Theory of Plate Tectonics

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Questions and Answers

What is the theory that combines continental drift and seafloor spreading?

  • Theory of Earthquakes
  • Theory of Continental Drift
  • Theory of Plate Tectonics (correct)
  • Theory of Seafloor Spreading

What makes up the 'plates' in plate tectonics?

  • The Earth's mantle
  • The Earth's crust
  • The Earth's lithosphere (correct)
  • The Earth's core

What was the original purpose of setting up seismograph networks in the 1950s and early 1960s?

  • To monitor atomic bomb tests (correct)
  • To study earthquakes
  • To study the Earth's crust
  • To study volcanic eruptions

What do the earthquakes and mid-ocean ridges mark on the Earth's surface?

<p>The edges of the plates (D)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What is the point on the Earth's surface directly above where an earthquake occurs?

<p>Epicenter (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What was the result of plotting all earthquakes from 1963 to 1998 on a map?

<p>The earthquakes outlined the plates (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What is the lithosphere divided into?

<p>A dozen major and several minor plates (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What is the rate at which plates move over the Earth's surface?

<p>A few centimeters a year (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What drives plate tectonics?

<p>Mantle convection (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What is the term for the movement of the plates over the Earth's surface?

<p>Plate tectonics (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What occurs at divergent plate boundaries?

<p>Plates move apart (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What is formed at mid-ocean ridges?

<p>New ocean crust (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What is the result of convergent plate boundaries?

<p>Magma generation and earthquakes (D)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What is the process of a continent breaking apart and forming an ocean?

<p>Continental rifting (D)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What is the type of rock formed at mid-ocean ridges?

<p>Igneous rock (D)</p> Signup and view all the answers

Where do most geologic activities, including volcanoes, earthquakes, and mountain building, take place?

<p>At plate boundaries (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What is the result of the Indian Plate colliding with the Eurasian Plate?

<p>The formation of the Himalayas (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What is the geologic origin of the Appalachian Mountains?

<p>A convergent plate boundary (D)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What is the name of the plate boundary that creates the Cascades volcanoes?

<p>A convergent plate boundary (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What is the name of the famous fault in California that is a transform plate boundary?

<p>The San Andreas Fault (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What is the geologic origin of the Sierra Nevada?

<p>Granitic intrusions (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What is the current state of the Pacific Ocean?

<p>It is shrinking (D)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What is the supercontinent cycle responsible for?

<p>Many of the geologic features that we see (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What is the geologic origin of the Cascades Range?

<p>A convergent plate boundary (D)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What is the result of the movement of the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate?

<p>The creation of the San Andreas Fault (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What is the Appalachian Mountains’ current state?

<p>They have been weathered and eroded significantly (D)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What phenomenon causes the formation of a line of volcanoes known as a continental arc?

<p>Subduction of an oceanic plate beneath a continental plate (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

In which type of plate boundary do oceanic plates subduct into the mantle?

<p>Ocean-Ocean plate boundary (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What type of boundary leads to the creation of an island arc?

<p>Ocean-Ocean boundary (D)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What type of plate boundary results in some of the world's largest mountain ranges?

<p>Continent-Continent boundary (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What geological feature is formed when the denser oceanic plate plunges beneath the continental plate?

<p>Subduction zone (D)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What is responsible for causing melting in the mantle in the context of plate tectonics?

<p>Subducting plate (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What is the result of magma being too viscous (thick) to rise through the crust in a continental arc?

<p>Granite or granodiorite formation (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What type of rock is likely forming beneath the Andes and Cascades today?

<p>Igneous rock (D)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What happens to continental material when two continental plates collide?

<p>Mountain range formation (D)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What is the significant feature of the Himalayan mountains regarding volcanic activity?

<p>No volcanoes due to thick crust preventing magma rise (D)</p> Signup and view all the answers

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