Everyday Science MCQs

Plate Tectonics and Earthquakes MCQs with Answers

What is the theory that explains the movement of Earth’s lithospheric plates?
a) Seafloor spreading
b) Continental drift
c) Plate tectonics
d) Subduction
Answer: c) Plate tectonics

Which layer of the Earth is broken into several large and small plates?
a) Crust
b) Mantle
c) Outer core
d) Inner core
Answer: a) Crust

The theory of plate tectonics suggests that continents were once joined together in a supercontinent called:
a) Gondwana
b) Laurasia
c) Pangea
d) Rodinia
Answer: c) Pangea

What is the term for the boundary where two lithospheric plates move away from each other?
a) Convergent boundary
b) Divergent boundary
c) Transform boundary
d) Subduction zone
Answer: b) Divergent boundary

Which type of plate boundary is associated with the formation of new crust?
a) Convergent boundary
b) Divergent boundary
c) Transform boundary
d) Subduction zone
Answer: b) Divergent boundary

What is the term for the boundary where two lithospheric plates collide and one plate is forced beneath the other?
a) Convergent boundary
b) Divergent boundary
c) Transform boundary
d) Subduction zone
Answer: a) Convergent boundary

Which type of plate boundary is associated with the formation of mountains?
a) Convergent boundary
b) Divergent boundary
c) Transform boundary
d) Subduction zone
Answer: a) Convergent boundary

What is the term for the boundary where two lithospheric plates slide past each other horizontally?
a) Convergent boundary
b) Divergent boundary
c) Transform boundary
d) Subduction zone
Answer: c) Transform boundary

Which type of plate boundary is associated with earthquakes?
a) Convergent boundary
b) Divergent boundary
c) Transform boundary
d) Subduction zone
Answer: c) Transform boundary

What is the term for the process by which new oceanic lithosphere is created at a divergent boundary?
a) Subduction
b) Seafloor spreading
c) Plate collision
d) Continental rift
Answer: b) Seafloor spreading

Which type of fault is characterized by horizontal movement along a transform boundary?
a) Normal fault
b) Reverse fault
c) Strike-slip fault
d) Thrust fault
Answer: c) Strike-slip fault

What is the term for the point within the Earth where an earthquake originates?
a) Focus
b) Epicenter
c) Seismic zone
d) Fault line
Answer: a) Focus

Which type of fault is characterized by vertical movement where the hanging wall moves up relative to the footwall?
a) Normal fault
b) Reverse fault
c) Strike-slip fault
d) Thrust fault
Answer: b) Reverse fault

What is the term for the point on the Earth’s surface directly above the focus of an earthquake?
a) Focus
b) Epicenter
c) Seismic zone
d) Fault line
Answer: b) Epicenter

Which type of fault is characterized by vertical movement where the hanging wall moves down relative to the footwall?
a) Normal fault
b) Reverse fault
c) Strike-slip fault
d) Thrust fault
Answer: a) Normal fault

What is the term for the measure of the energy released by an earthquake?
a) Magnitude
b) Intensity
c) Aftershock
d) Seismic wave
Answer: a) Magnitude

Which type of seismic wave is the fastest and travels through solids, liquids, and gases?
a) P-wave
b) S-wave
c) Surface wave
d) Rayleigh wave
Answer: a) P-wave

What is the term for the point of greatest shaking during an earthquake?
a) Magnitude
b) Intensity
c) Aftershock
d) Peak ground acceleration
Answer: b) Intensity

Which type of seismic wave is slower than P-waves and can only travel through solids?
a) P-wave
b) S-wave
c) Surface wave
d) Rayleigh wave
Answer: b) S-wave

What is the term for the shaking of the Earth’s crust caused by the release of energy during an earthquake?
a) Magnitude
b) Intensity
c) Aftershock
d) Seismic wave
Answer: d) Seismic wave

Which type of seismic wave travels along the surface of the Earth and causes the most damage?
a) P-wave
b) S-wave
c) Surface wave
d) Rayleigh wave
Answer: c) Surface wave

What is the term for smaller earthquakes that occur after the main earthquake?
a) Magnitude
b) Intensity
c) Aftershock
d) Peak ground acceleration
Answer: c) Aftershock

Which type of seismic wave causes the ground to move in an elliptical rolling motion?
a) P-wave
b) S-wave
c) Surface wave
d) Rayleigh wave
Answer: d) Rayleigh wave

What is the term for the measure of the severity of shaking at a particular location during an earthquake?
a) Magnitude
b) Intensity
c) Aftershock
d) Peak ground acceleration
Answer: b) Intensity

What is the term for the speed at which an earthquake wave spreads through the Earth?
a) Magnitude
b) Intensity
c) Aftershock
d) Wave velocity
Answer: d) Wave velocity

Which type of seismic wave travels along the boundary between different layers of the Earth’s interior?
a) P-wave
b) S-wave
c) Surface wave
d) Rayleigh wave
Answer: a) P-wave

