Changing Earth Test

Match the following

• semi-fluid layer beneath the lithosphere

• inner and outer cores

• innermost layers made of iron and nickel

• asthenosphere

• rigid outer layer of the Earth

• lithosphere

• upper surface of the Earth

• mantle

• thick layer between the crust and core

• crust

Which layer is made of molten rock?

• asthenosphere

• geosphere

• lithosphere

• outer core

In a convection current, heated fluids ​ (a)   and cooler fluids ​ (b)  

• rise
• sink
• sink, rise

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS2-6

Identify the layers of the Earth shown in the diagram.

a

b

c

d

Crust

Inner Core

Outer Core

Mantle

What drives the movement of tectonic plates?

• convection currents in the asthenosphere

• the unequal heating of the earth by the sun

• the magnetic field that is generated by the outer core

• the continents drifting on the ocean

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS2-1

NGSS.MS-ESS2-2

Alfred Wegener called the super ocean that existed 250 million years ago _____.

• the Pacific Ocean

• Pangea

• Panthalassa

• the Southern Ocean

What causes convection currents to form?

• the swirling motion created as the Earth rotates

• color of the rock in the mantle

• density differences of the molten rock in the mantle

• temperature differences of the molten rock in the mantle

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS2-1

Which tectonic plate is Pennsylvania located?

• the Atlantic Plate

• the North American Plate

• the Pacific Plate

• the Indian Plate

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS2-3

Match each number from the diagram to the description of the event occurring at that position in the convection current.

• Heating of the cooler material

• 3

• Movement of the denser material

• 1

• Cooling of the warmer material

• 2

• Movement of the less dense material

• 4

Answer explanation

These are convection currents. Material (like magma in the mantle) is heated at the bottom of the current, becomes less dense and rises, cools at the top, becomes less dense, and sinks to the bottom, where it warms up and repeats the cycle.

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS2-5

NGSS.MS-ESS2-6

The following steps describe how volcanic islands form from a hotspot. Reorder the steps.

• A hotspot in the mantle causes the rock above it to melt.

• Magma reaches the crust and erupts as a volcano.

• After many eruptions an island forms.

• The plate moves to a new position over the hotspot.

• The magma plume forms a volcano at the new plate position.

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS2-2