Plate Tectonics

Layered _________exposed by erosion can be seen when looking at the Grand Canyon in the United States

sedimentary rock

Why are volcanoes NOT found at transform boundaries?

Transform boundaries do not cause changes to the pressure, temperature, or composition of the mantle.

At divergent plate boundaries, new ocean crust is created

True

________ first related the symmetrical magnetic patterns in seafloor basalts to seafloor spreading at a mid-ocean ridge.

Vine and Matthews

A transform plate boundary is characterized by ________.

a deep, vertical fault along which two plates slide past one another in opposite directions

Where is the youngest ocean floor found?

along the crest of mid-ocean ridges

Beneath Earth's lithosphere, the hotter, weaker zone known as the _____ allows for motion of Earth's rigid outer shell

asthenosphere

Which of the following mountain ranges are examples of continental arcs

Andes and Cascades

In studies of rock obtained from ocean basins all over Earth, the oldest ages obtained are approximately 200 million years before the present. Why have no older oceanic rocks been discovered?

Due to tectonic activity, rocks on the ocean floor are continually recycled.

Which boundary is characterized as a long, linear rise in the seafloor, with shallow earthquakes and volcanic activity found along its length?

divergent boundary

The Atlantic Ocean basin is getting _____ in size because _____

larger; no subduction is taking place at the basin's perimeter

Which of the following lithospheric plates is not included among the seven largest?

the Philippine plate

Which of the following observations was included as evidence for Wegener's continental drift hypothesis?

the jigsaw-puzzle fit of the continents

Earth's lithospheric plates are composed of crust and which of the following layers?

the outermost portion of the mantle

Which of the following processes can be observed at the margins of lithospheric plates?

earthquakes, faults, volcanoes, and mountain building

The earthquakes that occur in Southern California generally occur above a

fault

A very long-lived magma source located deep in the mantle is called a _____

hot spot

The continental drift hypothesis was rejected primarily because Alfred Wegener could not ________.

identify a mechanism capable of moving continents

Which geologic features are associated with divergent boundaries?

mid-ocean ridges and continental rift valleys

divergent plate boundaries

move apart.

transform plate boundaries

move side-by-side

What forms at divergent plate boundaries

new oceanic lithosphere

Linear, magnetic patterns associated with mid-ocean ridges are configured as ________.

normal and reversed magnetized strips roughly parallel to the ridge

The ________ is an example of an active, continent-continent collision

northward movement of India into Eurasia

Which geologic features are associated with convergent boundaries?

ocean trenches and volcanoes

In general, where do volcanoes form in subduction zones?

on the overriding plate, away form the convergent boundary

The slowly increasing distance between South America and Africa is due to

seafloor spreading

The extremely deep ocean Marianas Trench is a result of

subduction

Deep-focus earthquakes, those between 300 and 700 kilometers below the surface, occur only in association with _______

subduction zones

Movement of plates away from each other at divergent boundaries typically shows which of the following average velocities?

5 cm per year

In the early part of the 20th century, ________ argued forcefully for continental drift.

Alfred Wegener

Why people didn't believe in Alferd

Because he didn't have a Magnetism

Which one of the following statements is TRUE?

Earth's magnetic field reverses over geologic time.

_______ was a flora that was widely distributed throughout the once contiguous, late Paleozoic, Southern Hemisphere landmass.

Glossopteris

_____ was never proposed as evidence supporting the existence of Pangaea.

Islands along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge with rocks dating back from 542 million to 2500 million years ago

convergent plate boundaries

Plates move together.

____found in the Atlantic Ocean between North America and Europe is composed of dense and relatively young rock.

Seafloor crust

What would happen to Earth if ocean floor were created at divergent boundaries at a faster rate than it is destroyed at convergent boundaries?

The Earth would increase in volume.

What is the relationship between the crust and lithosphere?

The crust is part of the lithosphere.

Which of the following is one of the remarkable realizations associated with the discovery of seafloor spreading?

The crust of the oceans is very young relative to the age of the continental crust

When moving away from a divergent boundary in either direction, which of the following statements is true?

The rocks increase in age.

Currently the Juan de Fuca plate is interacting with the North American plate where inland volcanoes and deep focus earthquakes are occurring. What type of plate boundary is this?

a convergent plate boundary

Australia is composed of relatively old and thick

continental crust

Deep-ocean trenches are formed by _______.

the subduction of lithosphere into the asthenosphere

Which of the following paleoclimatic evidence supports the idea of the late Paleozoic super continent in the Southern Hemisphere?

tillites (rocks formed by glaciers) in South Africa and South America

Old Faithful Geyser at Yellowstone National Park in the United States acquires its energy from

a hot spot

What is a volcanic arc?

a row of volcanoes that forms on the overriding plate near a subduction zone

The East African rift is a divergent plate boundary that is splitting the continent of Africa into two pieces. What will eventually form around this divergent boundary?

an ocean