Download Plate Tectonics and Mountain Building – Study Guide Plate

Plate Tectonics and Mountain Building – Study Guide
Plate Tectonics
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What hypothesis states that the continents were once joined to form a single supercontinent?
The four types of evidences that supports Wegener’s hypothesis are:
Evidence about ________________________ indicates that ________ once covered India and Australia.
How many major plates cover our planet?
5. What was the main reason Wegener’s continental drift hypothesis was rejected?
6. According to the theory of plate tectonics, the __________________ was divided into _________
7. What kind of plate boundary occurs where two plates grind past each other without destroying or
producing lithosphere?
8. A divergent boundary at two oceanic plates can result in a ____.
9. What type of boundary occurs where two plates move together, causing one plate to descend into the
mantle beneath the other plate?
10. The San Andreas fault is a geographic example of what type of fault boundary?
11. New ocean crust is formed at what type of boundary?
12. A geographic example of a divergent plate boundary on continental lithosphere would be ____.
13. Volcanic island arcs are associated with what type of plate boundary?
14. Strips of alternating magnetic polarities found in rocks in the ocean basins provide evidence for what?
15. The Hawaiian Islands were formed when the Pacific Plate moved over ____.
16. How does the age of seafloor sediments change with increasing distance from the ocean ridge?
17. The thermal convection that drives plate motion is caused by ____.
Mountains
18. Define deformation
19. Name the three types of rock deformation from the lab.
20. Deformation in which the object returns to its original shape and size after the stress is removed is called
____.
21. The type of deformation in which the object permanently changes size and shape without fracturing is
called ____.
22. A material that undergoes tensional stress tends to ____.
23. Name the three types of stress.
24. Folding is usually the result of what type of stress?
25. Faults in which movement is mainly horizontal and parallel
to the trend of the fault surface are
called ____________________________.
26. Define orogenesis.
27. How are mountains classified?
28. Name the four major types of mountains.
29. Explain the process of orogenesis using the following key
words: thrust faulting, folding, igneous activity.
30. In Figure 11-1, what is the structure labeled B?
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The Sierra Nevada of California is an example of what type of mountain?
How did the Himalayas form?
What are the major types of mountain ranges that are formed at convergent plate boundaries?
Define accretionary wedge.
What type of stress is dominant at divergent plate boundaries?
The removal of material by erosion will cause the crust to _____________.
What force controls the isostatic adjustment of Earth’s crust?
According to the process of isostatic adjustment, the crust is ________________ as mountains are
eroded.
39. The diagrams above show patterns of convection currents under the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Many scientists
believe that convection currents in the mantle between South America and Africa caused the separation
of the two continents and the formation of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Which diagram best represents the
currents described in this theory?
40. Which diagram of crustal movement best shows how older rock layers may be located on top of younger
rock layers?