Earth´s Interior and Plate Tectonics QUIZZES. Questions about these 2 topics EARTH SCIENCE biodeluna.wordpress.com

1. Earth´s interior
and Plate tectonics
QUIZZES
•http://www.geography4kids.com/extras/quiz_earthtecton/index.html
•http://geology.about.com/library/nosearch/blt500q.htm
•http://www2.fiu.edu/~srimal/intqz.htm
•http://hs-staffserver.stjames.k12.mn.us/~fraken/Earth%20Science%20Files/Grade%208%20Practice%20Quizzes/earth%27sinteriorq.html
•http://orgs.usd.edu/esci/exams/interior.html
•http://orgs.usd.edu/esci/exams/tectonics.html

2. • The Gutenberg discontinuity lies at the
boundary of what two layers?
-Crust and mantle
-Crust and outer core
-Mantle and inner core
-Mantle and outer core
-Outer core and inner core

3. • The Gutenberg discontinuity lies at the
boundary of what two layers?
-Crust and mantle
-Crust and outer core
-Mantle and inner core
-Mantle and outer core
-Outer core and inner core

4. • Which of the following statements is false?
-Compression waves travel through solids as well
as liquids
-In all materials S-waves travel faster than P-
waves
-Seismic waves always slow down when reaching
a liquid or partially liquid layer
-The speed of seismic waves generally increases
with depth in a layer
-When seismic waves pass from one material to
another, the path of the waves is refracted

5. • Which of the following statements is false?
-Compression waves travel through solids as well
as liquids
-In all materials S-waves travel faster than P-
waves
-Seismic waves always slow down when reaching
a liquid or partially liquid layer
-The speed of seismic waves generally increases
with depth in a layer
-When seismic waves pass from one material to
another, the path of the waves is refracted

6. • What keeps the inner core solid (in contrast
to the outer core)?
Cool temperatures
Distance from the sun
High pressures
Low pressures
Minerals with higher melting temperatures

7. • What keeps the inner core solid (in contrast
to the outer core)?
Cool temperatures
Distance from the sun
High pressures
Low pressures
Minerals with higher melting temperatures

8. • The original land mass of the Earth, before
continents, was called...
Managua
Pangaea
Panacea
None of the Above

9. • The original land mass of the Earth, before
continents, was called...
Pangaea was the name of the original
Managua landmass that covered the planet. As the
centuries passed, Pangaea broke apart into
Pangaea plates that now drift across the surface of the
Earth.
Panacea
None of the Above

10. • What is the approximate distance from the
surface to the center of the Earth?
A.700 km
B.2900 km
C.6400 km
D.10,000 km

11. • What is the approximate distance from the
surface to the center of the Earth?
A.700 km
B.2900 km
C.6400 km
D.10,000 km

12. • The crust of the earth is made mostly of
A. oxygen & silicon
B. iron & silicon
C. iron & nickel
D. copper & nickel

13. • The crust of the earth is made mostly of
A. oxygen & silicon
B. iron & silicon
C. iron & nickel
D. copper & nickel

14. • What type of seismic wave is being recorded
by the seismograph in the diagram?
A.a P wave
B.an S wave
C.a surface wave
D.all of the above

15. • What type of seismic wave is being recorded
by the seismograph in the diagram?
A.a P wave
B.an S wave
C.a surface wave
D.all of the above

16. • The layer that makes up most of the earth's
mass and volume is the
A. mantle
B. magma
C. crust
D. core

17. • The layer that makes up most of the earth's
mass and volume is the
A. mantle
B. magma
C. crust
D. core

18. • What name did Alfred Wegener give to his
theory of horizontal crustal movements?
-Continental drift
-Isostasy
-Plate tectonics
-Rifting
-Seafloor spreading

19. • What name did Alfred Wegener give to his
theory of horizontal crustal movements?
-Continental drift
-Isostasy
-Plate tectonics
-Rifting
-Seafloor spreading

20. • What is the character of magnetic anomalies on the
seafloor?
-They occur in stripes that parallel mid-ocean ridges
and are offset along transform faults.
-They occur in stripes that run perpendicular to mid-
ocean ridges and parallel transform faults.
-They occur in stripes that parallel continental margins
and transform faults.
-They occur in stripes that run perpendicular to
continental margins and parallel to transform faults.
-They occur in stripes that parallel transform faults and
end at mid-oceanic ridges.

21. • What is the character of magnetic anomalies on the
seafloor?
-They occur in stripes that parallel mid-ocean ridges
and are offset along transform faults.
-They occur in stripes that run perpendicular to mid-
ocean ridges and parallel transform faults.
-They occur in stripes that parallel continental margins
and transform faults.
-They occur in stripes that run perpendicular to
continental margins and parallel to transform faults.
-They occur in stripes that parallel transform faults and
end at mid-oceanic ridges.

