Plate Tectonics Quiz

Grade 8 · Science · Quiz

10 questions on plate boundaries, continental drift evidence, subduction, and geological features.

Questions

1. Who proposed the theory of continental drift?

   1. Charles Darwin
   2. Alfred Wegener
   3. Isaac Newton
   4. James Hutton
   Show answer

   Answer: Alfred Wegener

   Alfred Wegener proposed continental drift in 1912, noting that continents fit together and share fossil and rock records.

2. What type of boundary forms the Himalayan Mountains?

   1. Transform boundary
   2. Divergent boundary
   3. Convergent boundary (continental-continental)
   4. Convergent boundary (oceanic-continental)
   Show answer

   Answer: Convergent boundary (continental-continental)

   The Himalayas formed when the Indian and Eurasian continental plates collided — neither could subduct, so both crumpled upward.

3. New oceanic crust is created at divergent boundaries.

   Show answer

   As plates separate at divergent boundaries, magma rises from the mantle and solidifies to form new seafloor — this is called seafloor spreading.

4. What is Pangaea?

   1. A type of tectonic plate
   2. The ancient supercontinent that split apart into today's continents
   3. The layer beneath the crust
   4. A mid-ocean ridge in the Pacific
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   Answer: The ancient supercontinent that split apart into today's continents

   Pangaea existed about 335 million years ago and gradually broke apart through plate tectonic processes.

5. Deep ocean trenches are formed at which type of boundary?

   1. Divergent
   2. Transform
   3. Convergent (with subduction)
   4. Rift valley boundaries
   Show answer

   Answer: Convergent (with subduction)

   When an oceanic plate subducts beneath another plate, it creates deep trenches like the Mariana Trench (deepest point on Earth).

6. The theory that Earth's lithosphere is divided into moving sections is called ___ tectonics.

   Show answer

   Plate tectonics is the unifying theory that explains earthquakes, volcanoes, mountains, and seafloor spreading.

7. What causes tectonic plates to move?

   1. The Moon's gravity pulling on the crust
   2. Convection currents in the mantle
   3. The spinning of Earth's core
   4. Tidal forces from the ocean
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   Answer: Convection currents in the mantle

   Heat-driven convection currents in the mantle create forces that drag and push tectonic plates across the asthenosphere.

8. Earthquakes can occur at all three types of plate boundaries.

   Show answer

   Earthquakes happen wherever plates interact — at convergent, divergent, and transform boundaries — though transform boundaries tend to produce many shallow earthquakes.

9. The Ring of Fire is associated with which ocean?

   1. Atlantic Ocean
   2. Indian Ocean
   3. Arctic Ocean
   4. Pacific Ocean
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   Answer: Pacific Ocean

   The Ring of Fire encircles the Pacific Ocean, containing ~75% of the world's volcanoes and ~90% of earthquakes due to active subduction zones.

10. When oceanic crust collides with continental crust, what happens?

    1. Both plates rise up forming mountains
    2. The oceanic plate subducts beneath the continental plate
    3. The continental plate subducts beneath the oceanic plate
    4. Both plates stop moving
    Show answer

    Answer: The oceanic plate subducts beneath the continental plate

    Oceanic crust is denser than continental crust, so it sinks (subducts) beneath the lighter continental crust at convergent boundaries.

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