Earth’s structure & plate boundaries

1. What process breaks rocks down in situ at Earth’s surface through rain, frost and plant roots before erosion transports the fragments: weathering or subduction?

2. Which underwater mountain system runs down the centre of the Atlantic Ocean along a divergent boundary: the Mid-Atlantic Ridge or the Mariana Trench?

3. What is the thin, outermost rocky layer of the Earth called: the crust or the inner core?

4. Why are fossils almost always found in sedimentary rock rather than igneous rock: molten magma destroys organic remains, or sedimentary rock forms in volcanoes?

5. What class of rock forms from the compaction and cementation of deposited layers of sand, silt or shells (e.g. sandstone and limestone): sedimentary or metamorphic?

6. What is the point on Earth’s surface directly above the underground focus (hypocentre) of an earthquake called: the epicentre or the crater?

7. What type of plate boundary occurs where two plates slide horizontally past each other (such as the San Andreas Fault): transform or divergent?

8. Which thick layer lies directly beneath Earth’s crust and makes up most of Earth’s volume: the mantle or the outer core?

9. Which type of crust is denser and thinner, causing it to subduct beneath continental crust: oceanic crust or continental crust?

10. What type of plate boundary occurs where two plates collide, forming fold mountains or subduction trenches: convergent or transform?

11. What do we call the horseshoe-shaped belt around the Pacific Ocean where many earthquakes and volcanoes occur: the Ring of Fire or the Mid-Atlantic Ridge?

12. What do we call the rigid outer shell of Earth comprising the crust and uppermost solid mantle: the lithosphere or the stratosphere?