(1) Who was Alfred Wegenor?
(a) On what was his theory
based?
(b) What were the problems
with Wegenor's theory that led it to be NOT widely accepted?
(2) What did Harry Hess discover? and how did this solve one of the major problems with the theory?
(3) What is polar wandering?
(a) Why would the term "apparent
polar wandering" be a better name for it?
(4) What are "sea floor stripes", and how were (are) they produced in the ocean crust?
(5) How can climate and paleocliimate be used to help understand plate tectonics?
(6) What is (was) Pangaea?
(a) What evidence for Pangaea
comes from paleoclimate studies?
(b) What evidence for Pangaea
comes from the occurrence of flood basalts?
(7) What is the difference between passive and active continental
margins?
(a) Why is continental drift
not the best name for plate tectonics?
(This has to do with the nature and location of plate boundaries.)
(8) What is a triple junction?
(9) What is a typical velocity for plates to move? (i.e. how fast do plates move, on average?)
(10) What is the "Ring of Fire" and why is it characterized by active volcanoes and large earthquakes?
(11) How can hot spots give information about past plate motions (Use the Hawaiian chain as an example)?
(12) What are the possible forces which drive the plates?
(I think that "gravity" is the most general answer, but specifically how
does gravity lead to plate movement?)
(13) What is uniformitarianism? (Do you believe it?)
(14) Can mountains (and plate tectonics) cause ice ages?
1) Features associated with subduction include A) deep earthquake zones. B) deep, elongate trenches. C) curving chains of volcanoes. D) strong earthquakes. E) all of the above
2) Wegner's ideas of continental movement may have resulted from his observations of A) lava flows. B) cloud patterns. C) ocean currents. D) sea ice. E) glaciers.
3) Wegner's reconstruction of Pangaea was based on evidence from A) plant fossils. B) animal fossils. C) jigsaw 'fit' of the continents. D) matching rock bodies. E) all of the above
4) The margins of the continents are best defined by the A) edge of the continental shelf. B) Pleistocene sea level. C) base of the continental slope. D) high tide line. E) all of the above
5) According to the theory of __________ the lithosphere is broken into several plates that move about relative to one another. A) divergence B) convergence C) plate tectonics D) faulting E) continental drift
Match the geologists in A through D with the global-scale pattern they observed.
6) Continental drift A) Dietz and Hess B) Wegener C) Vine and Matthews D) Cox and Dalrymple
7) Seafloor magnetic striping A) Dietz and Hess B) A. Wegener C) Vine and Matthews D) Cox and Dalrymple
8) Magnetic field reversals A) Dietz and Hess B) A. Wegener C) Vine and Matthews D) Cox and Dalrymple
9) Sea-floor spreading A) Dietz and Hess B) A. Wegener C) Vine and Matthews D) Cox and Dalrymple
10) Earth's many deserts at about 30e latitude are caused by A) descending dry, cool air. B) ascending warm air. C) ascending cool air. D) descending warm air. E) all of the above
11) Climate changes interpreted from the rock record are most often the result of changes in A) solar radiation intensity. B) global climate. C) continental positions. D) Earth's axial tilt. E) magnetic reversals.
12) Which of the following paleoclimate indicators likely represents the lowest latitude? A) bedrock striations B) evaporites C) sand dune deposits D) corals E) coal
13) Flood basalts are usually associated with A) hot spot bulges. B) mantle plumes. C) continental rifting. D) upper mantle melting. E) all of the above
14) Flood basalts on either side of an ocean basin are A) chance occurrences. B) an integral part of the sea-floor spreading process. C) only produced from shield volcanoes. D) not useful in support of the theory of plate tectonics. E) always younger than the crust of the ocean separating them.
15) The main characteristic of the LVZ is that A) is midway between the Moho and the outer core. B) seismic wave velocities increase through this zone. C) seismic wave velocities decrease through the zone. D) it is entirely molten. E) it is composed mainly of granitic magma.
