Download Earth`s Lithosphere Study Guide

Name ______________________
Science-8
Period ____
Earth’s Lithosphere
Study Guide
List and describe the five
layers of the earth.
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
What was Pangaea?
What evidence did
Wegner use to support
the Theory of Continental
Drift?
Why was Wegener’s
Continental Drift theory
rejected by the scientific
community of the time?
Describe the mid-ocean
ridge.
Explain the cause of sea
floor spreading.
Where in the ocean will
you find the youngest
rocks?
How did the discovery of
magnetic reversals
helped to develop the
theory of plate tectonics?
Differentiate between
Continental Drift and
Plate Tectonics.
List and describe the
three types of plate
boundaries
1)
2)
3)
Date _________________
Explain subduction
Explain how each of the
following landforms is
created in plate
tectonics:
• Mountains
• Rift Valley
• Volcano
• Fault
Differentiate between
weathering, erosion and
deposition.
What things can cause
weathering?
What is the primary
cause of erosion?
What landforms are
formed from weathering,
erosion, and deposition?
Use this map to
answer the following 4
questions.
What is the contour
interval of this map?
Determine the highest
possible elevation for
Lookout Hill.
If you wanted to climb
Lookout Hill, on which
side would your climb be
easiest?
How might the area
around Point B change in
the future?
Mountains Rift Valley Volcano Fault -
Earth’s Lithosphere
Study Guide
~ ANSWER KEY ~
List and describe the five
layers of the earth.
What was Pangaea?
What evidence did
Wegner use to support
the Theory of Continental
Drift?
Why was Wegener’s
Continental Drift theory
rejected by the scientific
community of the time?
Describe the mid-ocean
ridge.
Explain the cause of sea
floor spreading.
Where in the ocean will
you find the youngest
rocks?
In what way did the
discovery of magnetic
reversals helped to
develop the theory of
plate tectonics?
Differentiate between
Continental Drift and Plate
1) Lithosphere - solid outermost layer, about 550km deep;
2) Asthenosphere - the lower layer of the earth's
crust; less rigid than the lithosphere
3) Mantle - region below crust extending down to
Earth's core; molten rock; flexible
4) Outer Core - made of molten iron/nickel; as it
flows, it creates Earth’s magnetic field
5) Inner Core - the solid iron/nickel center of the
Earth; high temperatures & pressure; like a solid
all of the continents were once joined into a single
super-continent
• shape of the continents - could fit together like
puzzle pieces
• same animal fossils - found on opposite shores of
Atlantic Ocean
• same sequence of rock layers - including specific
rocks found on opposite shores of Atlantic Ocean
along coastlines
• fossils of tropical plants are found in polar areas,
suggests continents in polar areas were once
near the equator
• glacial deposits are found in tropical areas suggests some continents now in tropical areas
were once near the poles
No possible force could move something as large as
a continent.
Ridge of underwater volcanoes created by divergent
boundary
Hot, less dense magma rises in the mantle creating
a convection cell which pushes oceanic plates apart.
Near the mid-ocean ridge
They provide further evidence that new rock is being
formed at the mid ocean ridge and is moving away
from it over time.
Wegner’s Theory of Continental Drift, state that the
continents are floating on the mantle. After the
Tectonics.
List and describe the
three types of plate
boundaries
discovery of sea-floor spreading, scientist modified
Wegner’s theory to incorporate convection and the
earth’s plates (not just continents). This modified
theory is Plate Tectonics.
1) Convergent –plates come together
2) Divergent – plates move apart
3) Transform – plates slide past each other
Explain subduction
Type of convergent boundary in which one plate is
more dense causing goes under another.
Explain how each of the
following landforms is
created in plate tectonics:
• Mountains
• Rift Valley
• Volcano
• Fault
Mountains – collision of continental plates
Differentiate between
weathering, erosion and
deposition.
Weathering breaks rock into sediment. Erosion
transports the sediment. Deposition causes the
sediment to settle in a new location
What things can cause
weathering?
Water (freeze/thaw, abrasion, dissolving), wind
abrasion, plant growth, acid rain, animals
What is the primary cause
of erosion?
What landforms are
formed from weathering,
erosion, and deposition?
Gravity
Rift Valley – divergence of continental plates
Volcano – subduction of a plate
Fault – transform plate movement
Floodplain, river delta, sand dune, canyon
Use this map to answer
the following 4
questions.
What is the contour
interval of this map?
20 km
Determine the highest
possible elevation for
Lookout Hill.
If you wanted to climb
Lookout Hill, on which
side would your climb be
easiest?
How might the area
around Point B change in
the future?
129 km – If it was 130 km or higher there would be
another contour line.
East side
As sediment is carried down the river and deposited
in the ocean, a delta will probably form.