Geology Assignment 2

Before the 1900’s, what did geologists assume was true about the continents and oceans?

stationary

Who proposed the idea of continental drift?

alfred wegner

What is true about Pangaea?

all continents were part of it, they broke up and drifted to where they are now

What is not an evidence for Continental Drift Hypothesis?

distribution of key volcanic regions

What was found about how the continents fit together when Pangaea was reconstructed?

there were few gaps

Glacial striation orientation from the southern Pangaea continents show them where?

radially outwards from southeast africa

When was southern Pangaea covered in ice cheets?

late paleozoic

What type of climate did Tennessee have when southern Pangaea was capped by ice sheets?

tropical

What type of rocks contain clues to past climates?

sedimentary

Why does Kentucky have so much more coal than Tennessee?

coal is sedimentary and tn was under sea during the late paleozoic

What species is only found on one continent?

joshua tree

A common plant fossil in the continents of southern Pangaea is what?

glossopteris

The Appalachian Mountains were joined with mountains found where?

northwest africa and scotland

What faulty reasoning did Wegner have for continental drift?

earth rotation and tides

Who proposed the idea of seafloor spreading?

harry hess

Where does seafloor spreading occur?

mid-ocean ridges

Which one led to the theory of plate tectonics? Seafloor spreading or Continental Drift?

both

The lithosphere is the same as?

upper mantle and crust or tectonic plate

The lithosphere floats over what?

asthenosphere

What is true about the two types of crust?

oceanic crust is thinner and denser than continental crust

What region of the US is tectonically active?

us west coast

Plate boundaries are tectonically…

active

Plate interiors are tectonically…

stable

At divergent plate boundaries, two plates

move away from each other

At convergent plate boundaries, plates

move towards each other

At transform boundaries, two plates

slide past each other

What kind of plate boundary is destructive?

convergent

What kind of plate boundary is constructive?

divergent

Earthquakes and explosive volcanoes are a feature of what kind of boundary

convergent

Where is the oldest ocean floor, and what characteristic does it have?

furthest from the mid ocean ridge, colder

The mid ocean ridge under the atlantic is called what?

mid atlantice ridge

What is the maximum age of oceanic crust?

280 ma

The mid atlantic ridge can be viewed on which continent

iceland

Himalaya and Appalachian mountains are an example of what?

continent convergent boundary