16) Some features of the post-erosional stage of shield volcanoes in the Hawaiian chain are A) an irregular coastline. B) erosion of shield-building lava flows. C) the appearance of pyroclastic volcanic deposits. D) late stage volcanism follows an earlier alkalic stage. E) all of the above
17) The fragmentation of Pangaea has taken place primarily over the last __________ my. A) 30 B) 140 C) 300 D) 65 E) 400
18) Lithospheric plates are bounded by A) spreading ridges. B) earthquake zones. C) subduction zones. D) transform faults. E) a combination of A-D.
19) Which of the following processes is not a feature of forces acting on lithospheric plates? A) viscous drag B) slab suction C) subduction drain D) roll-back E) slab pull
20) When rising mantle plumes impinge on lithospheric plates, A) the plates form upwarps. B) the plates form deeply sunken basins. C) a seismic gap, or absence of earthquakes, forms. D) subduction zones are initiated above the resulting hot spot. E) the effect is insignificant.
21) The kind of plate boundary where two plates are moving away from each other is A) a diverging boundary. B) a converging boundary. C) a transform boundary. D) a reverse boundary. E) a thrust boundary.
22) The kind of plate boundary where two plates are moving toward each other is A) a diverging boundary. B) a converging boundary. C) a transform boundary. D) a reverse boundary. E) a thrust boundary.
23) The kind of plate boundary where two plates are sliding past each other horizontally is A) a diverging boundary. B) a converging boundary. C) a transform boundary. D) a reverse boundary. E) a thrust boundary.
24) The North American plate is moving away from the mid-Atlantic ridge at about __________ cm/yr. A) 1 B) 2 C) 3 D) 5 E) 10
25) The triple junction immediately south of the south of the Gulf of California is a (an) A) RRR. B) RTF. C) RTT. D) RRT. E) TFF.
26) The oceanic crust A) becomes progressively younger away from the mid-ocean ridges. B) becomes progressively older away from the mid-ocean ridges. C) is the same age virtually everywhere. D) is generally less dense than continental crust. E) is composed mainly of the volcanic rock rhyolite.
27) The tectonic difference between the Pacific and Atlantic is that the Pacific A) contains a larger area of older rocks. B) is deeper, on average. C) is surrounded by plate margins. D) is larger. E) all of the above
28) The Pacific "Ring of Fire" is not characterized by A) plate boundaries. B) active mountain building. C) wide continental shelves. D) andesite volcanism. E) earthquakes.
29) Features associated with subduction include A) deep earthquake zones. B) deep, elongate trenches. C) curving chains of volcanoes. D) strong earthquakes. E) all of the above
30) A hot spot is A) a new club near campus. B) where the asthenosphere is unusually cold. C) usually located in the outer core. D) the site of a mantle plume. E) always fixed or joined to a particular lithospheric plate.
31) Hot spot trails can be used to calculate A) earthquake frequency. B) lower mantle temperature. C) absolute plate motions. D) mantle flow. E) depth of Moho.
32) The Pacific Plate is moving about __________ times as fast as the North American plate A) 2 B) 4 C) 6 D) 8 E) 10
33) Away from mid-ocean ridges the oceanic crust increases in A) age. B) depth. C) thickness. D) density. E) all of the above
34) Ocean crust lies lower than continental crust because it is A) denser and hotter. B) basalt. C) younger. D) denser and thinner. E) all of the above
35) The major gravity force in plate motion is A) slab pull. B) slab rollback. C) slab suction. D) ridge push. E) extensional stress.
36) Geologists today have a tool for restructuring paleogeography which Wegener did not have A) climatic indicators. B) paleomagnetism. C) rock type similarities. D) fossils. E) detailed coastal maps.
37) Geologic processes functioned in the past as they do now, with the exception of those influenced by A) biological activity. B) metamorphism. C) plutonism. D) faulting. E) volcanic activity.
38) Plate movements can be reconstructed with confidence for about the last__________ years A) 150 million B) 50 million C) 1.5 billion D) 4 billion E) 500 million
39) The ice ages of the past 2 million years may have been caused by A) polar wandering. B) Himalayan uplift. C) the greenhouse effect. D) human activity. E) all of the above