

Question 48

This hypothesis predicted that the youngest oceanic crust would be found at the ridge crest, the site of seafloor production, and the oldest oceanic crust would be located adjacent to continents.

Answer 48

Seafloor-spreading hypothesis by Harry Hess

Question 49

This showed that the volcanoes increase in age with increasing distance from the ¨big island¨of Hawaii.

Answer 49

Radiometric dating of the Hawaiian Island- Emperor Seamount chain

Question 50

Due to the pacific plate moving over the hot spot, a chain of volcanic structures known as ______________ was built.

Answer 50

Hot-spot track

Question 51

What are the forces that drive plate motion

Answer 51

1. Ridge Push | 2. Slab pull

Question 52

This gravity’driven mechanism results from the elevated position of the oceanic ridge,w here causes slabs of litosphere to ¨slide¨down the flanks of the ridge.

Answer 52

Ridge Push

Question 53

During subduction as these cold, dense oceanic litosphere sinks into the asthenosphere, they ¨pull¨the trailing plate along.

Answer 53

Slab Pull

Question 54

This layered model has two zones of convection— a thin, dynamic layer in the upper mantle and a thick, sluggish once a located below.

Answer 54

Model 1: Layering at 660 kilometers

Question 55

This model sucessfully explains why basaltic lavas that erupt along the oceanic ridges have a different chemical make- up than those that erupt in Hawaii as a result of hot-spot activity.

Answer 55

Model 1: Layering at 660 kilometers

Question 56

This model suggests that the burial ground of subducting slabs in the core-mantle boundary.

Answer 56

Model 2: Whole Mantle Convection

Question 57

This material melts and buoyantly rises toward the surface as a mantle plume.

Answer 57

Model 2: Whole Mantle Convection