Name: 
 

Plate Tectonic Quiz



Multiple Choice
Identify the letter of the choice that best completes the statement or answers the question.
 

1. 

The youngest rocks on the ocean floor are located ____.
a.
near continents
c.
far from mid-ocean ridges
b.
at mid-ocean ridges
d.
near Asia
 

2. 

The crust and upper mantle make up Earth's ____.
a.
lithosphere
c.
core
b.
asthenosphere
d.
continents
 

3. 

Plates of the lithosphere float on the ____.
a.
crust
c.
core
b.
asthenosphere
d.
atmosphere
 

4. 

The result of plate movement can be seen at ____.
a.
abyssal plains
c.
plate centers
b.
ocean margins
d.
plate boundaries
 

5. 

Plates move apart at ____ boundaries.
a.
convergent
c.
divergent
b.
stable
d.
transform
 

6. 

A lack of explanation for continental drift prevented many scientists from accepting that a single supercontinent called ____ once existed.
a.
Glomar
c.
Pangaea
b.
Glossopteris
d.
Wegener
 

7. 

Plates slide past one another at ____.
a.
subduction zones
c.
convection currents
b.
transform boundaries
d.
divergent boundaries
 

8. 

The boundary between two plates moving together is called a ____.
a.
divergent boundary
c.
transform boundary
b.
convergent boundary
d.
lithosphere
 

9. 

Continental drift states that continents have moved ____ to their current location.
a.
vertically
c.
quickly
b.
slowly
d.
very little
 

10. 

Bands of rock on the seafloor showing alternating magnetic orientation indicate Earth's magnetic field has ____.
a.
reversed itself in the past
c.
become stronger
b.
weakened
d.
remained the same
 

11. 

In order to complete a convection current, the rising material must eventually ____ Earth.
a.
stop inside
c.
sink back into
b.
cool
d.
warm
 

12. 

The Great Rift Valley in Africa is a ____.
a.
mid-ocean ridge
c.
convergent boundary
b.
divergent boundary
d.
transform boundary
 

13. 

____ are formed when two continental plates collide.
a.
Volcanoes
c.
Mountain ranges
b.
Strike-slip faults
d.
Rift valleys
 

14. 

Once the elastic limit of rocks is passed, they break and move along surfaces called ____.
a.
faults
c.
strains
b.
earthquakes
d.
stresses
 

15. 

The height of the lines traced on paper is a measure of the energy released or the ____ of the earthquake.
a.
stress
c.
magnitude
b.
strain
d.
intensity
 

16. 

Most earthquakes happen ____.
a.
without warning
b.
in areas where earthquakes have occurred in the past
c.
along plate boundaries
d.
all of the above
 

17. 

____ faults are caused by tensional forces.
a.
Normal
c.
Reverse
b.
Strike-slip
d.
Elastic
 

18. 

At a(n) ____ fault, rocks on either side of the fault surface move past each other.
a.
normal
c.
reverse
b.
elastic
d.
strike-slip
 

Matching
 
 
Match each term with the correct statement below.
a.
seafloor
c.
continents
b.
Pangaea
d.
lithosphere
 

19. 

Alfred Wegener believed that the ______ were once joined.
 

20. 

The name ______ comes from two words that mean "all land."
 

21. 

The Glomar Challenger gathered information about rocks on the _____.
 

22. 

The crust and upper mantle make up the _____.
 



 
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