WISE Plate Tectonics

Oceanic crust near the mid-ocean ridge is younger than oceanic crust farther away from the ridge.

Which features form the longest mountain ranges on Earth?

Alfred Wegner provided evidence from landforms, fossils, and climate in support of his theory of the shrinking earth.

Which process or processes change the size and shape of the oceans?

If subduction occurs faster than oceanic crust can be created, an ocean will expand.

As a continent moves ____________ the poles, its climate gets colder.

Old oceanic crust is more dense than new oceanic crust because it is

___________of the plant Glossopteris provided evidence for Wegener's hypothesis for continental drift.

Sonar is a device that scientists use to map the ocean floor.

Earth's plates meet at boundaries.

Wegener used evidence from land features, fossils and climate to support his theory of continental drift.

Sea-floor spreading occurs at mid-ocean ridges.

In seafloor spreading, molten material rises from the mantle and erupts

Wegener noticed that mountain ranges on the continents of South America and _________________ line up.

What is the motion of Earth's plates like?

As a continent moves toward the equator, its climate gets ____________.

Which feature forms at convergent boundaries?

Along a divergent boundary, two plates slip past each other, moving in opposite directions.

Which theory describes the motion of and force driving Earth's plates?

Which process adds more crust to the ocean floor?

The idea of continents moving slowly over Earth's surface was developed by German scientist ______________.

The geological theory that states that pieces of earth's lithosphere are in constant, slow motion is the theory of

Ocean currents drive Earth's plates.

Most transform boundaries where plates move apart occur along the mid-ocean ridges.

Plates slide past each other at convergent boundaries.

The San Andreas fault is an example of which kind of boundary?

The farther from a mid-ocean ridge a rock sample is taken, the younger the rock is.

Where does subduction occur?

Most geologists think that the movement of Earth's plates is caused by

Any trace of ancient organism that has been preserved in rock is called a

Most geologists of Wegener's time accepted his idea of drifting continents.

Molten material erupts inside the central valley of mid-ocean ridges.

A place where two plates slip past each other, moving in opposite directions, is known as

Mid-ocean ridges form the longest mountain ranges on earth.

A rift valley forms where plates diverge on land.

Pangaea is the supercontinent that Wegener suggested occurred on Earth about 300 million years ago. True or False?

Breaks in the crust called faults form where plates meet.

Oceanic drift is the idea that the continents slowly moved over Earth's surface.

The pattern of magnetic stripes in rocks on either side of a mid-ocean ridge is the same.

A collision between two pieces of continental crust at a converging boundary produces a

Wegener inferred that the ancient plants Mesosaurus and Lystrosaurus once lived on a single landmass since split apart.

A deep-ocean trench is an underwater mountain.