Plate TectonicsTest Review

Which of the following provides evidence for past tectonic plate motions?

• Matching rock type and rock formations can show the way the continents were once attached.

• Glacial evidence has been found in areas where glaciers could not exist if the continents were in their current location

• Ancient life forms preserved as fossils can tell us what organisms existed and where they were. Matching the fossils can show that land masses were once connected.

• All of the above

Before there was evidence from rocks and fossils, many scientists theorized that the continents were once joined together. Using only maps, these scientists observed that

• the shapes of the continents allowed them to fit together.

• weathering and erosion have reshaped the surface of the earth.

• the oceans have become smaller throughout Earth's history.

• he continents were all bordered by mountain ranges.

By studying the distribution of different types of fossils, geologists have determined that some plates have traveled great distances. Evidence to support this comes from the fact that

• fossils of organisms that lived in warm climates have been found in arctic environments.

• species of organisms in the fossil record have changed over geologic time.

• some fossilized organisms have only been found on one continent.

• the oldest known fossils, found in the deepest rock layers, represent ocean organisms.

The theory of plate tectonics was, at first, rejected by most scientists. Now most geologists accept that tectonic plates exist and that these tectonic plates can and do move. What is responsible for the change in how scientists think about plate tectonics?

• New evidence was discovered that made scientists revise their ideas.

• Tectonic plates have begun to move faster and faster over time.

• There are more people studying science now than in the past.

• Scientists can now travel underneath the plates and observe their motion.

New seafloor material is formed at places in Earth’s crust where

• rock is broken into pieces as tectonic plates push against one another.

• one tectonic plate slides beneath another and is forced downward.

• lava flow from volcanic eruptions builds up over many thousands of years.

• magma rises into the spaces where tectonic plates pull away from one another.

Which of the following provides evidence that the continents on tectonic plates have moved away from each other in the past?

• the composition and thickness of rock layers varies at different depths.

• The frequency of volcanic activity is higher at edges of tectonic plates.

• Ocean currents can be disrupted near boundaries between tectonic plates.

• Fossils of the same plants and animals are found on widely separated continents.

Part of the recycling of seafloor material includes its destruction. This happens

• through weathering and erosion of exposed rock layers.

• as a result of violent and frequent volcanic activity.

• at trenches where rock material is subducted.

• when elements in rock are rearranged chemically.

Pangaea was an ancient supercontinent made up of...

• America, Greenland, and Europe.
• Antarctica, India, and America.
• all of Earth’s continents.
• South Africa, India, Australia, and South America.

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS2-3

A German scientist Alfred Wegener was the first to hypothesize that ...........

• Continents were once joined
• The sea floor is spreading
• Continents are moving
• The Earth's magnetic pole flips

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS2-3

Where would the oldest rock be found?

• L
• M
• N
• O

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS1-4