WorksheetsEnergy and Plate Tectonics
Total questions: 55
Worksheet time: 46mins
The (a) of energy means that energy cannot be created or destroyed, but can be transformed or transferred.
The ability to do work:
(a)
There are many different types of energy, including:
heat
light
motion
electrical
Which of the following statements is true for energy?
Our universe has a finite amount of energy.
Energy is transferred from one object to another and transformed into different types of energy.
Energy can neither be created nor destroyed.
Energy can either be classified as potential or kinetic energy.
The stored energy in an object or system by virtue of its position and arrangement of its parts:
(a)
(a) energy is affected by the environment outside of the object or system, such as air or height.
The energy of an object or a system's particles in motion:
(a)
The potential energy a massive object has in relation to another massive object due to gravity:
(a)
It is the potential energy associated with the gravitational field, which is released when the objects fall towards each other. Example: a lifted weight:
(a)
The energy of chemical substances that is released when they undergo a chemical reaction and transform into other substances:
(a)
Some examples of storage media of ____ ____ include batteries, food, and gasoline. Example: biomass, petroleum, natural gas.
(a)
A kind of radiation including visible light, radio waves, gamma rays, and X-rays, in which electric and magnetic fields vary simultaneously:
(a)
Earth's four physical systems - geosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere and biosphere - all contain (a) .
When energy is transferred from one form to another, there is energy loss, often in the form of:
light
noise
sound
heat
kinetic
There are lots of ways to use energy, most of that energy coming from:
solar energy
biomass and biofuels
splitting the atom
wind energy
water and geothermal
The (a) is the main source of energy that drive the Earth's climate.
The ____, ____ and ____ absorb and release the sun's heat back into space, which helps maintain the Earth's energy balance.
atmosphere
biomass
lands
oceans
The biological process that stores energy from the sun:
(a)
carbon dioxide + water -> glucose + oxygen:
(a)
The biological process that releases stored energy:
(a)
oxygen + glucose -> carbon dioxide + water:
(a)
Not all (a) is transferred as it moves up the food chain.
Approximately ____ of energy is not transferred up the food chain, meaning that roughly ____ of the energy is passed on to the next level. The energy lost is lost as heat energy.
60%
40%
70%
30%
80%
20%
90%
10%
The three main fossil fuels are:
coalbed methane
coal
oil
natural gasses
____ ____ are an important energy source for humans.
(a)
Fossil fuels store their energy as (a) energy.
____ ____ is the theory that the continents move over time.
(a)
Evidence for continental drift: Pt. 1 of 2
Brain damage
Similar 'paleoclimates' for when continents fit together
Jigsaw puzzle-like fit of continents
Tectonic plates do not move
Evidence for continental drift: Pt. 2 of 2
Paleomagnetic record indicates movement of continents
Sedimentary records match across continents
Current plants and animals are the same
Similar fossil records
Puzzle-piece fit of coastlines of ____ and ____ - and other continents, has long been known.
Europe and Australia
South America and Asia
Africa and South America
Asia and Europe
It's important to note that with continental drift we are also talking about the continental (a) , currently under the ocean.
In the early 1900's, Alfred Wegener noted that South America, Africa, India, Antarctica and Australia had almost identical late Palaeozoic rocks and (a) .
What were fossils that were found on all five continents per Wegener's research?
Mesosaurus, an animal
Glossopteris, a plant
Cynognathus, an animal
Lystrasaurus, an animal
What were fossils that were found in Brazil and South Africa only, per Wegener's research?
Lystrosaurus, an animal
Mesosaurus, a reptile
Glossopteris, a plant
Cynognathus, an animal
Wegener reassembled all of the continents together, which creates a supercontinent he called (a) , meaning 'all Earth'
Which of the following are reasons that support continental drift?
Continents Fit Together
Fossils
Paleoclimate (Past climate)
Sedimentary records
Palaeomagnetism
How does the paleoclimate (past climate) support continental drift?
Laurasia: northern supercontinent containing North American and Asia, minus India
Laurasia: southern supercontinent containing South America, Africa, India, Antarctica and Australia
Gondwanaland: northern supercontinent containing North America and Asia, minus India.
Gondwanaland: southern supercontinent containing South America, Africa, India, Antarctica and Australia.
Late Palaeozoic glaciation patterns on southern continents best explained by their reconstruction into Gondwanaland.
How do sedimentary rock layers support continental drift?
Reconstructed paleoclimate belts indicate land masses relative to the Earth poles, potential evidence for continental drift over time.
