Exam 2: Earth Structure and Plate Tectonics

The theory of drifting continents was proposed by ________.

Thinning of Earth's crust and the resulting faulting is called ________.

Which of the following are found along subduction zones?

P waves travel more quickly than S waves.

The mid-ocean ridges and rises are spreading centers where new oceanic crust is created.

The Pacific Plate is carrying Baja California and the coastal cities of Southern California ________ the continent of North America.

The edge of an active continental margin bordered by a deep-sea trench is wide and shallow with deep deposits of land-derived sediments.

The largest lithospheric plate is the Pacific Plate.

Sediment thickness on the oceanic crust tends to be greatest in the center of ocean basins.

The mechanism causing lithospheric plates to move is thought to be ________.

The North Atlantic Ocean was the first modern ocean to open during the breakup of Pangaea.

With increasing distance away from the mid-ocean ridge ________.

The oldest oceanic crust is generally in the center of the ocean basin near the mid-ocean ridge or rise system.

The deepest earthquakes occur in subduction zones at oceanic-oceanic plate convergent boundaries.

All of the following statements apply to ocean spreading centers, except ________.

The steeper profile of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge compared to the East Pacific Rise indicates that the Mid-Atlantic Ridge is the faster spreading center.

A hot spot trace typically includes ________.

Identify all of the different observations used to support Harry Hess's theory of seafloor spreading.

Isostatic columns of crustal material produce equal pressures deep within the mantle.

S waves are able to travel through both solid and liquid.