Plate Tectonics Test

Why didn't other Scientists believe Wegener?

1) The continents move slowly so it wasn't something that could be easily seen or measured. 2) Wegener couldn't explain what forces were causing the continents to move.

viscosity

A liquid's resistance to flow

volcano

A vent in Earth's crust through which melted - or molten - rock flows

How do hot spot volcanoes form?

A volcano forms above a hot spot when magma erupts through the crust and reaches the surface.

what is a surface wave

A wave that travels along a surface it is responsible for all damage during an earthquake

____ can explode out of a volcano up to 40 km into the air.

Ash columns

what are the three forces that interact to cause tectonic plate motion

Basel drag,Ridge push, and slab pull

Suggests: Caledonian and Appalachian mountain were connected as one mountain range in the past, and then

Broke apart into two as the continents drifted apart

The Blank mountain range in Europe and the Blank mountain range in North America are composed of rocks that are the same type, age, and structure. When lining up the continents these mountain ranges also connect almost perfectly to form a united belt across the two continents.

Caledonian; Appalachian

Glacial grooves in America, Africa, India, and Australia. This would suggest that these continents were once part of the Southern Hemisphere and had a

Colder climate

Rock Clue:s: Wegener observed that mountain ranges and rock formations on different continents had

Common origins

convergent plate boundary

Continental -> <- Continental and creates folded mountains Continental -> <- Oceanic and creates volcanoes and deep ocean trench Oceanic -> <- Oceanic and creates trench and island arc

Alfred Wegener came up with the

Continental Drift Hypothesis

transform plate boundary

Continental | | Continental - earthquake Continental | | Oceanic - earthquake Oceanic | | Oceanic - earthquake

Fossils from the same plants and animals have been found on multiple

Continents

Materials move based on differences in their temperatures and densities in the process of ......

Convection

Where does a Normal fault occur

Divergent plate boundary

Climate Clues: Wegener discovered

Glacial grooves

What is NOT true about lava?

Lava is inside the Earth

The hypothesis became more widely accepted after Wegener's death when evidence of blank blank spreading was found deep within the blank.

Sea floor; ocean

What is true about lava flows?

Slow moving, but can last for a long time

What wave is the most destructive and why

Surface because it travels only on the crust

Waht makes up the asthenosphere

The layer below the rigid lithosphere is a zone of asphalt-like constancy called the Asthenosphere . The asthenosphere is the part of the mantle that flows and moves the plates of the Earth.

What is the focus?

The point in the earth where the earthquake starts

How do tectonic plates move?

They float on top of very hot "plasticy" rock and convection currents from the mantel

moment magnitude scale

a rating system that estimates the total energy released by an earthquake

Modified Mercalli Scale

a scale that rates the amount of shaking from an earthquake

What is a strike-slip fault?

a type of fault where rocks on either side move past each other sideways

Most of the volcanic activity on Earth occurs

along mid-ocean ridges

Earth's plastic-like layer is the _____.

asthenosphere

Continental Drift Hypothesis that the continents are in

constant motion on Earth's surface

Remains of the same plants and animals are present on different _____ that are now separated by oceans.

continents

What is the boundary where two plates collide? *

convergent

Active volcanoes are most likely to form at ____.

convergent oceanic-continental boundaries

Where do reverse faults occur?

convergent plate boundaries

As magma rises toward Earth's surface, the pressure on it

decreases

What is the boundary where two plates separate? *

divergent

The eruption style of a volcano depends on the amount of ______ dissolved in the magma, especially the amount of water vapor

gases

What formed the Hawaiian islands?

hot spot volcano

At an ocean/ocean divergent boundary, what is CREATED? *

mid-ocean ridge

What happens when the heat from a volcano melts the snow and ice on the summit?

mudflow

divergent plate boundary

oceanic <- -> oceanic and creates mid-ocean ridge continental <- -> continental and creates rift valley

What can S waves travel through?

only solids

Alfred Wegener came up with his hypothesis from the fact that the continents look like they could fit together like the

pieces of a puzzle

Plate movement happens at...

