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Plate Tectonics – Unit 8 – Study Guide
Unit Overview - Surface and subsurface processes that are involved in the formation and destruction of earth
materials are identified in this unit.
Standards:
Students will investigate the scientific view of how the earth’s surface is formed.
Compare and contrast the Earth’s crust, mantle, and core including temperature, density, and
composition.
Recognize that lithospheric plates constantly move and cause major geological events on the earth’s
surface.
Explain the effects of physical processes (plate tectonics, erosion, deposition, volcanic eruption, gravity)
on geological features including oceans (composition, currents, and tides).
Questions – Students will be asked to answer these question throughout the unit and on the unit test.
#1 How are the earth’s layers alike and different?
#2 What challenges stand in the way of sending explorers to the center of the earth?
#3 How does the movement of lithospheric plates cause major events on earth’s surface?
#4 What evidence do scientists have that continents were once joined together?
#5 Why do mountains often occur in ranges thousands of kilometers long?
#6 What can fossils tell us about movements of the plates in the past?
Continental Drift/Plate Movement
1. Alfred Wegener was a German________________________ that proposed ________________________
________________________ ________________________ in 1912.
2. The theory that Earth’s ________________________ ________________________ move is called The
________________________ ________________________ ________________________ .
3. Pangaea was the most recent of a succession of ________________________ that have formed and broken
up over time. Scientists believe this supercontinent occurred _______________________________years ago.
4. If a fossil is found multiple places in the world, what have scientists hypothesize might have happened a long
time ago? ________________________________________________________________________________
5. Evidence of Continental Drift
1 - ________________________ – ancient reptile found in __________________ & __________________
2 - ________________________ - The _____________________ seem to fit together like a ___________
& same type of rock found in ________________________ and in ________________________
3 - ________________________ – Greenland now lies in the ________________________ and is covered
in ________________________ but has fossils of ________________________
6. The Theory of Plate Tectonics is the theory that states that __________________ _____________________
is made up of _______________ _____________ that _______________ over the ______________of Earth.
7. Lithospheric plates________________________ move.
8. At the edges or ________________________ of the plates, Earth's ________________________________
9. ________________________ ________________________ cause major ________________________ in a
world map over tens of millions of ________________________.
10. Plate movement causes ________________________ such as ________________________ ,
________________________ , &________________________
11. Why do you scientists think ocean fossils are sometimes found on the tops of mountains? ______________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
12. North American plate consists of both ________________________ and ________________________
crust.
13. The theory of plate tectonics connects the evidence for the ________________________ ,
________________________ , & ________________________ of the plates.
14. Some changes in the earth’s surface are ________________________ such as earthquakes and volcanic
eruptions while other changes happen ________________________such as uplift and wearing down of
mountains.
15. Major geological events, such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and mountain building, result from
________________________________________________________________________.
Convection Currents
16. Going from the surface to the center of the earth, list the layers in order. _______________________(crust)
, ________________________ (mantle), ________________________, ________________________
17. The earth is layered with a lithosphere that contains the ________________________________________
18. The ________________________ is the upper part of the rigid lithosphere and has a
________________________________________________under ________________________ than it does on
the ________________________________________________
19. The lithosphere is divided into ______________________________________ which ________________
very slowly in response to the convection currents in the mantle.
20. The mantle is _______________________________________________ (like hot asphalt or fudge).
21. ________________________the rigid lithosphere, the mantle consists of hot rock of tar-like consistency,
which __________________________________or flows. This is also called the ________________________.
22. Convection is the __________________________________________ by the _______________________
of material.
23. Convection currents are caused by as ________________________________________________in the
mantle become less dense and ________________. At the same time other molten rock cools and become more
dense so they ________________________.
24. Convection currents are the ________________________________________of sinking and rising hot, soft
rocks caused by ________________________________________ in the asthenosphere (mantle) of Earth
25. Heat from the ________________________ & ________________________creates convection currents.
26. Convections currents in the mantle cause the _________________________________________to move.
27. Where do convection currents take place? ________________________
28. Less dense things ___________ while more dense things ______________
Divergent Boundaries
29. Draw pictures of the three types of boundaries:
30. Crust is destroyed at ____________________ boundaries. Crust is formed at ______________________
boundaries. Crust is neither destroyed or formed at ________________________ boundaries.
31. Divergent boundaries ________________________creating ________________________.
32. Mid-ocean ridges form at ______________ boundaries by ____________________________________.
33. Mid-ocean ridges are ________________________________________________ranges that can form at a
________________________ boundary.
34. A rift valley is _______ at divergent boundaries where molten material ____________ to build
____________________________.
35. Rift valleys can occur in the ocean to create _________________________________________ or on
continents to form _______________________, ________________________, & _____________________.
Convergent & Transform Boundaries
36. The two types of crust are ________________________and ________________________. Oceanic crust
is ________________________than continental crust.
37. Convergent boundaries _______________________________________.
38. Subduction is the sideways and ___________________________________________ of the edge of a plate
of the earth's crust into the mantle ____________________________________________. The
________________________ plate will go under the ________________________plate.
39. The three types of convergent boundaries are
___________________________ ______________________________
___________________________
40. When continental crust meets continental crust at a ________________________boundary, a
________________________ occurs, resulting in folds, faults, and high ________________________
41. Ocean trench is a _______________________________________that forms when one plate goes under
another at a convergent boundary. This can be __________________________________
_______________________________________.
42. At convergent boundaries oceanic plates will ________________________continental plates because
oceanic crust is ________________________than continental crust.
43. Oceanic-continental convergent boundaries can form ________________________.
44. At convergent plate boundaries known as subduction zones, a ________________________ and deep
earthquakes mark the zone where a ________________________________________________ descends into
the mantle, and ________________________and _____________________________form on adjacent land.
45. Oceanic crust is ________________________ at an ocean ridge (________________________ boundary)
and ________________________ near a trench (________________________ boundary).
46. Transform plates ________________________one another.
47. Transform boundaries ________________________other plate boundaries and are characterized by
________________________.
48. The San Andreas Fault in California is a ________________________ boundary. This is a very
_____________________________________ causes ____________________________.
49. Earthquakes represent ________________________ breaks in crust continuously stressed by
__________________________________________. Gradually over time, the same movements result in
________________________ crustal features.
Volcanoes/Mountains
50. Only under special conditions (at hot spots and along plate boundaries) does the crust _________ to make
______________, which may then rise to the surface to make a _____________________________________.
51. The three places volcanoes form are
________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________
________________________
52. List the 4 types of volcanoes. ____________________________________, ________________________,
______________________________, & _______________________________
53. A hot spot is where heat from a plume (heated rising rocks in asthenosphere) ________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
54. Hot spots can form ________________________
55. What state was formed from a hot spot? ________________________
56. List the two types of mountains. ___________________ Mountains, ______________________Mountains
57. Draw and describe Folded Mountains. ____________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
58. Draw and describe Fault Block Mountains. ___________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
Vocabulary
magma, fossil, subduction, Continental Drift Theory, Alfred Wegener, mid-ocean ridge, ocean trench, rift
valley, hot spot, volcano, plate boundaries, convection, convection currents, fault, Theory of Plate Tectonics