The thickness of sedimentary layers can help determine the past climates.
Coal beds of North America and Europe support reconstruction into Laurasia.
How does palaeomagnetism support continental drift? Pt. 1 of 2
Studies of rock magnetism allowed the determination of magnetic pole locations at the time the rock was formed.
Rocks with increasing age point to magnetic pole locations increasingly far from todays.
Palaeomagnetism looks at the orientation of magnetic minerals - like magnetite, which are like tiny compass needles frozen in rock.
Magnetic rocks point away from the poles.
How does palaeomagnetism support continental drift? Pt. 2 of 2
Improved fit results in rock units (and glacial flow direction) precisely matching up across continent margins.
Reconstruction of supercontinents using palaeomagnetic information fits Africa and South America like puzzle pieces.
Apparent polar wander curves for different continents suggest they have moved relative to one another over time.
What is Wegner's downfall in his theory of plate tectonics?
Both of these explanations failed as they provided insufficient force to move continents.
Wegner was unable to provide the direction of movement of the continents.
Wegner was not able to propose a mechanism by which continents would move.
He attempts to explain it as being caused by centrifugal forces from Earth's spin or the gravitational pull of the moon.
Intense geographic activity is concentrated at the centre of tectonic plates.
True
False
The basic idea of plate tectonics is that...
The Earth's lowest layer is divided into several smaller plates that move relatively slowly.
Earth used to be one plate and split into many due to convection and continue to change in size and shape.
Earth's surface is divided into a few large, thick plates that move slowly and change in size and shape.
The theory of plate tectonics was born in the late 1960s by combining the hypotheses of ____ ____ and ____ ____.
continental drift
seafloor spreading
nebular hypothesis
geocentric model
In 1960, Harry Hess proposed ____ ____.
(a)
Supporting evidence for seafloor spreading includes:
The discovery of mid ocean ridges
Palaeomagnetic striping on the sea floor
Sedimentary layering
Seafloor (radiometric) age dating
What is the first step (1) for seafloor spreading?
Seafloor rocks, and mantle rocks beneath them, cool and become more dense with distance from mid-ocean ridges.
At mid ocean ridges, upwelling convection currents from the mantle push the crust apart and form new basaltic oceanic crust.
When sufficiently cool and dense, these rocks may sink back into the mantle at subduction zones.
Which is the second (2) step of seafloor spreading?
Seafloor rocks, and mantle rocks beneath them, cool and become more dense with distance from the mid ocean ridge.
At mid ocean ridges, upwelling convection currents from the mantle push the crust apart and form new basaltic oceanic crust.
When sufficiently cool and dense, these rocks may sink back into the mantle at subduction zones.
What is the third and final step (3) for seafloor spreading?
Seafloor rocks, and mantle rocks beneath them, cool and become more dense with distance from the mid ocean ridge.
At mid ocean ridges, upwelling convection currents from the mantle push the crust apart and form new basaltic oceanic crust.
When sufficiently cool and dense, these rocks may sink back into the mantle at subduction zones.
The ____ ____ ____ is the world's longest mountain range, though it is entirely underwater.
(a)
The mid ocean ridge was discovered when the USA started mapping the sea floor using sonar and submarines.
True
False
Which of the following statements is true about palaeomagnetic striping?
From time to time, Earth's magnetic field reverses; north becomes south.
It occurs at subduction zones.
This is recorded in oceanic basalts - palaeomagnetism.
The palaeomagnetic record either side of a mid ocean ridge are mirror images.
Marine magnetic bands are bands of normal and reverse polarity of magnetic minerals:
Parallel mid ocean ridges
Field strength related to basalts magnetised with same and opposite polarities of current global magnetic field.
Symmetric 'barcode' anomaly pattern reflects plate motion away from ridge coupled with magnetic field reversal.
Which of the following are evidence for tectonic plate motion:
Seafloor age increases with distance from the mid-ocean ridge, indicating new material is continuously being created there.
Basically, there is no oceanic crust older than ~200Ma, and must therefore also be destroyed.
Rate of plate motion equals distance from ridge divided by age.
The rocks have differing age but not moving away from the mid ocean ridge.
The theory of plate tectonics:
The crust is broken into a series of continental and oceanic plates.
These plates move slowly over time due to the creation and destruction of oceanic crust.
Continental crust is too buoyant to be destroyed and therefore remains at the surface, being pushed around by moving oceanic crust.
The process is driven by the thermal convection of the mantle, and results in many of the large scale geological processes we witness today.
