Factors of Tectonic Plates (Unit 7)

• Scientists discovered that rocks from the Franklin Mountains in West Texas and mountains in eastern Antarctica are the same age and chemically/geologically identical. This discovery provides evidence of:

• • Coastal erosion

• • Plate tectonics

• • Ocean currents

• • Glacial melting

Answer explanation

• Key Concept: Plate tectonics explains the movement of Earth's lithospheric plates and the formation of geological features.

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•  Mesosaurus fossils found in South America and Africa support the idea that Earth's surface has changed over time. Which statement best describes this?

• • Continents must have once been one large continent.

• • Oceans must have once been filled with freshwater.

• • Oceans were smaller, allowing shorter swimming distances.

• • Freshwater environments existed across all continents

Answer explanation

• Continental drift theory suggests that continents were once connected and have since drifted apart.

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• Analyzing fossils in rock layers can infer environmental changes. What conclusion can be made from land plant, aquatic plant, and marine fish fossils?

• • The area was a sea that dried up and became a forest.

• The area has always been a forest.

• The area was a forest that flooded and became a sea.

• • The area has always been a sea.

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What evidence supports the conclusion to the previous question

• • Marine fish fossil below plant fossil means it is younger.

• • Plant fossil below marine fish fossil means it is older.

• • Plant and marine fish fossils in the same layer are the same age.

• • Fossils were all deposited in a sea, so they are the same age.

Answer explanation

• The principle of superposition helps determine the relative ages of rock layers and their fossils.

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• Which statements accurately describe the Mid-Atlantic Ridge plate boundary? (Select TWO)

• • Convergent plate boundary

• Divergent plate boundary

• Oldest rocks near the center of the ridge

• • Youngest rocks near the center of the ridge

Answer explanation

: Divergent boundaries are where plates move apart, and new crust forms.

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• The image shows a plate boundary with arrows indicating plate movement. What feature is shown?

• Ridge formed by an inactive convergent boundary

• Valley formed at an active divergent boundary

• Fault formed at an active transform boundary

• • Volcano formed at an active transform boundary

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• What do the volcanoes in the Caribbean Sea indicate about plate tectonics?

• • Island arc, indicating a converging plate boundary

• Line, indicating a diverging plate boundary

• Two plates are moving past each other, causing faulting and magma formation.

• Plates moving apart, creating new seafloor

Answer explanation

Volcanic activity often indicates plate boundaries and movements.

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• Folded mountains form at which type of plate boundary?

• Transform boundary

• Divergent boundary

• Subduction boundary

• Convergent boundary

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• What most likely formed the volcanic island chain in the middle of the Pacific Plate?

• Divergent oceanic plates moving apart over time

• • Hot spot above the mantle that is hotter than average

• • Subduction between two oceanic plates

• Buildup of marine sediment

Answer explanation

• Hot spots are areas where magma from deep within the mantle rises to the surface, forming volcanic islands.

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The diagram below shows the process of sea-floor spreading at a mid-ocean ridge. Which statement best describes this process?

•  New oceanic crust is formed as magma rises and solidifies at the ridge

• Old oceanic crust is pushed down into the mantle at the ridge

• Oceanic crust is destroyed as it moves away from the ridge

• • Oceanic crust remains unchanged as it moves away from the ridge.

Answer explanation

Sea-floor spreading occurs at divergent boundaries where new oceanic crust is created.

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