Earth’s structure & plate boundaries

1. What type of tectonic plate boundary occurs where two plates move apart and new oceanic crust forms: divergent or convergent?

2. What generates Earth’s global magnetic field (magnetosphere): convection of liquid metal in the outer core, or ocean tides?

3. When slow-cooling magma solidifies deep underground (such as granite), does it form large visible crystals or no crystals?

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

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

6. 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?

7. Is Earth’s inner core solid or liquid despite its extreme temperature, due to immense pressure?

8. What do we call molten rock while it is still beneath Earth’s surface, before it erupts as lava: magma or shale?

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

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

11. 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?

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