Tectonic Plates & Crustal Features

Many processes on Earth occur at or near tectonic plate boundaries.

Which geological events are most common along tectonic plate boundaries?

• erosion and deposition

• hurricanes and tornadoes

• earthquakes and volcanoes

• tidal waves and sedimentation

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NGSS.MS-ESS2-2

NGSS.MS-ESS3-2

The diagram below shows a portion of the Earth’s crust and upper mantle at a mid-ocean ridge.

These crustal features are most likely caused by which of the following?

• Plates colliding in the lithosphere

• Sinking iron and magnesium in the lithosphere

• Oceanic plates moving apart from one another

• Cooler temperatures in the mantle

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NGSS.MS-ESS2-2

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Which feature is commonly formed at the plate boundary when a continental crust converges with oceanic crust?

• Transform fault

• Deep ocean trench

• Mid-ocean ridge

• New oceanic crust

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NGSS.MS-ESS2-3

Arrows in the block diagram show the movement along the boundary between Pacific Plate and the North American Plate. What type of plate boundary is found between the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate?

• Convergent boundary

• Divergent boundary

• Transform boundary

• Uniform boundary

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NGSS.MS-ESS2-3

Oceanic crust is more dense than continental crust. Which of these describes the outcome of the collision between oceanic and continental crust?

• The two portions of crust will stop moving.

• The continental crust will subduct beneath the oceanic crust.

• The two portions of crust will slide past one another, side by side.

• The oceanic crust will subduct beneath the continental crust.

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Mid-ocean ridges (rifts) normally 

form where tectonic plates are

• converging

• diverging

• stationary

• sliding past each other

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NGSS.MS-ESS2-3

According to the diagram, the deep trench along the west coast of South America is caused by movement of the oceanic crust that is –

• sinking beneath the continental crust

• uplifting over the continental crust

• moving apart at the Mid-Atlantic ridge

• sliding past the South American plate

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NGSS.MS-ESS2-2

The block diagram shows the tectonic plate boundary between the Juan de Fuca Plate and the North American Plate.

What type of plate boundary is found between the Juan de Fuca Plate and the North American Plate?

• Convergent boundary

• Divergent boundary

• Transform boundary

• Uniform boundary

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NGSS.MS-ESS2-2

NGSS.MS-ESS2-3

Which of the following is most responsible for the formation of new crust at the edge of a tectonic plate?

• Mountain building at a continent-continent converging boundary

• Magma rising up from the mantle at a divergent boundary

• Two tectonic plates sliding past one another at a transform boundary

• Subduction of one oceanic plate under another at a convergent boundary

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NGSS.MS-ESS2-1

Earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur both on land and in water.  Earthquakes and volcanic eruptions most often occur –

• near plate boundaries

• on large pieces of land

• in large bodies of water

• in regions near the equator

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NGSS.MS-ESS2-2

NGSS.MS-ESS2-3

NGSS.MS-ESS3-2