Plate motion

Front

Which statement best describes Earth’s outer layer underneath the surface in the image?

Back

Underneath both the soil and the ocean, Earth’s outer layer is made of hard, solid rock.

Front

Dr. Choi and his team of geologists have been studying GPS data that shows that two plates moved apart. Which diagram shows what happened between the two plates as they moved away from each other? Options: Diagram A: Soft, solid rock (magma) from underneath the plates rose and hardened, adding solid rock to the edges of both plates. Diagram B: Sand and dirt filled in the gap that was created by the plates moving apart.

Back

Diagram A: Soft, solid rock (magma) from underneath the plates rose and hardened, adding solid rock to the edges of both plates.

Front

Fossil remains of Glossopteris (an extinct plant with large leaves) have been discovered in India and Australia. When they were living, all the Glossopteris were located together on land, but now the Glossopteris fossils are separated by an ocean. What could explain how these fossils got so far apart?

Back

India and Australia are parts of different plates. The plates slowly moved far apart as soft, rock from underneath got added to the edges of the plates over millions of years.

Front

Where will a team of geologists find hard, solid rock when drilling in the North Atlantic Ocean and in Sierra Leone?

Back

Under 1 and 2, because Earth’s entire outer layer is made of hard, solid rock.

Front

Dr. Steiner and her team have been using GPS to track two plates that are moving toward each other. Which diagram shows what is happening at the place where the plates are moving toward each other? Options: Diagram A: Two plates are hitting each other, and the plates are breaking into pieces, creating sand. Diagram C: One plate is subducting or going underneath the other plate and sinking into the soft rock below.

Back

Diagram C: One plate is subducting or going underneath the other plate and sinking into the soft rock below.

Front

What happens where an oceanic plate converges with a continental plate?

Back

The more dense oceanic plate slides under the less dense continental plate. Subduction

Front

At what type of plate boundary are most high continental mountains formed?

Back

convergent boundary

Front

What type of boundary occurs where two plates move together, causing one plate to descend into the mantle beneath the other plate?

Back

convergent boundary

Front

Rift valleys, like the Great African Rift Valley, form as a result of: crustal compression., divergent boundaries of 2 continental plates., convergent boundaries, subduction zones

Back

divergent boundaries of 2 continental plates.

Front

A mid-ocean ridge is an example of what type of plate boundary?

Back

divergent zone