22. • What is the east coast of the United States an
example of?
Active continental margin
Convergent plate boundary
Divergent plate boundary
Passive continental margin
Transform plate boundary

23. • What is the east coast of the United States an
example of?
Active continental margin
Convergent plate boundary
Divergent plate boundary
Passive continental margin
Transform plate boundary

24. • How did non-believers in Wegener's theory
explain plant and animal distributions in the
southern hemisphere?
-Dispersal by the will of God
-Dispersal by winds
-Dispersal via northern continents
-Dispersal via now-sunken land bridges
-Dispersal via rafting on logs

25. • How did non-believers in Wegener's theory
explain plant and animal distributions in the
southern hemisphere?
-Dispersal by the will of God
-Dispersal by winds
-Dispersal via northern continents
-Dispersal via now-sunken land bridges
-Dispersal via rafting on logs

26. • What is the concept that adding or removing
a weight from the earth's crust causes it to
depress or rebound?
-Continental drift
-Isostasy
-Plate tectonics
-Rifting
-Seafloor spreading

27. • What is the concept that adding or removing
a weight from the earth's crust causes it to
depress or rebound?
-Continental drift
-Isostasy
-Plate tectonics
-Rifting
-Seafloor spreading

28. • The partially molten layer beneath the
lithosphere is called the ______.
A.asthenosphere
B.crust
C.lower mantle
D.outer core

29. • The partially molten layer beneath the
lithosphere is called the ______.
A.asthenosphere
B.crust
C.lower mantle
D.outer core

30. • The slabs of rock known as continents make
up the complete lithosphere.
True
False

31. • The slabs of rock known as continents make
up the complete lithosphere.
True
False
The lithosphere is the entire surface of the
Earth. That surface includes the floating plates
and floor of the ocean. It's everything that
floats on the asthenosphere.

32. • How thick is the oceanic crust?
A. approximately 5 km
B. approximately 40 km
C. approximately 100 km
D. approximately 670 km

33. • How thick is the oceanic crust?
A. approximately 5 km
B. approximately 40 km
C. approximately 100 km
D. approximately 670 km

34. • Which of the following statements about the
Moho (Mohovoricic discontinuity) is false?
A. Seismic waves speed up as they pass down
through the Moho.
B. The Moho separates denser rocks below
from less dense rocks above.
C. The Moho separates the crust from the
mantle.
D. The Moho marks the top of a partially
molten layer.

35. • Which of the following statements about the
Moho (Mohovoricic discontinuity) is false?
A. Seismic waves speed up as they pass down
through the Moho.
B. The Moho separates denser rocks below
from less dense rocks above.
C. The Moho separates the crust from the
mantle.
D. The Moho marks the top of a partially
molten layer.

36. • The boundary between the mantle and the
core lies at a depth of approximately ______.
A. 300 kilometers
B. 1000 kilometers
C. 3000 kilometers
D. 10,000 kilometers

37. • The boundary between the mantle and the
core lies at a depth of approximately ______.
A. 300 kilometers
B. 1000 kilometers
C. 3000 kilometers
D. 10,000 kilometers

38. • Tectonic plates float on the...
Atmosphere
Hydrosphere
Asthenosphere

39. • Tectonic plates float on the...
Atmosphere Tectonic plates float on the asthenosphere.
Hydrosphere The asthenosphere is a region of molten rock
beneath the surface of the planet. The
Asthenosphere atmosphere is the layer of gases that creates
and envelope around the planet. The
hydrosphere includes all water as it circulates
through the Earth's different locations.

40. • Convergent movement of two plates often
results in one plate pushing under another.
True
False

41. • Convergent movement of two plates often
results in one plate pushing under another.
Convergent movement often results in one
True plate moving under another. When two plates
False come together, one plate usually moves on top
of the other one. The lower (with higher
density) one is pushed into the
asthenosphere= it is subduction.

42. • Scientists think continental plates move
because of circulating liquid rock below the
plates.
True
False

43. • Scientists think continental plates move
because of circulating liquid rock below the
plates.
True Current theories explain plate tectonics as a
molten asthenosphere movement (convection
False currents) with floating plates of solid rock on
top. Those floating plates move across the
surface of the Earth like a raft on a pool.

44. • In what layer of the Earth does plate
tectonics occur?
• a) Asthenosphere
• b) Lithosphere
• c) Mesosphere
• d) Tectosphere

45. • In what layer of the Earth does plate
tectonics occur?
• a) Asthenosphere
• b) Lithosphere
The lithosphere includes the crust and the
• c) Mesosphere uppermost part of the mantle beneath it. The
asthenosphere is the hotter, softer layer of
• d) Tectosphere rock below the lithosphere. The mesosphere is
the next layer down. The tectosphere is a zone
defined in various ways, but lately it has been
used to refer to the deep root of a continent.

