Science Study Guide

1. Describe characteristics of the various layers of the interior of the earth and be able to identify their relative position inside the Earth. The Crust Made of oceanic crust and continental crust. Solid Oceanic crust is made of basalt (igneous). Continental crust is made of granite(igneous). The oceanic crust is denser than the continental crust. Plates make up the crust. most outer layer of the earth The Mantle The mantle is made of the lithosphere and the asthenosphere. Convection currents because there are hot and cold spots It is a visco-solid (solid, but can move) like silly putty The lithosphere (tectonic plates) is more dense and cooler than the asthenosphere. Asthenosphere is the lower layer, convection currents. Underneath the crust The Outer Core Liquid and really hot Iron and nickel Beneath the mantle The Inner core Solid because of the pressure iron and nickel Inside the outer core 2.What makes up the lithosphere The uppermost part of the mantle and the crust. 3,What is the Asthenosphere? The lower and biggest layer of the earth's mantle, below the lithosphere, in which there is relatively low resistance to plastic flow and convection is thought to occur. 4. Describe the process scientists used to determine the shape and size of the Core? The shadow effect, earthquakes bounce off the liquid core and are not felt on ; like shining a light on something and getting a shadow. 5. Identify Pangaea. Describe Alfred Wegener's theory of continental drift. List and describe 4 pieces of evidence he used to support his theory. In 1910, Alfred Wegener hypothesized that all of Earths continents were once joined together in a single supercontinent, Pangaea, and have since then drifted apart through the ocean floor. Over tens of millions of years, Pangaea began to break apart, as the new land masses slowly drifted to their modern day locations.

Wegner gathered evidence from:

 Fit of the continents: such as South America and Africa. -land features: Mountains and other features provided evidence that when the continents were pieced together originally, mountain ranges on two different continents seemed compatible like jigsaw puzzle pieces. Examples of these borders are South America and Africa. - fossils: Glossopteris, a fern-like plant that lived 250 million years ago, was found in rocks in Africa, South America, Australia, India and Antarctica. The fact that these fossils were found so far apart, provided Wegner with more evidence that Pangaea existed. -evidence of climate change: Although when a continent moves closer to the equator it is warmer, and one further away is colder, the continent still carries fossils and rocks that formed at its previous location. The fossils of tropical plants found on the island Spitsbergen an island now in the Arctic Ocean. 6. What were his main issues scientists had with Wegners theory of Continental drift?. Wegner couldn't provide an explanation for the force that pushes or pulls the continents. 7. How is the false theory of continental drift different than todays widely accepted theory of plate tectonics. Floating masses on a sphere would collect at the equator, and stay there. some parts of the Earth's surface (crust) should have solidified while other parts were still fluid. 8. Explain what is meant by theory of plate tectonics. The plates are moving due to mantle convection. scientific theory that describes the large-scale motions of Earth's lithosphere. 9. Be able to label the major Tectonic plates on Earth.

10. Explain how the convection in the mantle affects the plates motion. The slow motion of Earth's visco-solid mantle caused by convection currents carrying heat from the interior of the Earth to the surface.The lithosphere, which rides atop the asthenosphere is made up of tectonic plates that are being created and destroyed at their plate boundaries. The mantle is added to the growing edges of a plate by seafloor spreading. This hot added material cools down by conduction and convection of heat. At the consumption edges of the plate, the material has thermally contracted to

become dense, and it sinks under its own weight in the process of subduction usually at an ocean oh my lawd trench.

11. Describe the process of subduction. Subduction is the process that takes place at convergent boundaries by which one tectonic plate moves under another tectonic plate and sinks into the mantle as the plates converge. Regions where this process occurs are known as subduction zones. 12. Explain the concept of sea-floor spreading, who explained it, and how magnetism can be used to prove it occurred. Mid ocean rifts from where two plates are moving apart form new sea floor when magma rises up from the crack this is pushing all of the plate to one side. Hess explained the theory of sea floor spreading. 13. Given a set of data, be able to calculate the rate at which a Tectonic plate moves. Speed(cm/yr)= Distance (cm)/ Age Difference (yrs) 14. Identify three types of plate boundaries. describe what is happening at each. convergent-two plates come together divergent- where two plates move, most occur along mid-ocean ridges, some on land where two of the earths plates slide apart transform-two plates slip past each other, moving in opposite directions 15. Describe where on Earth each of the following are located: mid-ocean ridges, rift valleys, trenches, mountains, island arc, volcanoes, hot spots, convergent, divergent and transform Convergent tectonic plates When two continental plates collide a mountain like Everest is formed. When a plate subducts a hot spot seeps up forming Coastal Volcanoes, Volcanoes like Mt. Helens and Island Arcs like Japan Divergent Tectonic plates mid-ocean ridges-Oceanic crust diverging and magma rises from the mantle rift valleys- Where continental crust spreads apart. trenches-Where there is are ocean and continental plate or two oceanic plates that is denser than another the trench is place where one goes down like the Mariana Trench. 16. Explain which plates are interacting to form the following land features: mid-ocean ridges, rift valleys, trenches, mountains, island arc and coastal volcanoes. mid-ocean ridges,-2 oceanic plates diverging rift valleys, - 2 continental plates diverging trenches, - 1 oceanic plate and 1 continental plate converging. 2 oceanic plates converging mountains, - 2 continental plates converging island arc - hot spots coastal volcanoes.- 1 oceanic and 1 continental plate converging