Plate Tectonic Objectives

1. Know Alfred Wegener and his continental drift hypothesis.

2. List the evidence Alfred Wegener discovered suggesting the continents were once together as
a single landmass.
3. Name the single landmass or supercontinent of Earth.
4. Know why Alfred Wegener's hypothesis was rejected. What was missing from his evidence?
5. Understand and define seafloor spreading.
6. Know the main features of the seafloor and the relative age of rocks found at those locations.
7. Understand and explain why magnetic reversals provide the evidence Alfred Wegener was
missing and how evidence of these reversals are found on the seafloor.
8. Define the theory of plate tectonics and understand how this theory differs from Wegener's
continental drift hypothesis and the process of seafloor spreading.
9. Know the three main plate boundaries and the features that are found at each.
10. Know and understand why earthquakes, volcanoes, and mountains are the result of plate
tectonic processes on Earth.
11. Know the difference between continental plates and oceanic plates (rock type and thickness).
12. Define subduction and know the name of the plate that is subducting underneath Northern
California.
13. Explain how an island arc forms and how volcanic mountain chains form and the difference
between both.
14. Explain how a rift valley forms and know the two main areas of Earth where this is currently
occurring.
15. Explain the difference between a mid-ocean ridge and a deep-sea trench.
16. Define convection and understand how convection currents are responsible for the moving
plates.
17. Know that cooling, sinking convection currents cause plates to collide while hotter, rising
convection currents cause plates to separate.

Notebook Checklist: Notes are due the day of the test and must be in this order!

 Plate Tectonics Divider

 Plate Tectonics Objectives
 Continental Drift Notes
 Pangaea
 Seafloor Spreading Notes
 Seafloor Spreading Diagram
 Plate Tectonics Notes
 Plate Tectonic Diagrams