46. • Which is the largest lithospheric plate?
• a) African
• b) Antarctic
• c) Eurasian
• d) Pacific

47. • Which is the largest lithospheric plate?
• a) African
• b) Antarctic
• c) Eurasian There are six major plates—seven if you
consider the Indian and Australian plates to be
separate—and the Pacific plate is the largest.
• d) Pacific Only slivers of it are dry land, part of South
Island in New Zealand and a bit of North
America extending from Baja California to
Point Reyes, just north of San Francisco.

48. • Where are most volcanoes found?
• a) Above subduction zones
• b) In Wadati-Benioff zones
• c) Near hotspots
• d) On spreading ridges

49. • Where are most volcanoes found?
• a) Above subduction zones
• b) In Wadati-Benioff zones
• c) Near hotspots Subduction zones account for the
vast majority of volcanoes. There
• d) On spreading ridges fluids from the plate and trigger rise
into the upper
downgoing plate
magma formation (more detail here
on the subduction factory). Spreading
ridges produce more volcanism as
magma rises to create new crust, but
they are not volcanoes in the
ordinary sense. Hotspots, for all their
prominence, are minor parts of the
world's inventory of volcanoes.

50. • Where do the largest earthquakes occur?
• a) Convergent zones
• b) Divergent zones
• c) Hotspots
• d) Transforms

51. • Where do the largest earthquakes occur?
• a) Convergent zones
• b) Divergent zones
• c) Hotspots
• d) Transforms All these elements of plate tectonics are
associated with earthquakes, but by far the
greatest accumulations of seismic energy occur
where plates converge. Essentially every event
larger than magnitude 8 is a convergent quake.

52. • Which ocean has no trenches?
• a) Antarctic
• b) Arctic
• c) Atlantic
• d) Indian

53. • Which ocean has no trenches?
• a) Antarctic
• b) Arctic The Arctic basin contains the northward
extension of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, which is
• c) Atlantic spreading very slowly there, and no
subduction zones. The Antarctic has only the
• d) Indian small South Sandwich Trench, southeast of
South America. The Atlantic has the Lesser
Antilles Trench bordering the Caribbean, and
the Indian Ocean has the great Java Trench
next to the Indonesian arc. The Pacific is the
champion of trenches with at least eight.

54. • Where are the most transform faults found?
• a) Hotspot tracks
• b) Spreading ridges
• c) Subduction zones
• d) Transform margins

55. • Where are the most transform faults found?
•
Spreading ridges are really sets of
a) Hotspot tracks perpendicular segments, one set
being zones of extension and the
other set being short transforms.
• b) Spreading ridges
The map to the right shows an
example from the southeast
Pacific, off South America. On the
Chile Rise (CR) the extension
• c) Subduction zones zones run north-south and the
transforms run east-west. The
whole rise is being carried eastward
into the Chile Trench (CT). The
• d) Transform margins Magellanes-Fagnano fault system
(MFS) is a transform boundary
between the South American and
Scotia plates. Transform
boundaries like it are not very
common, especially compared to
the multitudes of small transform
faults on the spreading ridges.
(Image derived from David Völker's
seafloor maps.)

56. • What cycle is the result of plate tectonics?
• a) The Bowen cycle
• b) The Carnot cycle
• c) The Davis cycle
• d) The Wilson cycle

57. • What cycle is the result of plate tectonics?
This cycle is named for the Canadian
• a) The Bowen cycle geophysicist J. Tuzo Wilson, who proposed that
plate motions lead periodically to the
• b) The Carnot cycle continents all coming together in a
supercontinent, which then breaks up into
• c) The Davis cycle many pieces again. Each cycle takes about 500
million years.
• d) The Wilson cycle The Davis cycle Davis (1850-1934), whose
William Morris
comes from geomorphologist
general theory of landscapes included an
erosional progression from youthful to mature.
Today it's considered simplistic and is no longer
taught. The Carnot cycle, describing the
thermodynamics of turning energy into
work, is fundamental to physics. There is no
Bowen cycle, only the Bowen reaction series
that describes how minerals form out of a

58. • What is the San Andreas Fault in southern
California an example of?
Active continental margin
Convergent plate boundary
Divergent plate boundary
Passive continental margin
Transform plate boundary

59. • What is the San Andreas Fault in southern
California an example of?
Active continental margin
Convergent plate boundary
Divergent plate boundary
Passive continental margin
Transform plate boundary