Evidence for Plate Tectonics

Mountains are created when

• plates slide past one another
• two tectonic plates collide
• plates move away from each other

Which of the following is where one plate slides under another plate?

• submarine zone
• divergence zone
• subduction zone
• lower zone

Alfred Wegener proved his hypothesis that the continents were once connected.

• True
• False

This is a picture of glacier grooves found in Africa.  What are these evidence for?

• Africa has always been near the equator
• Africa was once in an area of the Earth that had a very cold climate
• The continents have not moved
• seafloor spreading

What evidence did Alfred Wegener use in his theory?

• Continents and fossils fitting together/matching-up like puzzle pieces 
• glacier scars and other climate evidence from temperature
• mountain ranges and rocks line up across continents
• all of the above

According to Wegener's continental drift hypothesis, the continents were once part of a supercontinent called

• Antares
• Europa
• Mons
• Pangaea

Which evidence supports Wegener's continental drift hypothesis?

•  similar fossils found on opposite sides of an ocean
• meteorite impact craters in continental crust
• the buildup of sediment along continental margins
• all of the above

Most of the science community did not accept Alfred's hypothesis.  Why not?

• Alfred did not have much evidence to back up his hypothesis
• Alfred could not explain how the continents were moving
• The other scientists thought all of Alfred's evidence was a coincidence

Why was the mesosaurus a significant piece of evidence to Alfred Wegener's hypothesis?

• It was a freshwater reptile that was found across the ocean; continents must have been together and drifted apart
• They found it all over the world; it must have lived in the ocean
• The mesosaurus was only found near the equator but was an animal that lived in cold climates

The process by which new oceanic crust forms along a mid-ocean ridge and older oceanic crust moves away from the ridge is known as

• magnetic reversals
• normal polarity
• seafloor spreading
• continental drift