plate boundaries

Where do faults occur?

plate boundaries

The place where two plates meet is called a ....

plate boundary

Viscosity of lava is higher when magma has a high ___ content *

silica

How do transform boundaries move?

slide past each other

What can P waves travel through?

solids and liquids

volcanic ash

tiny particles of pulverized volcanic rock and glass

What is the boundary where two plates slide past each other? *

transform

Where do strike-slip faults occur?

transform boundaries

Most volcanoes in the US occur along the ____ coast

west

slab pull

when a plate sinks below another plate it pulls on then rest of the plate

About how many different volcanoes erupt each year?

60

There are about _____ active volcanoes on land.

600

What happens when two continental plates collide

A Mountain forms

What could form when one tectonic plate dives under another plate

A Volcano

What happens when a Continental and oceanic plate collide

A deep ocean trench forms

volcanic ash

A mixture of particles of pulverized volcanic rock and glass

Low silica content - mid-ocean ridges and hot spots

Low viscosity and flows easily

Hot Spot (PLUME)

New volcano forms as tectonic plates move over a plume. When the plate moves away from a plume, the volcano becomes dormant/inactive. A chain of volcanoes forms as the plate moves. The oldest volcano is farthest away from the hot spot and the youngest volcano is directly above the hot spot.

When a continental and oceanic plate collides which one subducts

Oceanic plate subducts

How do tectonic plates move in relationship to the mantel

Plates at our planet's surface move because of the intense heat in the Earth's core that causes molten rock in the mantle layer to move

Where do volcanoes form? Why? (rof)

Ring of Fire: An area of earthquake and volcanic activity surrounding the Pacific Ocean. Most volcanoes occur along convergent plate boundaries. They also occur along divergent plate boundaries and over hot spots. Volcanoes form along the Pacific Plate and are called the Ring of Fire.

What is an example of a transform plate boundary

San Andreas Fault in California

Why did Wegener's hypothesis become more accepted after his death

Sea floor spreading was found/Descovered

Mudflows (lahars)

The thermal energy a volcano produces during an eruption can melt snow and ice on the summit. This meltwater can then mix with mud and ash on the mountain to form this.

Do tectonic plates move fast or slow?

They move slowly (about the speed of which a fingernail grows)

_____, made up of tiny particles of pulverized volcanic rock and glass erupts explosively.

Volcanic Ash

Hot spots

Volcanoes that are not associated with plate boundaries

How do tectonic plates move in relationship to other plate

When the plates meet. The movement of the plates creates three types of tectonic boundaries

Is Mt. Vesuvius, Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, the Hawaiian Islands, or Andes Mountains a continental hot spot?

Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming

What are convection currents?

a current in a fluid that results from convection.

Where most earthquakes occur

along plate boundaries and along the edges of continents and in oceans

What is a volcano?

A weak spot in the crust where molten material, or magma, comes to the surface.

Who came up with the Continental drift hypotheses

Alfred wegener

What is the Ring of Fire?

An area located along the Pacific Ocean where 80% of the worlds earthquakes and many active volcanoes occur

What happens when two oceanic plates collide

And Island arc forms

What is a earthquake?

Are the vibrations in the ground that result from movement along break in Earth's lithosphere.

What does dissolved gases do to magma

As magma moves towards the surface pressure from the rock above decreases and so does the ability for the gases to stay dissolved in the magma. Eventually bubbles form, they increase in size and gas begins to escape. This can be hard for high viscosity lavas It can end in a explosive eruptions

Lava flow

Lava flows move slowly, but can be damaging and threaten communities. They can also last a long time.

What are the effects of each type of eruptions

Lava flows, Ash falls, Mud flows, and it can affect climate

Lava

Magma that reaches Earth's surface

silica (how does it affect magma)

Main chemical compound in all magmas. Differences in the magma's silica can affect thickness and viscosity.

