Name _______________________ Plate Tectonics study guide
per____
True/False -Correct the underlined word if false:
Tectonics plates shift on the asthenosphere due to convection currents.
Fossils of the mesosaurus were discovered in Africa and South America.
The first “super continent” Pangaea formed around 300 million years ago.
All plates move at the same speed and same direction.
“Snow Ball Earth” caused the worst mass extinction on earth 700,000,000 years ago.
When 2 plates collide the denser plate goes beneath the other.
A trench can form at the base of a divergent boundary.
Matching:
Harry Hess____
Mountain____
Mid-Ocean Ridge _____
Trench _____
a. formed when two continental plates collide
b. large underwater mountain chain formed as a result of seafloor spreading
c. man who came up with sea-floor spreading
d. deep V shaped valley.
Label the earth’s layers.
A. Inner core
B. Crust
C. Outer Core
D. Mantle
27
____________________
28. _____________-29.
30.
Completion:
Who came up with the idea of Pangaea?
What is not evidence to support Pangaea?
Tectonic plates can be made up of what two types of crust?
At a mid-ocean ridge, the two plates are____________________________?
In seafloor spreading the oldest rocks are found where?
The major lithospheric plate the continental United States sits on is called______________ plate.
At divergent boundaries, plates move _______________________?
The lithosphere is the…?
Tropical plant found fossilized in Antarctica, South America, India, & Africa was ___________.
Which extinct lizard looking creature did Alfred Wegener use to support Pangaea?
The movement of a continent into their current positions is called _____________________?
What is created as two oceanic plates separate?
What type of boundary occurs when two ocean plates collide?
Which part of Earth’s mantle has the lowest density?
List three geologic occurrences that the theory of plate tectonics explains?
1
2
3
Base your answers to the following questions on the map of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge shown
below. Points A through D are locations on the ocean floor. Line XY connects locations in
North America and Africa. (2 points)
-Which layer would be the youngest?
-Which layer would be the oldestt?
In which cross section do the arrows best show the convection occurring within the
asthenosphere beneath line XY?
Short Essay
One of the most fascinating of all prehistoric creatures was the Cynognathus. It was classified as
a "cynodont," or dog-toothed therapsid. Cynognathus was a fast, fierce predator, much like a
smaller version of a modern day wolf. Clearly it was successful in its evolutionary niche,
because its remains have been found in middle Triassic sediments on three continents, Africa,
South America and Antarctica.
Evidence points to Cynognathus having a warm-blooded, "mammalian" metabolism, quite unlike
most of the cold-blooded reptiles of its day. It was about 3 feet long and weighed somewhere
between 25-50 pounds. Its habitat was the interior woodlands.
Explain how Cynognathus fossil to supports the theory of continental drift.