Name: ______________________
Period: ________
Plate Tectonics, Earthquakes & Volcanoes Study Guide
Find the answers to the following questions in your Note-taking Worksheet and in Chapter 7
(pgs 182-199) and Chapter 8 (pgs 210-231) in your textbook.
1. Name the theory that states continents have moved slowly to their current locations.
Continental Drift
2. Who proposed the theory from question 1?
Alfred Wegener
3. List 5 different pieces of evidence supporting the theory from question 1.
 Rock formations
 Plants in different climates
 Glacial deposits
 Animal fossils
 Puzzle like shape
4. The continents were once believed to be one large landmass called ___Pangaea____.
5. How did scientists discover a system of underwater mountain ranges?
Echolocation; sound waves
6. Who was the scientist who discovered the mid-ocean ridge?
Harry Hess
7. What evidence supports seafloor spreading?
 Magnetic field
 Youngest rocks at mid ocean ridge
8. What part of the earth’s layers make up the plates?
Crust and upper mantle
9. The layers of earth from question 7 make up the __lithosphere_______.
10. The plastic-like layer below the lithosphere is called the ___asthenosphere________.
11. List the 3 different plate boundaries and describe how they move.
 Convergent – move towards each other
 Divergent – move away from each other
 Transform – slide past one another
Name: ______________________
Period: ________
12. List 5 different features caused by plate tectonics.
 Mountains
 Islands
 Rift valleys
 Volcanoes
 Earthquakes
 Deep sea trenches
 mid ocean ridge
13. Define the following key terms:
 Focus-origin of earthquake under ground

Epicenter-point on earth’s surface above origin

Tsunami-ocean wave caused by earthquakes

Subduction Zone-area where one plate slides under another

Sea-floor spreading – theory that the sea floor is spreading apart at the mid ocean
ridge

Convection currents – cycle of rising heat and sinking cool that causes the plates
to move

Hot spots – large bodies of magma that are pushed toward surface.
14. What instrument do scientists use to measure an earthquake’s vibrations? –
seismograph
15. Earthquakes produce ___seismic________ waves.
16. Name the scale used to measure an earthquakes size. Richter Scale
17. Define the following key terms:
 Volcano-cone shaped mountain that erupts

Magma-molten rock that is below the Earth’s surface

Lava-molten rock that is on the Earth’s surface

Pyroclastic Flow-cloud of dust, rock and hot gases that erupt from a volcano
Name: ______________________
Period: ________
18. List 3 types of volcanoes and describe the shape, composition and type of eruption for
each.
Shield volcano – gentle eruptions, gently sloping sides
Composite volcano – steep sides, combination of eruptions, layered with tephra and rock
Cinder-Cone volcano – steep sides, violent eruptions