Blank blank on the Western coast of Africa and the Eastern coast of South America are identical in both chemistry and age

Volcanic rocks

What are the positive environmental impacts of the volcanoes

Volcanoes have also helped create a large portion of Earth's atmosphere provide nutrients to the surrounding soil

How do convergent volcanoes form

When a continental and oceanic plate boundary collide the oceanic subducts. the thermal energy below the surface melt the subducting plate and form magma. The magma is less dense than the mantel so i rises through cracks in the crust

How do divergent plate volcanoes form

When the two plates spread apart magma rises through the opening in earths crust that forms between the two plates

what is a fault

a break in Earth's lithosphere where one block of rock moves toward, away from, or past another

silica

a material found in magma that forms from the elements oxygen and silicon

How do seismic waves tell what earth is made of

S-waves can only travel through solids, and on a map graph thingie it shows that they stop when they reach the outer core

What causes the formation of volcanoes?

Scientists have learned that the movement of Earth's tectonic plates cause the formation of volcanoes and the eruptions that result.

Who is Mickey Mouse?

Sodapop's horse

_____________ occurs where plates of different densities collide.

Subduction

The release of a large amount of volcanic ash can affect Earth's climate by blocking ___. When droplets of sulfuric acid from volcanoes form in the atmosphere, they ____ sunlight into space. Volcanic ash and acid droplets in the atmosphere ___ Earth's temperature *

Sunlight; reflect; lower

Name the two mountain ranges (one in N. America and one in Europe) and explain what characteristics proved that they were once together.

The Appalachian Mountains in North America and the Caledonian Mountains in Europe are similar in age and rock structure. If you connected North America and Europe, they would make one long and continuous mountain belt.

What is an example of a convergent plate boundary

The Cascade Mountain Range, The Andes Mountain Range ,

Where are most of the world's active volcanoes?

The Ring of Fire

How do transformers work?

They step the potential difference up at one end for efficient transmission and then bring it back down again to safe, usable levels at the other end

What causes rock deformation?

Very HIGH amounts of PRESSURE (or stress)

ash fall

Volcanic ash falling through the air.

At an ocean/continent convergent boundary, what are the 2 things created? *

deep ocean trench in the water and volcanoes on the land

What are the three types of plate boundaries

divergent, convergent, transform

At a transform boundary, the plate movement causes? *

earthquakes

The fossilized plants that create coal deposits show that Antarctica was once near the ________.

equator

pyroclastic flow

fast moving avalanches of hot gas, ash, and rock

What is a primary wave

first, and fastest and least damaging earthquake

At a continent/continent convergent boundary, what is created? *

folded mountains

The _______ that moves the plates was found on the sea floor.

force

Scientists look at all of these factors to determine if a volcanic eruption may happen.

gas emissions, past history, earthquake activity, changes in shape

____ grooves on continents that currently have warm climates show that these continents once had cold climates.

glacial

What makes up the lithosphere

t The crust and the upper layer of the mantle together make up a zone of rigid, brittle rock called the Lithosphere .

How do tectonic plates move in relationship to the asthenosphere

tectonic Plates move over the asthenosphere

What is the difference between a focus and the epicenter

the epicenter is the location right above the earthquakes focus. The focus is where rocks first move along a fault

mud flow

the flow of a mass of mud or rock and soil mixed with a large amount of water

what happens When two plates collide

the less dense plate slides under the more dense plate

What is the epicenter of an earthquake?

the point on Earth's surface directly above the earthquake's focus

lava flow

the spread of lava as it pours out of a vent

Crust is neither destroyed nor created along a ___________ plate boundary.

transform

How do S waves cause partials to move?

up and down at right angles relative to the direction the wave travels

What do surface waves do?

They produce the most sever ground movements

Viscosity

A liquid's resistance to flowing

Richter scale

A scale that rates an earthquake's magnitude based on the size of its seismic waves.

What did the continental drift hypothesis state

Continents are in constant motion on earths surface, Earth was originally was made up of one large supercontinent called Pangaea, and Continents look like they could fit together like puzzle pieces.

basal drag

Convection currents in the mantle produce a force that causes motion

Where do volcanoes form?

