Exam 2: The Way the Earth Works: Plate Tectonics

A) a meteorite must have struck the area
B) the area was once covered with swamps and/or jungles
C) the area was once covered with an ocean
D) this discovery was anomalous

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A) an oceanic plate subducts beneath continental lithosphere
B) an oceanic plate subducts beneath another oceanic plate
C) continental lithosphere subducts beneath an oceanic plate
D) two oceanic plates collide

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A) the addition of new crust due to hot-spot volcanism
B) the addition of new crust due to sedimentation
C) the addition of new lithospheric mantle as a result of cooling
D) reasons that geologists cannot determine at present

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A) increases
B) decreases

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A) three volcanoes form a tight, triangular cluster
B) glacial ice, continental rocks, and the ocean can be found together
C) the boundaries of three lithospheric plates meet at a single point
D) the boundaries of three lithospheric plates meet to form an elongate surface

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A) 500 km
B) 1,000 km
C) 1,500 km
D) 2,000 km

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A) is too old
B) is too dense
C) is too cool
D) contains radioactive elements

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A) physical state (the lithosphere is solid; the asthenosphere is liquid)
B) chemical composition (the lithosphere is mafic; the asthenosphere is felsic)
C) temperature (the lithosphere is cooler than the asthenosphere)
D) chemical composition (the lithosphere is felsic; the asthenosphere is mafic)

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A) synonymous with "subduction zone"
B) a 5-mile radius surrounding an active volcano
C) a continental coastline that coincides with a plate boundary
D) anywhere on Earth where earthquakes are especially frequent

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A) convergent
B) divergent
C) transform

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A) continental drift
B) continents
C) faults
D) plate tectonics

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A) magnetite
B) iron
C) quartz
D) potassium feldspar

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A) is able to flow over long periods of time
B) has a density similar to the core
C) varies in thickness from place to place
D) is relatively cool

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A) wandering of the geomagnetic North Pole
B) drifting of the North American continent

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A) convergent-plate boundaries
B) divergent-plate boundaries
C) transform-plate boundaries

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A) any portion of the ocean floor that is topographically higher than surrounding sea floor
B) an extinct oceanic hot-spot volcano that has not yet subsided below sea level
C) an extinct oceanic hot-spot volcano that has subsided below sea level
D) synonymous with the term hot spot

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A) unknown, but it is assumed to have been identical to today's
B) known to have been constant through geologic time, due to remnant magnetization of iron-rich minerals in rocks
C) known to have experienced numerous polarity reversals, due to remnant magnetization of iron-rich minerals in rocks
D) known to have been constant through time, on the basis of theoretical calculations

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