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Earth Science: Plate Tectonics Study Guide
1.
How does Earth’s temperature change between the surface and the center?
2.
Which layer of the Earth is thinnest?
3.
Place the following in order from most to least dense: nickel, iron, magnesium, oxygen.
4.
The density of a substance can be measured using the unit of grams per cubic centimeter, or g/cm3.
The density of the core is about 10 to 13 g/cm3. The density of the mantle is about 3.3 to 5.7 g/
g/cm3. Which is the BEST estimate for the density of the crust?
5.
Radiators create convection currents of air. When hot air leaves a radiator, it rises to the top of the
room. What happens to the air next?
6.
What causes Earth’s tectonic plates to move?
7.
What parts of the Earth make up the lithosphere?
8.
How far do the Earth’s tectonic plates move each year?
9.
When hot material from the mantle rises up to the surface, what doe it create?
10.
Fossils of tropical plants have been found in Antarctica. How is this evidence for the Theory of
Continental Drift?
11.
What happens at a convergent plate boundary?
12.
What happens at a plate boundary when magma wells up and hardens?
13.
There is a convergent plate boundary just off the west coast of South America. What features would
you expect to find in the surrounding area?
14.
If you look at the rock near the mid ocean ridge, where is the rock the youngest?
15.
Mount Fuji is a dormant volcano in Japan. It is located on land, not in the ocean. What is most likely
to have created Mount Fuji?
16.
At first, not many scientists agreed with Wegener’s Theory of Continental Drift. What might have
been the BEST reason that the theory was difficult to believe?
17.
What type of material would MOST likely be found in the ocean floor at a divergent plate boundary?
18.
Which layer or layers of Earth are solid?
19.
What is the zone that is made up of the tectonic plates?
20.
Draw and label a convergent plate boundary where a continental and oceanic plate converge.
21.
How did the Hawaiian Islands form?
22.
The deepest hole that humans have ever drilled was completed in 1994. It was drilled on land and
was about 12 kilometers deep. What was the deepest layer that the hole reached?
23.
What was Alfred Wegener’s hypothesis?
24.
Where are earthquakes are MOST LIKELY to occur?
25.
What feature is produced by the collision of two continental plates?
26.
Which ocean was produced by seafloor spreading between Africa and South America?
27.
What happens to the age of the rocks as the distance increases away from a mid-ocean ridge?
28.
Assume a sea floor has been separating at an average rate of 5 centimeters per year. The sea is
presently 8000 kilometers wide. How long ago did the sea begin to form?
29.
What is a convection current of magma is made up of?