Geology Plate Tectonics

1.

Multiple Choice

2 mins

5 pts

Where are the majority of transform faults located?

At collisional mountain chains

Near convergent boundaries as stress fractures

Southern California

On the ocean floor offsetting segments of oceanic ridges

2.

Multiple Choice

2 mins

5 pts

Continental rifting is NOT occurring today in Ethiopia and Kenya.

True

False

3.

Multiple Choice

2 mins

5 pts

At a ______, an oceanic plate will be forced beneath another plate because of differences in density.

subduction zone

collision zone

transform boundary

continental rift

4.

Multiple Choice

2 mins

5 pts

How did the Red Sea, located between Arabia and Africa form?

Subduction of Africa beneath Arabia

Continental rifting followed by sea floor spreading

Transform faulting followed by a continental collision

Subduction of Arabia beneath Africa

5.

Multiple Choice

2 mins

5 pts

Which evidence did Alfred Wegener not use when proposing the continental drift theory?

Seismic evidence from earthquakes

Matching rock structures across ocean basins

Reconstruction of ancient climates

Similar fossils on widely separated continents

Geometrical fit of continental margins

6.

Multiple Choice

2 mins

5 pts

During what time period did scientists first notice the jigsaw puzzle fit of the southern continents?

1750s

1960s

1800s

1600s

7.

Multiple Choice

2 mins

5 pts

Transform plate boundaries are usually associated with volcanism.

True

False

8.

Multiple Choice

2 mins

5 pts

Which scientist, starting in 1957, started publishing comprehensive maps that showed the main features of the ocean bottom - mountains, valleys, trenches.

Tanya Atwater

Marie Tharp

Harry Hess

Tuzo Wilson

9.

Multiple Choice

2 mins

5 pts

The main reason why the hypothesis of continental drift was not widely accepted was

the hypothesis required that the entire Earth was once frozen

the hypothesis required long, narrow, land bridges that did not exist

there was no mechanism to move continents through the oceanic crust

All of these were reasons the hypothesis was not widely accepted

10.

Multiple Choice

2 mins

5 pts

Convection is the name of the process by which new seafloor is generated at mid-ocean ridges

True

False

11.

Multiple Choice

2 mins

5 pts

Divergent boundary

Two plates pull apart from each other

Two plates slide past each other

Two plates move toward each other

12.

Multiple Choice

2 mins

5 pts

Transform boundary

Two plates pull apart from each other

Two plates slide past each other

Two plates move toward each other

13.

Multiple Choice

2 mins

5 pts

Convergent boundary

Two plates pull apart from each other

Two plates slide past each other

Two plates move toward each other

14.

Multiple Choice

2 mins

5 pts

Continental crust is mainly composed of _______, whereas oceanic crust is mainly composed of ________.

gabbro; granite

limestone; gabbro

granite; basalt

olivine; basalt

15.

Multiple Choice

2 mins

5 pts

Even before the proposal of continental drift, paleontologists recognized that some sort of land connection was needed to account for the identical continents. Which hypothesis or hypotheses were not proposed?

A chain of island stepping stones or transoceanic land bridge

Floating debris used as rafts and sea level rising

A large boat

Sea level falling

16.

Multiple Choice

2 mins

5 pts

The process of one plate sliding beneath another plate is called

Divergence

Transformation

Conduction

Subduction

17.

Multiple Choice

2 mins

5 pts

The Tibetan and Himalaya Plateaus are the result of

two continental plates diverging from each other

two continental plates colliding and forming mountain ranges

two continental plates being subducted beneath each other

18.

Multiple Choice

2 mins

5 pts

Which event most likely takes place as the result of crustal movement along transform boundaries?

trenches

volcanic activity

mountain building

earthquakes

19.

Multiple Choice

2 mins

5 pts

In which decade was the theory of plate tectonics developed?

1940s

1960s

1970s

1990s

20.

Multiple Choice

2 mins

5 pts

The convergence of two continental masses is known as a

continental collision

subduction

divergent collision

conduction

21.

Multiple Choice

2 mins

5 pts

In the mid-twentieth century and corroborated ever since, researchers dredging the seafloor could not find any materials older than _______.

1.2 million years

1.5 billion years

180 million years

10,000 years

22.

Multiple Choice

2 mins

5 pts

Juan de Fuca plate is NOT one of the major, but only a minor, tectonic plate on the Earth's surface.

True

False

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