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-ESS1-4

NGSS.MS-ESS2-2

What is the approximate size of the caldera that now forms the heart of the national park mentioned in the text?

• 45 by 30 miles

• 60 by 40 miles

• 30 by 15 miles

• 50 by 25 miles

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

What geological feature is created by the movement of the Pacific plate beneath much of the Pacific Ocean?

• The Great Rift Valley

• The Himalayan Mountain Range

• The San Andreas fault zone

• Violent geological processes including volcanoes and earthquakes

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS2-2

NGSS.MS-ESS2-3

What is the approximate depth range of the Earth's mantle?

• 5 to 10 miles

• 30 to 1,800 miles

• 1,800 to 3,000 miles

• 3,000 to 5,000 miles

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 is the primary reason seismic tomography has been used in studying the Yellowstone hotspot?

• To locate oil reserves beneath the Earth's surface

• To measure the depth of the Earth's oceans

• To understand the geology of the crust and upper mantle beneath the Snake River Plain and Yellowstone National Park

• To predict the movement of the Pacific plate

Tags

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.

What is created at the boundaries between tectonic plates where new seafloor crust is produced?

• Volcanic islands like Hawaii

• Magma chambers

• Eruptions from "spreading centers"

• The Moho boundary

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS2-3