Plate Tectonics Test Review

The San Andreas Fault is a transform fault.  The map shows a student's approximation of where the fault line crosses through the United States.  Students were asked to make maps predicting which way land would most likely move over thousands of years.  Which map best predicts the likely movement of land along the fault line over thousands of years.

• A
• B
• C
• D

The image shows a plate boundary.  Arrows have been added to indicate the movement of the plates.  What plate boundary feature is also shown?

• A ridge formed by an inactive convergent boundary
• A valley forming at an active divergent site
• A fault forming at an active transform boundary
• A volcano formed by an active transform boundary

The diagram shows a model of the movement of two tectonic plates.  When the plates collide, one plate often moves below the other plate.  The rising magma that can result from this type of plate movement may produce-

• fossil layers
• volcanic islands
• deep-sea sediment
• seafloor spreading

The map shows the locations of four active volcanoes in the Caribbean Sea.  What do these volcanoes indicate about plate tectonics in the region?

• The volcanoes form an island arc, indicating a converging plate boundary
• The volcanoes form a line, indicating a divergent plate boundary
• Two plates are moving past each other, causing faulting and magma formation
• Two plates are moving apart, creating new sea floor

A mid-ocean ridge separates the Pacific plate and the Nazca plate off the western coast of South America.  Which statement best describes the relative motions of the Pacific and Nazca plates?

• The Pacific Plate and Nazca plates are both moving to the east
• The Pacific and Nazca plates are both moving to the west
• The Pacific plate is moving to the west, and the Nazca plate is moving to the east
• The Pacific plate is moving to the east, and the Nazca plate is moving to the west.

Who developed the hypothesis of continental drift in 1912?

• Alexander du Toit

• Albert Einstein

• Alfred Wegener

• Robert Dietz

For what theory does evidence include matching coastlines, identical rocks and fossils in different continents, and clues from past glacial movement?

• Law of Motion

• Continental drift

• Plate tectonics

• Global warming

What name did Alfred Wegener give to the giant landmass or supercontinent that existed before the continents drifted apart?

• Pangaea

• Laurasia

• Gondwana

• Andromeda

The asthenosphere has a property of plasticity, which allows the solid mantle to move like a liquid. The process occurring in the mantle that is thought to be the force behind plate tectonics is an example of a (n)

• Radiation

• geothermal

• plate boundary

• convection currents

Rift valleys can form when fractures in Earth’s crust widen. The valley walls slowly move at a rate of only a few millimeters a year. Which of these best describes the type of tectonic activity that forms rift valleys?

• Rift valleys form where a continental plate moves under an oceanic plate.

• Rift valleys form where a plate slides horizontally past another plate.

• Rift valleys form where two plates move away from each other.

• Rift valleys form where an oceanic plate moves under another oceanic plate.