Planet Earth Topic 3

Who is the person credited with developing the theory of continental drift?

• Harry Hess
• Galileo
• Alfred Wegener
• Newton

What two specific continents fit together most noticeably?

• Africa and North America
• South America and Europe
• South America and Africa
•  Antartica and Africa

What is this a picture of?

• plate tectonics

• continental drift

• pangaea

• glacier scaring

How does fossil evidence support Wegener's hypothesis of continental drift?

• Similar fossils are found along continental margins that appear to join together.
• Fossils are found in areas where the present-day climate could not have supported the organisms that made the fossils.
• Similar fossils of giant, land-dwelling dinosaurs are found on continents separated by oceans.
• all of the above

The theory of continental drift named a key part of this idea Pangaea. What is Pangaea?

• One of the ancient animals that helped Wegener prove that fossils from different continents originally came from the same location
•  supercontinent that existed in Earth's distant past
• The underwater ocean range in the middle of the ocean
• The hot spot which gave rise to the Hawaiian Islands, among others

Why was Wegener's theory not accepted?

• He had no proof of how they were moving
• He had no evidence
• He was married
• He was not a Scientist

The Theory of Continental Drift states that Pangaea broke apart and the continents "drifted" away from each other

• True
• False

Scientists think that the continents once formed a giant landmass that broke apart, and then slowly drifted apart. What is the name given to this hypothesis?

• sea-floor Spreading

• plate tectonics

• continental drift

• Pangaea

Most geologist think that the movement of Earth's tectonic plates is caused by

• the rotation of the Earth.

• the Earth's magnetic field.

• subduction.

• convection currents.

Most tectonic plates have both oceanic and continental crust. How are they different?

• Oceanic is thinner and less dense than continental.

• Continental is thinner than more dense than oceanic.

• Continental is thicker and less dense than oceanic.

• Oceanic is thicker and more dense than continental.