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Plate Tectonics Study Guide
Name___________ Period________ Date_________
1. What is the layer of Earth called that’s made up of the rocks basalt and granite?
2. As you go deeper beneath Earth’s surface, what happens to the temperature and
pressure beneath the surface?
3. How do geologists study Earth’s interior?
4. List the layers of the Earth starting at the
surface and going towards the center.
5. What is ridge push?
6. What is slab pull?
7. Where are the convection currents located that move Earth’s plates?
8. What is a convection current?
9. What happens to convection currents when the heat source is removed?
10. What does Wegener’s theory of
continental drift state?
11. What is the name of the super continent that existed millions of years ago called?
12. What do we call any trace of an ancient organism preserved in rock?
13. What are the three categories of evidence
Wegener used to support his theory of continental
drift?
14. Why was Wegener’s theory rejected by
geologists of his time?
15. What do we call the longest chain of mountains in the world?
16. In the mid-1990’s what technology did scientists use to map the ocean floor?
17. In sea-floor spreading where on the ocean floor
does molten material erupt onto the ocean floor?
18. What were scientists able to determine by
taking drilling samples of the ocean floor?
19. What did deep diving submersibles observe at the mid-ocean ridge?
20. What is the term used to describe ocean floor sinking into a deep-ocean trench?
21. As new oceanic crust cools, what happens to its density?
22. What is the force that causes Earth’s plates to move?
23. What is the name of the theory that states that
Earth’s plates are in constant slow motion?
24. What do we call a boundary where two plates collide?
25. If two continental plates collide, what is produced?
26. What do we call a boundary where two plates slip past one
another?
27. What type of rock primarily makes up oceanic crust?
28 What type of rock primarily makes up continental crust?
29. What is the name of the boundary where two plates
are moving away from each other?
30. What happens to a plate, as it is subducted into the mantle?
Convergent Boundaries
mountain ranges
transform boundaries
Basalt
Granite
divergent boundaries
It melts and retur.
31. What type of boundary occurs at a subduction zone?
32. What geologic feature is formed at a divergent boundary?
33. What is being created at a mid-ocean ridge?
34. Describe the crust:
35. Describe the mantle:
36. Describe the core:
37. What is the lithosphere?
38. What is the asthenosphere?
39. What is the mesosphere?
40. What is the outer core?
41. What is the inner core?
42. What was Rodinia?
43. Where is old crust destroyed?
44. Where is new crust created?
45. Describe the three ways
mountains are formed:
Mountain chains/ new crust
very thin, solid layer, least dense, coolest, upper
67% of Earth’s mass, rock is soft (plastic/putty
like), pressure, density, temperature increase as
you go deeper. Convection currents here drive
plate tectonics
33% of mass, deepest, densest, hottest layer. Has
two parts, inner and outer.
Crust and rigid part of the mantle. Divided into
tectonic plates.
“Plastic” layer of the upper mantle. Tectonic plates
float on this layer.
Strong, lower portion of the mantle
Liquid iron and nickel, spins rapidly to create the
Earth’s magnetic field
Solid iron and nickel
Super-continent before Pangaea
subduction zone
Draw a Convergent Boundary
Draw a Transform Boundary
Draw a Divergent Boundary
The Theory of Plate Tectonics ( Teacher’s Page)