Plate Tectonics Quiz

Grade 7 · Science · Quiz

Test your knowledge of tectonic plates, plate boundaries, and geologic features they create.

Questions

What is the name for the rigid sections of Earth's lithosphere that move slowly?
1. Mantle zones
2. Tectonic plates
3. Crustal slabs
4. Core fragments
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Answer: Tectonic plates
Tectonic plates are the large rigid sections of the lithosphere. There are about 15 major plates that make up Earth's outer shell.
New ocean floor is created at divergent boundaries.
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Answer: True
At divergent boundaries, plates move apart and magma rises to fill the gap, creating new oceanic crust. This process is called seafloor spreading.
The process where one tectonic plate sinks beneath another is called ___.
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Answer: subduction
Subduction occurs when denser oceanic plates dive beneath less dense continental plates at convergent boundaries, forming deep ocean trenches.
Which layer of Earth do tectonic plates float on?
1. Inner core
2. Outer core
3. Asthenosphere
4. Crust
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Answer: Asthenosphere
The asthenosphere is the partially molten, slowly flowing portion of the upper mantle on which the lithospheric plates float and move.
Earthquakes are most likely to occur at transform plate boundaries.
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Answer: True
Transform boundaries create enormous stress as plates grind sideways against each other. When that stress releases suddenly, it causes earthquakes.
The San Andreas Fault in California is an example of which type of boundary?
1. Divergent
2. Convergent
3. Transform
4. Subduction
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Answer: Transform
The San Andreas Fault is a right-lateral transform fault where the Pacific Plate slides northwest past the North American Plate.
The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is an example of a ___ plate boundary.
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Answer: divergent
The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is where the North American Plate and Eurasian Plate (and South American/African Plates in the south) are moving apart, creating new seafloor.
When two continental plates collide, what feature is typically formed?
1. Ocean trench
2. Volcanic island chain
3. Mountain range
4. Mid-ocean ridge
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Answer: Mountain range
When two continental plates collide, both are too buoyant to subduct. Instead, they crumple and push upward, forming mountain ranges like the Himalayas.
Pangaea began breaking apart about 2.25 billion years ago.
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Answer: False
Pangaea began to break apart about 175-200 million years ago (during the Jurassic Period), not 2.25 billion years ago.
Which type of evidence supports the theory of plate tectonics?
1. Identical fossils found on different continents
2. The same temperature on all ocean floors
3. Continents all moving toward the equator
4. All volcanoes being located at the poles
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Answer: Identical fossils found on different continents
Identical fossils of the same extinct species found on continents now separated by oceans strongly supports the idea that those continents were once connected.

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