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Plate Tectonics Unit Study Guide
Plate Boundaries and Features- Chap. 8
Boundary
C-C
Convergent
Boundary
Definition
Features

O-O
Convergent
Boundary

O-C
Convergent
Boundary
Divergent
Boundary
Transform
Boundary
Sketch

Plates
slide past
one
another
Ocean
Trench
Volcanic
Island Arc
Examples
 Himalayas
Earth’s Layers- Chap 4
1. Compare and contrast oceanic crust to continental crust.
2. What layer of the earth is liquid?
3. Why is the asthenosphere important to plate tectonics?
4. What layer of earth makes up the plates?
Plate Tectonics History- Chap. 8
1. What evidence did Alfred Wegener use to support continental drift?
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
2. What was Pangaea?
3. What causes the plates to move?
4. What evidence did Harry Hess use to support sea-floor spreading? Explain this
phenomenon.
5. How does the theory of plate tectonics differ from continental drift?
Earthquakes- Chap. 10
1. What types of boundaries result in earthquakes?
2. Sketch a reverse fault, a normal fault, and a strike-slip fault. Label the hanging wall and
foot wall.
Fault:
Stress:
Fault:
Stress:
Fault:
Stress:
3. Fill in the graphic organizer.
Seismic Waves
Surface Waves (L)
S-Wave
Primary, Compressional, fastest
wave
4. Compare and contrast the Richter scale and the Modified Mercalli Scale on how they
measure an earthquake’s magnitude.
5. How many seismographs are needed to determine the epicenter?
6. Compare and contrast the focus and epicenter of an earthquake?
7. How do earthquakes help geologists study the interior of the earth?
Volcanoes- Chap. 9
1. What is pyroclastic material and how does it differ from lava flows?
2. What is a caldera?
3. What types of plate boundaries result in volcanoes?
4. Compare and contrast volcano types using the chart.
Magma
Shape
Shield
Cinder Cone
lava flow or
pyroclastic
material
Example
Basaltic,
mafic, high
silica content,
viscous
Cone shaped
Composite
Lava flows and Mt. St. Helens
violent, gaseous
pyroclastic
clouds
Mountain Building and Continental Margins- Chap 11
1. Label the following folds anticline or syncline.
2. What type of stress causes folds in rock?
3. What type of boundary will result in folded mountains? What type of boundary will
result in volcanic mountains?
4. What is a continental margin? What makes a passive margin different from an active
margin?
5. Give one example of an active continental margin and a passive continental margin.