WorksheetsContinentalDrift-VHS-
Total questions: 20
Worksheet time: 20mins
What name did Wegener give to the single large landmass composed of all continents?
Eurasia
Gondwanaland
Lauarasia
Pangaea
What is the name of the theory that explains why mountain ranges in Africa and South America line up?
Pangaea theory
landmass theory
continental drift theory
plate movement theory
What first caused people to consider that the continents were once one large landmass?
glacier evidence in warmer countries
continents looked like they fit together
studying the valleys of the ocean floor
similar fossils were found on many continents
Which source of evidence did Wegener use to support his theory of continental drift?
fossils
magnetic fields
satellite mapping
warm equatorial climates
Which land feature supports the theory of continental drift?
canyons
volcanoes
coal fields
oceans
What evidence of climate change on continents supports the theory of continental drift?
signs that glaciers existed in South Africa
similar coal fields on different continents
change in atmospheric temperature over time
same animal fossils found on different continents
Which coastlines most closely match each other and are, therefore, used as evidence to support Wegener’s theory?
India and Eurasia
Australia and Africa
Africa and South America
Australia and North America
Which two continents contain fossils of Mesosaurus, an extinct reptile, in similar regions of Pangaea?
Africa and South America
Eurasia and Africa
Australia and Eurasia
North America and Australia
Which three continents contain coal fields that provide evidence for continental drift?
Africa, Antarctica, and North America
Eurasia, Africa, and South America
Antarctica, South America, and Africa
South America, North America, and Eurasia
On which continent were fossils of both Glossopteris and Lystrosaurus discovered?
Australia
South America
Antarctica
North America
In Wegener's view, what caused mountain ranges to form?
volcanoes
Earth shrinking
meteorite impacts
continents colliding
Tropical plant fossils have been found in cold Arctic islands where they cannot survive in the present-day climate of this area. According to Wegener's theory, how were these ancient tropical plants able to survive in Arctic islands?
Plants were more adaptable in the past.
The poles of Earth were warmer in the past.
Arctic islands were closer to the equator in the past.
Land movements warmed the landmasses in the past.
Lystrosaurus provided which type of evidence supporting continental drift?
land features
fossil evidence
glacial evidence
climate change evidence
South Africa's current climate is too warm for glaciers. According to the theory of continental drift, which statement best explains why evidence of glaciers appeared in South Africa millions of years ago?
Earth was covered in glaciers millions of years ago.
South Africa contained similar land features to Antarctica.
South Africa was closer to the poles and has drifted to its current location.
Glaciers moved southward over millions of years until they reached Antarctica.
Which two pieces of fossil evidence support the idea of continental drift?
bacteria and petrified wood
Glossopteris and bacteria
Lystrosaurus and Glossopteris
petrified wood and Tyrannosaurus
Which piece of evidence suggests that Africa and South America formed Gondwanaland 200 million years ago?
coal fields
a shared ocean
folded mountains
land formations created by glaciers
The hydrosphere refers to the total amount of water on Earth, including liquid, gas, and solid forms. Which is one way the hydrosphere has been impacted by the movement of the continents over time?
Glaciers that once covered South Africa have melted and can no longer form.
All of the continents have fewer coastal areas than they did millions of years ago
Land masses near the equator have more glaciers now than they did millions of years ago.
The poles that were once covered by glaciers are now surrounded by warm, tropical waters.
A plate moves 200 m in 10,000 years. What is its rate in cm/year?
0.02 cm/year
2 cm/year
10 cm/year
100 cm/year
A plate moves south at a rate of 2 cm/year. How many meters south from its original location will the plate be in 4,000 years?
8,000 meters south
4,000 meters south
200 meters south
80 meters south
A plate moving at a rate of 3 cm/year is moving toward a plate that is 1,500 km away. In how many years will the plates collide?
50,000,000 years
50,000 years
5,000 years
500 years
