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Tectonic Plates
Test your knowledge of tectonic plates in this quiz.

Tectonic Plates

A German meteorologist, Alfred Wegener, suggested that the continents may not have always been in the same place as we see them today. He believed that they had once all been joined together in a single landmass. He made his claim in the early part of the 20th century but scientists of the time dismissed his ideas as being silly.

Less than fifty years later, scientists realised that all of the evidence suggested that Wegener was correct and in the 1960s, evidence of seafloor spreading was the final piece of evidence that showed he was correct. This led to the development of the theory of plate tectonics and we now take these ideas for granted. For your GCSE, you are expected to know how this theory explains how the natural hazards of volcanoes and earthquakes occur as well as understanding how humans deal with them.

1 .
What part of the Earth is broken into 'plates'?
Crust
Mantle
Outer core
Inner core
Make sure that you know the different layers of the Earth
2 .
Which pair of words correctly describes the point at which the earthquake occurs and the point on the Earth's surface directly above where it occured?
Focus/epicentre
Epicentre/focus
Epicentre/Benioff zone
Zero point/epicentre
Make sure that you are familiar with these terms, the examiners love to test you on them!
3 .
Plates do not move smoothly. The rocks on either side become jammed together and incredibly large forces build up as the plates either side continue to move. When the plates finally become 'unstuck', which of the following natural hazards occurs?
Composite volcanoes
Shield volcanoes
Earthquakes
Ocean trenches
The tricky part of this question is that you associate both composite volcanoes and earthquakes with this type of plate boundary but it is earthquakes that are formed when rocks move in this way, not volcanoes
4 .
At which type of plate boundary is one plate pushed down into the mantle?
Constructive
Conservative
Conductive
Destructive
The plate that is pushed down into the mantle is the one that is destroyed
5 .
At which type of plate boundary are fold mountains created?
Constructive
Conservative
Destructive
They are formed at the centre of plates, well away from plate boundaries
Good examples of these are the Alps (African plate colliding with the Eurasian plate), the Himalayas (Indian plate hitting the Eurasian plate) and the Andes (the Nazca plate hitting the South American plate)
6 .
What is the name given to the places where the plates meet?
Plate boundaries
Landmasses
Continental shelves
Mid-ocean ridges
They are also known as plate margins
7 .
At which type of plate boundary do you get only earthquakes?
Constructive
Conservative
Destructive
Volcanoes occur at ALL types of plate boundary
Plates slide sideways past each other so there is no melting of rocks or gaps through which molten magma can squeeze up from below
8 .
Earthquakes are formed in:
the sea
mountain ranges only
deep sea trenches only
areas where moving plates are temporarily stuck together
This happens at differing depths. A large earthquake that occurs at shallow depths will have a greater effect at the surface of the Earth
9 .
It is said that Yellowstone Park in the USA is the site of a supervolcano that could erupt at some point in the future. A supervolcano eruption:
would have no effect on the Earth - all the material would be blasted out into space because the volcano is so powerful
would affect only the area around Yellowstone Park
would affect the whole of North America
would affect the entire Earth
It is very possible that a supervolcano eruption would cause global climate change as the dust and gases would block the heat from the sun. There would be a mass extinction of life on Earth
10 .
What is thought to move the plates around?
Convection currents in the mantle
The sea
Convection currents in the outer core
Mantle plumes
The forces required to move continents are huge
You can find more about this topic by visiting BBC Bitesize - Plate tectonics

Author:  Kev Woodward

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