Name Rebecca Gallanter Learning Unit 2 Plate Tectonics and Physical Hazards Review Questions This assignment is designed to assess your understanding of Unit 2 and includes some of the Questions for Review at the end of Chapter 2 from your text plus a few additional questions Each question can be answered in one to two sentences Please limit yourself to a maximum of three sentences Access the assignment complete it with ANSWERS IN A DIFFERENT COLOR FONT as a separate file and send it back for evaluation and grading through the assignment tab by or before the due date 1 What forces drive internal and external Earth Processes Earth is a very complex planet and it s complex internal and external flows of energy are what drive it That energy is mainly driven by two things The first thing is the solar energy from the sun the second is gravitational forces 2 What energy sources caused the interior of the early Earth to heat up There are three sources to earth s internal energy which are gravitational collapse impact energy and radioactive decay 3 List the density stratified layers of the earth from most dense to least dense 1 core 2 Mantle 3 Crust 4 The lithosphere is composed of what two layers The crust and the upper part of the mantle 5 Distinguish between Earth s lithosphere and asthenosphere in terms of both location and properties The asthenosphere is directly below the lithosphere and unlike the lithosphere was properties are ridged brittle and elastically the asthenosphere behaves like plastic and is a solid that flows 6 Before people understood plate tectonics what evidence led some scientists to believe in continental drift Alfred Wegner had a lot of great evidence on his side to back up his theory on Continental drift all long before people understood plates tectonics Some of the just points he used as proof were that the continents all fit together like a puzzle that fossils were found from the same species on different continents and the distribution of climate sedimentary rocks 7 What was the primary reason why Alfred Wegener s theory of continental drift rejected He never gave a viable mechanism to explain how continental movement could happen 8 What evidence confirmed seafloor spreading Be brief but to the point In the 1940s scientists began to look back into Wegener s work In the 1950s with the use of oceanographic research and advanced maps of the ocean floor they were able to see seafloor spreading and in the 1960s seafloor spreading vindicate Wegener 9 If the ocean floor is getting wider why is the Earth not becoming larger Harry Hess stated when he introduced seafloor spreading the in 1960s that there was new seafloor being made at the mid ocean ridge because of volcanic activity but the seafloor was sinking into the trenches so the earth was not getting larger 10 Why do many oceanic volcanoes occur as long lines of volcanoes that are active at only one end As the seafloor spreads at the mid oceanic ridge then magma cools and the minerals crystallize and force new active volcanoes to form next to it 11 What are the main types of lithospheric plate boundaries in terms of relative motions Provide a real example of each There three types of boundaries One is A divergent boundary where the plates move apart from one another One is a convergent boundary where the plates come together One is A transform boundary where the plates slide past one another 12 Why does oceanic lithosphere almost always sink beneath continental lithosphere at convergent plate boundaries Oceanic crust is denser than continental crust and when they collide there is subduction where the oceanic plate goes under the continental plate 13 With which type or types of boundary are active volcanoes generally associated Volcanoes are most associated with convergent boundaries because it pushes the plates together forcing the mountain ranges and the volcanoes form 14 How does magma form in the line of arc volcanoes over an active subduction zone The subducting plate melts and it being less dense than the surrounding solid mental it rises up through the continental crust and ends up forming a volcanic arch 15 Along which type or types of lithospheric plate boundary are earthquakes common Earthquakes are most common on transform boundaries
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