Building Pangea

Building Pangea - Continental Drift

Use your "Building Pangea" document that you completed last class to help you with the following questions. Be sure to read the information on the slides between the questions for the "Big Ideas" you should have learned from this activity.

Convection currents

• Circulation due to the heating and cooling of rock in the mantle creates currents called "Convection Currents"

• These currents are what push and pull the tectonic plates, creating movement at plate boundaries.

• The direction of these currents is what determines whether two plates, converge, diverge, or slip past one another.

Multiple Choice

The circular arrows inside the Earth's Mantle represent what type of motion, that drives ALL plate movement?

• Convergent Boundary

• Ocean Currents

• Convection Currents

• Transform Boundary

Multiple Choice

How does heat from the core cause molten rock in these convection currents to move?

• Sinks when hot, and rises when cool

• Rises when hot, and sinks when cool

• Heat from inside the Earth does not cause rocks to move.

Multiple Choice

Convection currents beneath the Earth's surface push and pull tectonic plates. Follow the direction of the arrows in the image shown. Imagine the continuous motion of these currents. What type of plate boundary would occur at the surface?

• Convergent

• Divergent

• Transform

The Theory of Continental Drift

In 1915, a German scientist named Alfred Wegener (VAY-guh-ner) proposed the theory of continental drift. According to this theory, the landmasses once were joined into a supercontinent called Pangaea. The landmasses then slowly drifted to their current positions.

Multiple Choice

Who first proposed the idea of Continental Drift?

• Harry Hess

• Alfred Wegener

• Albert Einstein

• Galileo Galilee

Multiple Choice

What did Wegener name the large supercontinent where all the continents were joined together?

• Wegenerland

• Gondwanaland

• Laurasia

• Pangaea

Evidence for the Theory of Continental Drift

• Fossils, Rocks, Glaciers, and the shape of coastlines are all pieces of evidence that support the theory of continental drift.

Multiple Choice

What does the theory of continental drift state?

• The continents were once joined in a super-continent and have moved over time

• Continents are stationary and do not move

• The Earth is broken into lithospheric plates that move due to convection currents

• none of the above

Multiple Choice

According to the theory of continental drift, why do the coastlines of Africa and South America appear to fit together so well?

• Africa and South America used to be joined together, but split apart long ago.

• Africa and South America are drifting towards each other and will soon fit together perfectly.

• Ocean currents on either side of the Atlantic have eroded the coastlines into the same shape.

Multiple Choice

Lystrosaurus was a slow-moving, plant-eating reptile that lived over 250 million years ago. Fossils of Lystrosaurus have been found in the brown areas shown below. How is this explained by the existence of Pangaea?

• Lystrosaurus swam across the oceans from one continent to another.

• Lystrosaurus drifted on rafts of vegetation from one continent to another.

• Africa, Antarctica, and India used to be joined together into a single landmass.

Multiple Choice

India, Australia, South America, and Africa all have deep grooves or scratches in rocks which is climate evidence of ....

• erosion

• dinosaurs

• glaciers

• aliens

Multiple Choice

This is a picture of glacial scratches found in Africa. Which of the following statements best explains the presence of these glacial scratches?

• Africa has always been near the equator

• Africa was once in an area of the Earth that had a very cold climate

• The continents have not moved

• sea floor spreading

Multiple Choice

All of the following were evidence Wegener collect to support his theory of Continental Drift EXCEPT:

• Fossils

• Roadways

• Glaciers

• Coastlines that fit like puzzle pieces