Moving plates, and the clues that they move

Grade 6 Science Worksheet - Challenge Me

Circle the best answer.

1. 1.

   India is still pushing into the rest of Asia today. What does Jun predict for the Himalayas?

   • They will grow kilometers taller in a few years
   • Nothing; the collision is over
   • They will sink as the plates pull apart
   • They keep being pushed up, very slowly
2. 2.

   Along the San Andreas Fault, two plates slide past each other. Over millions of years, what does Kira predict for towns on opposite sides?

   • They crash together into mountains
   • They stay exactly where they are
   • They slowly shift far apart, sideways
   • They swap sides of the fault within one lifetime
3. 3.

   Luz's friend says Mesosaurus swam across the ocean between Africa and South America. Which response is best?

   • Agree: reptiles can swim great distances
   • Agree: the continents have stayed right where they are today, so it swam
   • Disagree: it walked over a land bridge
   • Disagree: it lived in fresh water; the lands were joined then
4. 4.

   A video says continents race around at kilometers per year. Milo checks USGS. Which response is best?

   • Disagree: plates move a few centimeters a year
   • Agree: plates surf fast on liquid lava
   • Agree: you can watch coastlines move from one year to the next
   • Disagree: plates do not move
5. 5.

   Map of South America and Africa fitted together along their coasts. Which set of clues best supports the idea that South America and Africa were once joined, by Pia's judgment?

   • Animals today can still travel easily between the two of them
   • Both continents have tall mountains
   • Both continents have deserts today
   • Matching coastlines, fossils and rock layers
6. 6.

   “Cross-section, not to scale:” Ren looks for evidence that the seafloor spreads. Which observation is the best evidence?

   • The ridge sits mid-ocean, so its rock must be the oldest there
   • The ocean is deepest near the coasts
   • Rock gets older moving away from the ridge on both sides
   • Ridges have no earthquakes
7. 7.

   Map of a coast with the sea floor offshore unlabeled. Which clue tells Tala that a convergent boundary lies just off a coast?

   • A ridge with brand-new seafloor
   • A deep trench with a chain of volcanoes beside it
   • Flat, quiet seafloor with no earthquakes or volcanoes nearby
   • A straight fault with sideways offsets
8. 8.

   Zee cuts out paper continents and slides them together to show Pangaea. What else should the model show?

   • The continents fixed in today's places
   • The continents moving apart in a few days
   • The continents floating on water in a big tub, like rafts
   • Matching fossils and rocks lining up across the joins
9. 9.

   “(teacher only)” The teacher gently warms one side of a pan of thick, gooey liquid with cracker pieces on top, and the pieces drift. What do the pieces stand for, says Ari?

   • Earthquakes shaking the crust
   • Plates that stay fixed
   • Plates riding on slowly moving mantle rock
   • Continents floating along on top of a liquid lava ocean
10. 10.

    Bo pushes two stacks of paper together on a table, and they buckle upward where they meet. Which feature does this model?

    • A transform fault
    • A trench from plates pulling apart
    • Mountains at a convergent boundary
    • A ridge at a divergent boundary