Convergent (subduction) plate boundaries, divergent plate boundaries and over hotspots

Where do volcanoes form? Why? (c plate boundaries)

Convergent plate boundaries: Two plates collide, and the denser plate subducts into the mantle. The thermal energy below the surface and fluids that are driven off of the subducting plate melt the mantle and form magma. Magma is less dense than the mantle and rises through cracks in the crust, which forms a volcano.

How do tectonic plates move in relationship to the lithosphere

Earth's solid outer crust, the lithosphere, is separated into plates that move over the asthenosphere

what forms at transform plate boundary

Earthquakes occur and, of course, trust is broken but not destroyed

What does the theory of plate tectonics state

Earths surface is made up of ridged slabs of rock, or plates, that move with respect of one another Tectonic is the forces the shape Earths surface and rock structure

What was the name of one of the explorers who discovered either leaves and stems or beds of coal on Antarctica?

Ernest Shackleton

pyroclastic flow

Explosive volcanoes can produce fast-moving avalanches of hot gas, ash, and rock called this

Explain the two reasons why scientists doubted Wegener. What 2 things couldn't Wegener explain?

First, he didn't know the forces that caused continental drift. Second, the moving of the continents is a slow process, and he couldn't measure it.

What is a Normal fault

Forces pull two blocks of rock apart The block of rock above the fault moves down in relative to the block of rock below the fault

What is a Reverse faults

Forces push two blocks together and the rock above the fault moves up relative to the block below the fault,.

Explain how Glossopteris provides evidence of continental drift.

Fossils of the plant Glossopteris have been found on many different continents separated by oceans, including Antarctica. The plant couldn´t have traveled this distance. Also, it lived in a swampy climate, so this means Antarctica once had a warmer climate.

What where the climate clues that scientists found

Glacial grooves found on 4 warmer continents-South America, Africa, India, Australia, and Fossils that lived in a cretin climate where found in a place with the opposite climate the fossil once lived in

One specific plant, the. , has fossils in South America, Africa, India, Australia

Glossopteris

What where the fossil clues the the scientists found

Glossopters was found on 5 different continents including South america, Africa, India, Austria, and Antarctica. the seeds could have not traveled across oceans

Name the two "super" continents that Pangaea broke into as the continents began to move apart.

Gondwanaland & Eurasia

Magma with a high silica content has a .......viscosity

Higfh

High silica content - subduction zones and continental hot spots

High viscosity and flows like a sticky toothpaste

Where do volcanoes form? Why? (hs)

Hot spots: Not all volcanoes are near plate boundaries. Hot spots are not associated with plate boundaries and scientists hypothesize that hot spots originate above a rising convection current in the mantle. They use the word plume to describe rising currents of hot mantle material.

How do primary waves cause particles to move

In a push-pull motion

How do surface waves cause partials move?

In a rolling motion

When 2 oceanic plates collide a volcano is formed along the mid-ocean trench. These islands are called?

Island Arc

What does the ring of fire tell us

It tells up that most volcanoes form along plate boundaries

The deepest spot in the ocean is called the _________________.

Mariana's Trench

What forms at divergent boundaries?

Mid-ocean ridges (in the oceans) and Rift valleys (on continents)

magma

Molten rock below Earth's surface

Magma

Molten rock beneath the earth's surface

lava

Molten rock that erupts onto Earth's surface

What where the rock clues that the scientists found.

Mt. ranges and rock formations on different continents had common origins. Volcanic rocks on the Western coast of Africa and the Eastern coast of South America are identical in chemistry and age. The Caledonian mt range n Europe and the application range in North America are the same rock type, age and structure. When you connect them they line up perfectly and form one large belt across the two continents

Do the tectonic plates move in the same direction?

NO

Plants and animals wouldn't be able to travel across the large blanks that separate these continents, so this suggests that at one point in time these continents were either connected or at least

Oceans; closer together than they are now

What is the largest tectonic plate

Pacific Plate

Alfred Wegener believed that the Earth was originally made up of one large supercontinent called

Pangaea

What are the Three types of seismic waves

Primary waves Secondary waves Surface waves

Why did scientists reject Wegener's theory?

