Plate Boundaries

Question 1

A scientist writes three short descriptions of how Earth’s plates move: 1. Two plates are moving apart, making a gap that later fills with new crust. 2. Two plates slide side‑by‑side along a fault, causing many earthquakes but no volcanoes. 3. One plate is pushed beneath another, building mountains and volcanic arcs. Which answer correctly matches each description to its type of plate boundary?

Accepted Answer

1‑Divergent, 2‑Transform, 3‑Convergent

Answer

1‑Convergent, 2‑Divergent, 3‑Transform

Answer

1‑Transform, 2‑Convergent, 3‑Divergent

Answer

1‑Divergent, 2‑Convergent, 3‑Transform

Question 2

Sam looks at a world map and notices two places: the Mid‑Atlantic Ridge where two plates are moving away from each other, and a zone where the Pacific Plate is being forced under the North American Plate. Which statement correctly describes where volcanoes are most likely to appear?

Accepted Answer

Volcanoes can form at the ridge where plates pull apart and also where one plate slides beneath another.

Answer

Volcanoes only form at places where plates slide past each other side‑by‑side.

Answer

Volcanoes form everywhere along any plate boundary, no matter how the plates move.

Answer

Volcanoes only appear at locations where plates push together but never where they pull apart.

Question 3

Island X sits on a boundary where two tectonic plates are moving away from each other, and a chain of volcanoes lines the island’s coast. Island Y lies where one tectonic plate is being forced beneath another, and it also has volcanoes. Which statement best explains why volcanoes are found on both islands?

Accepted Answer

Volcanoes can form both where plates separate, creating a gap that lets magma rise, and where one plate is forced beneath another, causing melting that also supplies magma.

Answer

Volcanoes form only when plates slide past each other, because the friction heats the rock and makes magma.

Answer

Volcanoes form only where one plate dives under another, since the sinking plate melts and creates magma.

Answer

Volcanoes appear at any plate boundary because the Earth's core pushes magma upward everywhere.

Try three questions

Sam looks at a world map and notices two places: the Mid‑Atlantic Ridge where two plates are moving away from each other, and a zone where the Pacific Plate is being forced under the North American Plate. Which statement correctly describes where volcanoes are most likely to appear?

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