Deck 3: The Dynamic Geosphere and Plate Tectonics

Question 1

What is the name of the landmass that consists of all of the southern continents?

A) Wegener
B) Pangea
C) Scarp
D) Gondwanaland
E) Continental Drift

Answer 1

D

Question 2

Who was Alfred Wegener?

A) the Flemish cartographer who wrote Thesaurus Geographicus
B) the first explorer to make the journey to the New World in 1492
C) the French geographer who found coal in North America and Europe
D) the first geologist to suggest that the Earth's internal heat drives vast, circular currents in the mantle that move lithospheric plates
E) the first geologist to formulate a global explanation of how the continents assumed their present locations and shapes

Answer 2

E

Question 3

How does continental rifting work?

A) Continents move together in a northward direction.
B) Continents slide past each other.
C) Continents pull apart from each other.
D) Continents collide into each other.
E) Continents erode.

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Pangea is the name of the giant landmass that is comprised of all of the Earth's continents.

Question 5

Geologists immediately accepted the theory of continental drift when it was proposed in the 1920s.

Question 6

What is the mechanism proposed by Arthur Holmes that drives continental drift?

A) convection
B) tidal forces
C) erosion
D) weathering
E) paleomagnetism

Question 7

Which of the following describes paleomagnetism?

A) an extraterrestrial Earth reservoir
B) the Earth's magnetic field periodically reverses over geologic time
C) a stationary plume of magma
D) material that can be taken from the Earth for profit
E) hot mantle material rises at divergent plate boundaries, cools, and sinks at convergent plate boundaries

Question 8

Magnetic reversals in the Earth's crust were first discovered:

A) in East Africa.
B) in the Himalayas.
C) on the ocean floor.
D) in Gondwanaland.
E) in Pangaea

Question 9

How fast do tectonic plates move?

A) several (over 100) kms per year
B) a few kms (~10) per year
C) a few inches (~1-2) per year
D) a few inches (~1-2) in a million years
E) they do not move

Question 10

What is the lithosphere?

A) earth's oceanic and continental crust
B) earth's crust and upper mantle
C) rocks formed from molten material
D) the process of uplifting rocks from great depths
E) the region at the base of the Earth's continental crust

Question 11

Which of the following locations is the type-locality for continent-continent divergent plate boundary?

A) Andes
B) East African Rift Valley
C) mid-ocean ridges
D) Aleutian islands
E) Hawaii

Question 12

What provides evidence for continental drift and plate tectonics?

A) paleomagnetism of the Earth's crust
B) apparent polar wander curves that show similar changes in location of the magnetic poles
C) sea floor spreading
D) earthquakes occurring on the sea floor
E) all of the above

Question 13

Use the information provided in the illustration below to answer the following question(s).

-What sort of plate boundary is depicted by this picture?

A) convergent
B) divergent
C) transform
D) interplate
E) wandering

Question 14

Use the information provided in the illustration below to answer the following question(s).

-What is the name of the fault that separates the two blocks?

A) normal fault
B) strike slip
C) reverse fault
D) extensional fault
E) compressional fault

Question 15

The motion history of California's San Andreas fault is typical of:

A) the convergence of two oceanic plates.
B) the convergence of an oceanic and continent-bearing plate.
C) transform boundaries.
D) the divergence of two oceanic plates.
E) the convergence of two continent-bearing plates.

Question 16

Use the information provided in the illustration below to answer the following question(s).

-What plate tectonic setting does this describe?

A) convergent plate boundary
B) divergent plate boundary
C) transform plate boundary
D) intraplate region
E) wandering plate boundary

Question 17

Use the information provided in the illustration below to answer the following question(s).

-Where on earth do we find this type of plate boundary?

A) Himalayas
B) Mid-ocean Ridges
C) East African Rift Valley
D) Andes
E) San Andreas Fault in California

Question 18

What is a subduction zone?

