Name: ______
Study Technique: ______
6th Grade Science
Plate Tectonics Test
Use the diagram below to answer questions #1-4.

1. What does letter A in the diagram represent?
A. Inner core
B. Subduction
C. Crust
D. Mantle
2. What does letter B in the diagram represent?
A. Mantle
B. Crust
C. Inner core
D. Outer Core
3. What does letter C in the diagram represent?
A. Mantle
B. Convection
C. Outer Core
D. Inner Core
4. What does letter D in the diagram represent?
A. Inner core
B. Outer Core
C. Mantle
D. Subduction
5. Which part of Earth’s system is 78% nitrogen and 21% oxygen and surrounds and protects the Earth?
A. Atmosphere
B. Hydrosphere
C. Biosphere
D. Weathersphere

6. This ______system includes all life on earth in the air, land and water and is called ______.
A. closed; hydrosphere
B. open; biosphere
C. open; geosphere
D. closed; biosphere
For questions #7-12, name the correct system using the following answer choices:
A. atmosphere
B. hydrosphere
C. biosphere
D. geosphere
7. Africa
8. Dead Sea
9. Nitrogen
10. Frog
11. Seafloor
12. Sudden movements of rock along fault lines cause ______.
A. tectonic plate boundaries
B. seismic gaps
C. earthquakes
D. stress
13. Most earthquakes occur ______.
A. along plate tectonic plate boundaries
B. near the center of tectonic plates
C. in Earth’s mantle
D. in Earth’s core
14. The instrument that scientists use to record seismic waves is called ______.
A. seismograph
B. seismogram
C. seismic station
D. epicenter graph


For questions 15-20, choose from the following answer choices:
A. Primary Waves
B. Secondary Waves
C. Surface Waves
15. This wave travels the fastest of the three types.
16. This type of wave causes the most destruction.
17. These waves cause buildings to push and pull as they pass.
18. This wave makes the ground roll up and down.
19. This wave travels the slowest of the three types.
20. This type of wave causes material to shake up and down as it travels.
21. The plate boundary where plates move apart is a ______boundary.
A. folded mountain
B. convergent
C. divergent
D. transform
22. One plate is forced under another in a ______.
A. mid-ocean ridge
B. convergent boundary
C. subduction zone
D. continental drift
23. A ______is an underwater mountain chain.
A. mid-ocean ridge
B. convergent boundary
C. subduction zone
D. continental drift
24. The main points of evidence for ______are fossils, rocks and climate.
A. mid-ocean ridge
B. convergent boundary
C. subduction zone
D. continental drift
25. Which of the following causes movement of Earth’s tectonic plates?
A. convection currents below Earth’s crust
B. energy from volcanic activity
C. gravitational pull from the sun
D. mountain ranges creating more land and less ocean
YOU ARE HALF WAY DONE! TAKE A BREATH, STRETCH AND THEN ROCK THE REST OF THE TEST!
26. Which scientist is credited with proposing the idea of continental drift?
A. Charles Darwin
B. Albert Einstein
C. Isaac Newton
D. Alfred Wegener
27. Which answer supports the hypothesis of continental drift?
A. Similar fossils and rocks were found on different continents thousands of miles apart.
B. Maps and ancient books told stories about land moving.
C. Similar climate patterns on different continents.
D. The equator has shifted over time.
28. Seafloor spreading occurs because:
A. new material is being added as rocks shift with ocean currents
B. earthquakes break apart the ocean floor
C. sediments accumulate and force the floor apart
D. molten material beneath Earth’s crust rises and hardens
29. In order to complete a convection current, the rising material must eventually _____ Earth.
A. stop inside
B. sink back into
C. keep moving up
D. escape
30. Active volcanoes are most likely to form at ______.
A. transform boundaries
B. divergent boundaries
C. the center of continents
D. convergent oceanic-continental boundaries
31. What is formed when two continental plates collide?
A. Volcanoes
B. Mountain ranges
C. Rift valleys
D. Earthquakes
32. A ______can form when two oceanic plates collide.
A. chain of volcanoes
B. transform boundary
C. rift valley
D. thunderstorm
Use the following map to answer questions 33 and 34.

33. What type of plate boundary occurs between the North American Plate and the Eurasian Plate, shown in the diagram above?
A. transform boundary
B. divergent boundary
C. convergent oceanic-continental plate boundary
D. convergent oceanic-oceanic plate boundary
34. What type of plate boundary occurs between the Nazca Plate and the South American Plate?
A. convergent oceanic-continental plate boundary
B. convergent oceanic-oceanic plate boundary
C. convergent continental-continental plate boundary
D. transform boundary
35. Features found at divergent plate boundaries include:
A. mid-ocean ridges
B. deep-sea trenches
C. folded mountains
D. island arc volcanoes
36. Continental-continental plate collisions produce:
A. island volcanoes
B. rift valleys
C. deep-sea trenches
D. mountain ranges
37. Crust is neither destroyed nor formed along which of the following boundaries?
A. convergent
B. divergent
C. transform
D. magnetic
38. A vast, underwater mountain chain is called ______and is due to ______.
A. an ocean ridge; divergent boundaries
B. an ocean ridge; convergent boundaries
C. a deep-sea trench; divergent boundaries
D. a deep-sea trench; convergent boundaries
39. ______occurs when tectonic plates of different densities collide.
A. Convection
B. Primary waves
C. Subduction
D. Rift valleys
40. As you descend (go down) from the Earth’s crust to the inner core, what happens to the temperature?
A. the temperature increases
B. the pressure decreases
C. the temperature decreases
D. the material becomes liquid
Using the following answer choices for questions 41 - 46, name the plate boundary that is responsible for the geographic effects.
A. convergent
B. divergent
C. transform
41. Creates mountain ranges, ex. Himalaya Mountains
42. Severe earthquakes, ex. San Andreas Fault
43. Subduction zones, ex. Volcano chains
44. Ocean trenches
45. Sea floor spreading, ex. Mid-Atlantic Ridge
46. Rift Valley, ex. Great African Rift Valley
47. What happens when two oceanic plates meet?
A. Both plates sink into the asthenosphere (mantle).
B. The colder, denser plate sinks.
C. Both plates fold the rock between them.
D. One plate slides past the other.
48. Where is crust neither formed nor destroyed?
A. mid-ocean ridge
B. continental rift valley
C. transform boundary
D. subduction zone


49. What is the best explanation of why earthquakes occur so often in California, along the San Andreas Fault?
A. The divergent plates move away from one another and cause large objects to fall in the hole, creating a large earthquake.
B. The convergent plates smash into one another with such force that the ground is jolted, resulting in an earth quake.
C. The subduction between plates lifts up the continental crust, causing it to shake.
D. The transform boundaries build up tension until they suddenly move and scrape along one another, sending out energy waves that result in an earth quake.


50. What material is the mantle of the Earth most like, in terms of density?
A. Glass
B. Toothpaste
C. Milk
D. Soil