Geological Features Related to the Yellowstone Hotspot

What is the primary geological feature that has shaped the topography of Southern Idaho according to the text?

• Glacial movements

• Earthquakes

• Volcanic activity

• River erosion

How long ago did the Yellowstone hotspot form its first big caldera-forming eruptions?

• 16.5 million years ago

• 2 million years ago

• 100 million years ago

• 45 million years ago

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS2-2

NGSS.MS-ESS1-4

What is the accepted theory of how plate tectonics cause the lithospheric plates to drift?

• The plates are pushed by solar winds.

• The plates are pulled by the moon's gravitational force.

• The plates drift due to convection currents in the asthenosphere.

• The plates move due to magnetic fields within the Earth's core.

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS2-3

Which of the following is a result of the Yellowstone hotspot's activity?

• The formation of the Snake River Plain

• The creation of the Grand Canyon

• The drift of the North American plate towards the west

• The subduction of the Fuca Plate beneath the North American Plate

Tags

NGSS.HS-ESS2-1

NGSS.HS-ESS2-3

What causes the iron-rich basalt rock to rise buoyantly within the mantle?

• It is denser than the cooler, surrounding rock.

• It is less dense than the cooler, surrounding rock.

• It is under high pressure from the tectonic plates.

• It has a higher melting point than the surrounding rock.

How is the process at the Yellowstone hotspot different from most other hotspots?

• It is located far from a plate boundary and beneath a continent instead of beneath the seafloor.

• It produces basaltic lava instead of rhyolite.

• It does not involve the movement of tectonic plates.

• It creates new seafloor crust instead of continental crust.

Tags

NGSS.HS-ESS2-1

NGSS.HS-ESS2-3

What major geological feature formed due to the movement along the Teton fault during the past 13 million years?

• The Grand Canyon

• The Teton Range

• The Rocky Mountains

• The Appalachian Mountains

Tags

NGSS.HS-ESS2-1

NGSS.HS-ESS1-5

What is the earliest definitive evidence of the hotspot's existence according to the text?

• 10 million years ago with cataclysmic caldera eruptions in northern Nevada

• 17 million years ago with volcanic activity in the Nevada-Oregon border

• 30 million years ago with the stretching of the Basin and Range Province

• 6.6 million years ago with the formation of Yellowstone calderas

According to the text, what caused the east-west pulling apart of the area now known as the Basin and Range Province?

• The movement of the North American plate and the Pacific plate

• The collision of a large meteorite in Oregon

• The rising plume of the hotspot beneath the area

• The of the Juan De Fuca Plate under the North American Plate

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS2-2

NGSS.MS-ESS2-3

What does the traditional hotspot theory imply about the movement of hotspots?

• Hotspots move due to the shifting of Earth's tectonic plates

• Hotspots remain stationary while the tectonic plates move above them

• Hotspots are the result of meteorite impacts

• Hotspots drift due to variations in rock temperatures or densities

Tags

NGSS.HS-ESS1-5