Name ______ ________________ Class ____________________ Date

__________________
GUIDED READING
World Geography and Cultures
Chapter 2: The Physical World

Section 2 Forces of Change

Directions: Use the information from pages 34 - 40 to complete the
following.

1. Three main _________:

a. _________: Center, like a nuclear furnace

i. Divided into inner(solid) and outer core (dense liquid metal)

b. _________: Next to the outer core

i. Most of Earth’s mass

c. _________: rocky shell that forms the Earth’s surface

i. 25 miles thick.

ii. Currents carry heat from core through the mantle to the crust

2. Forces _________ Earth’s surface are key to shaping landforms

3. Plate _________: how forces within Earth create landforms

a. Plates can be compared to the cracked shell of a hardboiled egg

4. Plates move _________ across the upper mantle: process called continental drift

a. Plate _________: the crust is subject to stressing that lead to melting, bending,
and breaking

b. _________often form long rows that signal a plate boundary

c. _________-Tectonic forces cause masses of rock to break, very common near

plate boundaries
World Geography and Cultures Chapter 2 - 2
 5. Theory of plate tectonics is used to explain the _________of Earth’s surface

a. Pangaea- All continents were a part of one _________

6. Four types of _________ at plate boundaries

a. Subduction, Accretion, Spreading , Faulting

i. Subduction (Collide): Found on ocean _________ and _________ edges;

1. On ocean floors colliding creates trenches. On continental

boundaries, colliding creates folds and faults (mountains)

ii. Accretion (Sliding): _________ comes together as sea plates slide under
the continental plate

iii. Spreading (Divergent): crust _________ until it breaks; creating rift valleys
and oceanic ridges

iv. Faulting (Move laterally): Move _________ each other, some low
mountains are created and broad valleys; earthquakes are frequent

7. Weathering: _________ and _________ of rocks over a period of time; SLOW process

a. _________- substances in air and water react with rock- dissolves the rock

b. _________- heating and cooling, freezing and thawing, roots of trees- breaks or
cracks the surface

8. _________: Movement of surface material from one location to another

a. Water-Rainfall, rivers, and waves: Example- _________ _________

b. Wind- _________-blast particles of sand against rock, from one place to another
(sand dunes)

World Geography and Cultures Chapter 2 - 2

 i. _________from Sahara in Africa goes across the Atlantic Ocean to the
_________ Islands

9. Ice-_________-can level anything in their path, grind rocks into _________

World Geography and Cultures Chapter 2 - 2