The contents move slowly so it was not something that could easy be seen or measured, and Wegener could not explain what forces caused the continents to move.

State Alfred Wegener's hypothesis.

The continental drift hypothesis states that the continents are in constant motion on Earth's surface.

How do volcanoes affect climate?

The gases and particles block/ reflect the sunlight and cool the atmosphere.

Mantle

The layer of hot, solid material between Earth's crust and core.

What can eventually happen during rock deformation

The rock changes shape

What is a secondary wave

The second wave that comes

Name two types of climate clues used by Wegener to support his hypothesis. Explain why they support continental drift.

There are glacial grooves in some continents that now have warm climates, which suggests that they must have cold climates. Another reason is Glossopteris lives in a swampy climate, but it was found in Antarctica, which mean Antarctica once had a warmer climate. This explains continental drift because it means the continents were closer to the equator of the South Pole, and were in different locations than today.

Explain how convection currents in the mantle work: where does the thermal energy come from? What happens to the material that is heated? What happens to the material as it gets near the crust?

Thermal energy comes from the core and then is transferred into the mantle. The warmer, less dense material rises and the cooler, more dense material sinks. This creates a circular motion. As it gets near the crust, the material cools down and that continues the circular motion.

Large and explosive volcanic eruptions can change climate because

ash and gas that erupt high into the atmosphere can reflect sunlight

Tectonic plates float on the ____________.

asthenosphere

What layer do the tectonic plates float on?

asthenosphere

What layer do the tectonic plates move on?

asthenosphere

How do divergent plates move?

away from each other

Glossopteris suggests that continents were blank together, and it also suggests that the blank of Antarctica was once warm and wetter, to be able to sustain this type of blank life.

closer; climate; plant

At an ocean/ocean convergent boundary what is created? *

island arc (volcanic arc of islands)

A ________ can also form where two oceanic plates collide.

line of volcanoes

The crust and upper mantle make up Earth's

lithosphere

Tectonic plates are pieces of the ________ that float on the more fluid ________ below.

lithosphere and Asthenosphere

Magma that has a low silica content has ____ viscosity

low

Magma with low silica content has a .... viscosity

low viscosity

At a divergent plate boundary such as a mid-ocean ridge, you should expect to find

low viscosity lava and normal faults

Volcanic ash and acid droplets in the atmosphere ___ Earth's temperature

lower

This is the molten mixture of rock forming substances, gases and water from the mantle.

magma

What determines the volcanoes eruption style?

magma chemistry

Convection currents in the _________ move tectonic plates.

mantle

ridge push

plates are pushed away from each other at mid-ocean ridges

Do tectonic plates move because of conduction current or convection currents?

r convection currents

When droplets of sulfuric acid from volcanoes form in the atmosphere, they ____ sunlight into space

reflect

At a continental/continental divergent boundary, what is created? *

rift valley

The release of a large amount of volcanic ash can affect Earth's climate by blocking ___

sunlight

a weak spot in the crust where magma comes to the surface is called:

volcano

(Glaciers don't form in these areas now because they have a. climate and they are closer to the equator)

warmer

Where do volcanoes form? Why? (d plate boundaries)

Divergent plate boundaries: Lava erupts at Divergent plate boundaries. Two plates spread apart and magma rises through the vent/opening in Earth's crust that forms between the plates. This commonly occurs at mid-ocean ridges and forms new oceanic crust.

Ash fall

During an explosive eruption, volcanoes can erupt large volumes of volcanic this. This is a mixture of particles of pulverized rock and glass.

What are the characteristics the mantel

the mantle is the mostly-solid it lies between Earth's core and the crust

Lithosphere

the solid, outer layer of the earth that consists of the crust and the rigid upper part of the mantle

Asthenosphere

the upper layer of the earth's mantle, below the lithosphere and where the lithosphere floats

What is volcanic ash?

tiny particles of volcanic rock and glass

How do convergent boundaries move?

towards each other