What Is The Best Piece Of Evidence For Plate Tectonics

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What Is The Best Piece Of Evidence For Plate Tectonics?

Answer: Modern continents hold clues to their distant past. Evidence from fossils glaciers and complementary coastlines helps reveal how the plates once fit together. Fossils tell us when and where plants and animals once existed.Dec 9 2020

What is the earliest evidence of plate tectonics what is the evidence?

Rock unearthed from a mountain belt in northeastern South Africa has shown the earliest known evidence of plate tectonics pre-dating their previous known existence by 240 million years according to researchers.

What are the two main evidence of plate tectonics?

There is variety of evidence that supports the claims that plate tectonics accounts for (1) the distribution of fossils on different continents (2) the occurrence of earthquakes and (3) continental and ocean floor features including mountains volcanoes faults and trenches.

What is best explained by plate tectonics?

The theory of plate tectonics states that the Earth’s solid outer crust the lithosphere is separated into plates that move over the asthenosphere the molten upper portion of the mantle. Oceanic and continental plates come together spread apart and interact at boundaries all over the planet.

Which evidence best supports the claim that plate tectonics cause earthquakes?

Which evidence best supports the claim that plate tectonics cause earthquakes? The distribution of rocks is determined by the history of plate motions. A transform boundary is created when two plates slide past one another.

Which of these is evidence for plate tectonics quizlet?

Earthquakes and volcanic activity are also evidence of plate tectonics.

How are glaciers evidence of plate tectonics?

The transition to plate tectonics started with the help of lubricating sediments scraped by glaciers from the slopes of Earth’s first continents according to new research. … As Earth cooled this shell began to fold and crack eventually creating Earth’s system of plate tectonics.

How are fossils evidence of plate tectonics?

Finding identical or similar fossils in areas separated by vast distances were some of the first clues that scientists used to reconstruct past plate movement. … This distribution of fossils led to theories that the southern continents were once joined in a supercontinent called Gondwana.

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What type of evidence for the plate tectonic theory is provided when scientist discovered that the magnetic field reverses polarity?

This further provided evidence for plate tectonics. More evidence came when scientist examined the sea floor and saw that there were reversals of polarity of Earth’s magnetic field that was in a striped pattern. The strips of polarity reversal were mirror images on each side of the mid- ocean ridge.

Why do earthquakes prove plate tectonics?

Plate tectonics

Tectonic plates move very slowly relative to each other typically a few centimetres per year but this still causes a huge amount of deformation at the plate boundaries which in turn results in earthquakes.

What is best explained by plate tectonics quizlet?

Which process is best explained by the Theory of Plate Tectonics? … Tectonics plates divide the earth’s outer layer (lithosphere). Under the lithosphere is the asthenosphere where the differences in temperature and pressure cause the plates to move.

What is true of tectonic plates?

Plate tectonics is the theory that Earth’s outer shell is divided into large slabs of solid rock called “plates ” that glide over Earth’s mantle the rocky inner layer above Earth’s core. … Below the lithosphere is the asthenosphere — a viscous layer kept malleable by heat deep within the Earth.

Which of this most likely results from plate movement?

The movement of these tectonic plates is likely caused by convection currents in the molten rock in Earth’s mantle below the crust. Earthquakes and volcanoes are the short-term results of this tectonic movement. The long-term result of plate tectonics is the movement of entire continents over millions of years (Fig.

What provides the best evidence that Earth’s crust is divided into tectonic plates?

Which of these provides the best evidence that Earth’s crust is divided into tectonic plates? The theory that the lithosphere is divided into tectonic plates that move around on top of the asthenosphere. What was the name of the last great land mass of continents?

What helped scientists develop the theory of plate tectonics?

Evidence that led to the development of plate tectonic theory in the 1960s came primarily from new data from the sea floor including topography and the magnetism of rocks.

How is plate tectonics supported by the apparent fit of the continental coastlines?

This apparent fit is due to the fact the continents were once connected and have since moved apart in what has been called continental drift . However we now know that it is not just the continents that move so a more correct term is plate tectonics .

Which of the following is most recent evidence of plate tectonics?

Volcanic activity and sea-floor spreading at the mid-ocean ridges are the most recent evidence of plate tectonics.

What are the forces that are thought to drive plate tectonics?

Heat and gravity are fundamental to the process

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The energy source for plate tectonics is Earth’s internal heat while the forces moving the plates are the “ridge push” and “slab pull” gravity forces. It was once thought that mantle convection could drive plate motions.

What supports plate tectonic theory?

There is evidence of plate-tonics. Clues to their past can be found in modern continents. Evidence from fossils glaciers and coastlines can show how the plates once fit together. Fossils tell us where plants and animals once lived.

What is Glacier evidence?

The most apparent evidence is of course the glacial drift itself. Glacial drift refers to the rock material ground up and transported by a glacier and deposited by or from the ice (till) or in water derived from the melting of ice (outwash or lake sediment). … Such erratics provide evidence of glacial flow lines.

What are 5 pieces of evidence that support continental drift?

The evidence for continental drift included the fit of the continents the distribution of ancient fossils rocks and mountain ranges and the locations of ancient climatic zones.

Why was mosasaurus a significant piece of evidence that supports plate movement?

Mesosaurus was significant in providing evidence for the theory of continental drift because its remains were found in southern Africa Whitehill Formation and eastern South America (Melo Formation Uruguay and Irati Formation Brazil) two widely separated regions.

Where did Alfred Wegener find glacial evidence?

There is also much climate evidence supporting continental drift most notable of which is glacial activity. Alfred Wegener investigated this field and found an anomaly in the Permo-Carboniferous ice sheet that was found through glacial till deposits to have once covered all the southern major plates.

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Which of the following observations about landforms best support the theory of plate tectonics?

Which of the following observations about landforms best supports the theory of plate tectonics? Impact craters have been found both on dry land and on the ocean floor. As lava cools on Earth’s surface it forms a variety of igneous rocks. Volcanoes are distributed randomly on every continent.

Which among the evidence strongly supports the plate tectonics theory as unifying theory?

The idea of continental drift inspired by the observation that the continents fit together like picies of a giant jigsaw puzzle provided strong evidence for the theory that later developed as plate tectonics.

What is one point of evidence that support the theory and show how the plates used to be aligned?

One type of evidence that strongly supported the Theory of Continental Drift is the fossil record. Fossils of similar types of plants and animals in rocks of a similar age have been found on the shores of different continents suggesting that the continents were once joined.

How do plate tectonics cause volcanic eruptions?

On land volcanoes form when one tectonic plate moves under another. Usually a thin heavy oceanic plate subducts or moves under a thicker continental plate. … When enough magma builds up in the magma chamber it forces its way up to the surface and erupts often causing volcanic eruptions.

How are plate tectonics and earthquake related?

Earthquakes occur along fault lines cracks in Earth’s crust where tectonic plates meet. They occur where plates are subducting spreading slipping or colliding. As the plates grind together they get stuck and pressure builds up. Finally the pressure between the plates is so great that they break loose.

Which is true about lithospheric plates?

Lithospheric plates are regions of Earth’s crust and upper mantle that are fractured into plates that move across a deeper plasticine mantle. … Each lithospheric plate is composed of a layer of oceanic crust or continental crust superficial to an outer layer of the mantle.

Which is one type of evidence that geologists usually study quizlet?

What types of evidence do geologists usually study? Evidence geologists study includes different types of waves that move through Earth mineral composition of Earth’s layers and different rock samples from Earth’s surface.

Evidence of Plate Movements

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