A) where one lithospheric plate goes beneath another
B) where one lithospheric plate slides past another
C) where one asthenospheric plate slides past another
D) a transform plate boundary
E) a plate boundary in Oklahoma

Question 19

The Alps and Himalayas mark the locations of:

A) the convergence of two oceanic plates.
B) the convergence of an oceanic and continent-bearing plate.
C) transform boundaries.
D) the divergence of two oceanic plates.
E) the convergence of two continent-bearing plates.

Question 20

Which plate tectonic setting is NOT associated with igneous rocks and minerals?

A) continent-continent divergent plate boundaries
B) ocean-continent convergent plate boundaries
C) ocean-ocean divergent plate boundaries
D) continent-continent divergent plate boundaries
E) transform plate boundaries

Question 21

Where do we see rift valleys, normal faults, black smokers and rising magma?

A) near the San Andreas fault in California
B) at mid ocean ridges
C) in the Himalayas
D) at Island arcs
E) in subduction zones

Question 22

The East Pacific Ocean spreading center moves faster than the Mid-Atlantic ridge.

Question 23

Volcanoes at oceanic divergent plate boundaries are not as explosive as those at ocean-continent convergent boundaries.

Question 24

Where do we see subduction, reverse faults, explosive volcanoes and island arcs?

A) near the San Andreas fault in California
B) at East Pacific Ocean spreading center
C) in the Himalayas
D) at ocean-continent convergent plate boundaries
E) at the Mid-Atlantic ridge

Question 25

Convergent and transform plate boundaries do not generate destructive earthquakes.

Question 26

Explosive volcanoes are not located near convergent plate boundaries.

Question 27

How are mountains created at plate boundaries?

A) accretion along continental margins and convergent plate boundaries
B) compression at convergent plate boundaries
C) collision of continents at convergent plate boundaries
D) magma rises in the Earth's crust producing volcanic mountains
E) all of the above

Question 28

What economically important elements are found at black smokers?

A) beryllium, magnesium, calcium, strontium, and barium
B) silicon, carbon, uranium, aluminum and argon
C) titanium, zircon, boron, cerium, and iron
D) copper, lead, zinc, gold, and silver
E) lithium, sodium, potassium, rubidium, and cesium

Question 29

Crust is produced at ________ boundaries.

A) convergent
B) divergent
C) transform
D) both convergent and divergent
E) both divergent and transform

Question 30

Crust is consumed at ________ boundaries.

A) convergent
B) divergent
C) transform
D) both convergent and divergent
E) both divergent and transform

Question 31

Match the following options to its correct definition.
-steep banks created by movements of the Earth's surface.

A) magma
B) trench
C) scarp
D) island arc
E) rift

Question 32

Match the following options to its correct definition.
-long, linear valleys where the lithosphere breaks at mid-ocean ridges

A) magma
B) trench
C) scarp
D) island arc
E) rift

Question 33

Match the following options to its correct definition.
-deep valleys found near subduction zones

A) magma
B) trench
C) scarp
D) island arc
E) rift

Question 34

Match the following options to its correct definition.
-molten rock found underground

A) magma
B) trench
C) scarp
D) island arc
E) rift

Question 35

Match the following options to its correct definition.
-chain of volcanic islands that form in the ocean at subduction zones

A) magma
B) trench
C) scarp
D) island arc
E) rift

Question 36

Describe the 3 major types of plate boundaries and provide examples for each type of boundary. Draw each boundary (use your own writing; no computer images).

Question 37

Define the terms lithosphere and asthenosphere. Where are the lithosphere and asthenosphere found?

Question 38

What tectonic plate do you live on? What is your nearest plate boundary?

Question 39

Who was Alfred Lothar Wegener? Why do you think his theory of continental drift took so long to be accepted by the geological community?

Question 40

Describe the relationship between earthquakes and volcanoes and plate tectonics.

Question 41

How is the Earth's surface affected at the different plate boundaries? Use these key terms in your answer: magma, scarp, rift, subduction, thrust fault, normal fault, transform fault, trench, and volcanic arc.