Download Name Date Period ______ Plate Tectonics Study Guide 1. Explain

Name _______________________________________ Date ______________ Period _______
Plate Tectonics Study Guide
1. Explain the theory of continental drift.

Proposed by Wegener in early 1900’s

Continents were once joined together before breaking up and drifting away
2. What evidence is used to support the theory of continental drift?

Similar fossils and rocks on different continents match suggesting that the continents
were once attached.

Ancient mountain chains on different continents match

Shapes of continents seem to fit together like a puzzle
3. Describe why scientists criticized the theory of continental drift.
Wegener proposed the continents plowed through the ocean crust to move
4. Provide the scientific reasoning for the movement of the plates according to the Theory of
Plate Tectonics.
Convection cells in the mantle move the plates.
5. What is a transform plate boundary?
The plates slide past one another.
6.What occurs at a transform plate boundary?
No crust is created or destroyed.
7. Draw and label a picture of a transform plate boundary.
8. What is a convergent plate boundary?
Two plates move toward each other and collide.
9. What occurs at a convergent plate boundary?

Trenches, volcano/volcano island arc

mountains
10. Draw and label a picture of a convergent plate boundary.
Oceanic-Oceanic
Example: Tonga Island Arc
Oceanic-Continental
Example: Cascade Mountain Range
Continental-Continental
Example: Himalayas
11. What is a divergent plate boundary?
(Sea- floor Spreading) When 2 plates move away from each other. Molten rock from the mantle
erupts forming new crust.
12. What occurs at a divergent plate boundary?
mid-ocean ridge and new crust
13. Draw and label a picture of a divergent plate boundary.