As the leading edge of a tectonic plate moves back into the Earth, gravity can assist its movement downward. This is known as what?
Slab pull
Trench suction
Ridge push
Thermal convection
What do we know about the continents we have today?
They have stopped moving due to plate tectonics.
They formed when Pangaea split apart.
They will never form another supercontinent.
They float on top of the ocean floor.
What separates the South American plate and the African plate?
The Mid-Pacific Ridge
The Mid-Atlantic Ridge
The Indo-Australian Plate
The Indian Ocean
When plates that are higher at the spreading center flow downhill and eventually flatten out to the ocean floor, we call that _____.
both ridge push and slab pull
ridge push
earthquakes
slab pull
Gondwana and Laurasia formed when:
Antarctica broke away from Australia and Pangaea.
The supercontinent of Pangaea broke apart.
The North American continent separated from Australia.
The ocean basin erupted in volcanic activity.
Which of these is a FALSE statement about hot spots?
Hot spots occur at the boundaries of tectonic plates.
Hot spots prove that tectonic plates are not stationary.
Hot spots occur within tectonic plates.
The Hawaiian Islands are examples of hot spots.
Which of the following represents a divergent boundary?
The San Andreas Fault
The Cascade Mountains
The East African Rift Valley
The Andes Mountains
Which of the following can be formed by a convergent boundary?
Deep ocean trenches
Volcanic islands
All of these
Volcanic mountains
What was the name of the project started in the 1960s that was designed to extract and analyze samples from the ocean floor?
The Deep Sea Drilling Project
The Seafloor Drilling Project
The Ocean Basin Project
The Glomar Project
As the leading edge of a tectonic plate is forced back into the mantle, a small convection current forms beneath it, pulling it downwards. This is known as what?
Thermal convection
Trench suction
Slab pull
All answers are correct
A good example of a transform boundary is:
The Cascade Range in the Western U.S.
The Philippine Islands in the Pacific.
The Andes Mountains in South America.
The San Andreas Fault in California.
What fossils did Wegener NOT use to support his idea of continental drift?
Mesosaurus
Tyrannosaurus
Lystrosaurus
Cynognathus
Convergent and transform plate boundaries can both be responsible for:
The expansion of the ocean floor and a rich marine life.
Continental drift and global warming.
The metamorphosis of fault lines between tectonic plates.
Generating strong earthquakes.
The modern continent of North America was most recently part of the landmass called:
Gondwana
Pangaea
Laurasia
Antarctica
The outermost shell of the earth made up of the crust and upper part of the mantle is called the _____
atmosphere
asthenosphere
lithosphere
magnetosphere
We would be likely to find a rift valley growing at:
A continental shelf.
A zone of continental uplift.
The deepest point of the ocean basin.
A divergent boundary.
What is the Cascade Range an example of?
Past Mid-Atlantic ridge transformation.
A volcanic arc along an ocean-continent boundary.
Catastrophic dynamism of the Earth's crust.
A subduction zone along a divergent boundary.
Wegener's name for the super-continent he thought existed before the continents broke apart was _____.
Pangea
Geotechnic
Lunagea
Panthallassa
What discovery was NOT made from mapping the ocean floor?
Magnetic immobility
Underwater volcanoes
Seafloor spreading
Magnetic stripes in ocean rock
In what way does the Pacific plate distinguish itself from the others?
It is the largest tectonic plate.
It is the only transform plate.
It is the least active.
It is the smallest yet the most active tectonic plate.
Which of the following major plates is located farthest south?
The South American Plate
The African Plate
The Arctic Plate
The Antarctic Plate
Ocean trenches and volcanic mountains are two surface features commonly found at:
Transform plate boundaries.
Convergent plate boundaries.
All types of plate boundaries.
Divergent plate boundaries.