West
Valley College������������ ����������������������� ����������������������� ����������� R.
Lopez
Plate Tectonics and
California
1)
What
does the word �tectonic� mean?
2)
How
long in terms of millions of years has California faced the Pacific Ocean?
3)
Who
proposed continental drift?� What was
the name of the supercontinent that formed at the end of the Paleozoic and into
the early Mesozoic?
4)
State
the three basic concepts of plate tectonics?
5)
Draw
a simple cross section of the Earth roughly to scale and label the crust,
mantle, and core. Know the approximate thicknesses of average oceanic and
continental crust, but you do not need to know the exact thicknesses of mantle
and core.
6)
What
is the Moho? How did geophysicists determine the depth to the Moho?
7)
What
is the difference between the inner and outer core?
8)
What
is the difference between the asthenosphere and lithosphere, and approximately
how thick is the lithosphere? (Recall that the lithosphere includes both the
crust and uppermost mantle and that the lithosphere forms the plates of Plate
Tectonics�i.e. the base of the tectonic plates is the base of the lithosphere.)
9)
What
do geophysicists call the asthenosphere (based on seismic wave slow down)?
10)
Be
able to briefly discuss the three types of plate boundaries.
11)
How
and where is new oceanic crust produced, and what is the process called?
12)
What
is the definition of seafloor spreading?�
Who proposed seafloor spreading?
13)
Label
the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and East Pacific Rise, and know their approximate
spreading rates.
14)
Sketch
a convergent boundary, and include the subduction zone, descending lithosphere
(oceanic crust and upper mantle), trench, ascending magmas, and magmatic arc.
15)
What
is magma? And what causes magmas (i.e. volcanic activity) to occur at
subduction zone settings?
16)
What
is the difference between island arc and continental arc (Japanese type vs.
Andean type)? At various times in the past, California was one or the other.
17)
What
is the Benioff zone? Both the largest and deepest earthquakes occur at
subduction zones.
18)
What
type of earthquake was the 2004 Sumatra-Adelmen Is. Earthquake?
19)
The
Cascade volcanoes Shasta and Lassen Peak are the result of the subduction of
which plate?
20)
What
is m�lange?
21)
Transform
boundaries are strike-slip faults. How do you distinguish right-lateral from
left-lateral movement on strike-slip faults?
22)
The
San Andreas is a transform boundary between which two tectonic plates? What is
the sense of movement? Does the San Andreas transform take up all the motion
between the two plates? In not, approximately how much and how is the rest of
the plate motion absorbed?
23)
What
causes plates to move?
24)
What
are hot spots? How are volcanic chains produced by hot spots? What is the most
famous chain of hot spot related islands, and where is the hot spot now?