What is the term for a region where a series of earthquakes occur along a fault line?
a) Magnitude
b) Intensity
c) Aftershock
d) Seismic zone
Answer: d) Seismic zone

Which type of seismic wave causes the ground to move in a side-to-side motion?
a) P-wave
b) S-wave
c) Surface wave
d) Rayleigh wave
Answer: b) S-wave

What is the term for the maximum acceleration of the ground during an earthquake?
a) Magnitude
b) Intensity
c) Aftershock
d) Peak ground acceleration
Answer: d) Peak ground acceleration

Which type of seismic wave is responsible for the most damage to buildings and infrastructure?
a) P-wave
b) S-wave
c) Surface wave
d) Rayleigh wave
Answer: c) Surface wave

What is the term for the measure of the amount of energy released by an earthquake?
a) Magnitude
b) Intensity
c) Aftershock
d) Seismic wave
Answer: a) Magnitude

Which of the following is NOT a scale used to measure the magnitude of an earthquake?
a) Richter scale
b) Moment magnitude scale
c) Mercalli intensity scale
d) Seismograph scale
Answer: d) Seismograph scale

What is the term for the instrument used to measure and record seismic waves?
a) Seismogram
b) Seismometer
c) Seismoscope
d) Seismograph
Answer: d) Seismograph

Which of the following is NOT a factor that affects the intensity of shaking during an earthquake?
a) Magnitude of the earthquake
b) Distance from the epicenter
c) Depth of the focus
d) Frequency of the seismic waves
Answer: d) Frequency of the seismic waves

What is the term for a region of the Earth’s interior where seismic waves cannot pass through?
a) Seismic zone
b) Seismic gap
c) Shadow zone
d) Epicenter
Answer: c) Shadow zone

Which of the following is NOT a method used to locate the epicenter of an earthquake?
a) Triangulation
b) Time difference of arrival
c) Seismic gap analysis
d) Seismogram analysis
Answer: c) Seismic gap analysis

What is the term for a region along a fault line where no earthquakes have occurred recently?
a) Seismic zone
b) Seismic gap
c) Shadow zone
d) Epicenter
Answer: b) Seismic gap

Which type of seismic wave travels along the Earth’s surface and causes the most damage?
a) P-wave
b) S-wave
c) Surface wave
d) Rayleigh wave
Answer: c) Surface wave

What is the term for the study of earthquakes and seismic waves?
a) Seismology
b) Seismicity
c) Seismography
d) Seismic analysis
Answer: a) Seismology

Which of the following is NOT a source of earthquake activity?
a) Plate boundaries
b) Volcanic activity
c) Tectonic plate movement
d) Atmospheric pressure
Answer: d) Atmospheric pressure

What is the term for the process by which energy is transferred from one place to another without the movement of matter?
a) Conduction
b) Convection
c) Radiation
d) Seismicity
Answer: c) Radiation

Which of the following is NOT a type of plate boundary?
a) Convergent boundary
b) Divergent boundary
c) Transform boundary
d) Subduction boundary
Answer: d) Subduction boundary

What is the term for the point where three tectonic plates meet?
a) Convergent boundary
b) Divergent boundary
c) Transform boundary
d) Triple junction
Answer: d) Triple junction

What is the term for the process by which one tectonic plate moves beneath another?
a) Subduction
b) Seafloor spreading
c) Continental drift
d) Plate collision
Answer: a) Subduction

Which of the following is NOT a factor that determines the intensity of an earthquake?
a) Magnitude
b) Depth of the focus
c) Distance from the epicenter
d) Type of fault
Answer: d) Type of fault

What is the term for the process by which two tectonic plates collide and create a mountain range?
a) Subduction
b) Seafloor spreading
c) Continental drift
d) Orogeny
Answer: d) Orogeny

Which type of fault is characterized by the hanging wall moving up relative to the footwall?
a) Normal fault
b) Reverse fault
c) Strike-slip fault
d) Thrust fault
Answer: d) Thrust fault

What is the term for the measure of the size of an earthquake based on the amplitude of seismic waves?
a) Magnitude
b) Intensity
c) Aftershock
d) Seismicity
Answer: a) Magnitude

Which type of seismic wave causes the ground to move in an up-and-down motion?
a) P-wave
b) S-wave
c) Surface wave
d) Rayleigh wave
Answer: a) P-wave

What is the term for the sudden release of energy in the Earth’s crust that creates seismic waves?
a) Earthquake
b) Seismogram
c) Seismometer
d) Seismicity
Answer: a) Earthquake

Which of the following is NOT a method used to measure the intensity of an earthquake?
a) Richter scale
b) Mercalli intensity scale
c) Moment magnitude scale
d) Seismograph scale
Answer: d) Seismograph scale

What is the term for the measure of the shaking of the ground during an earthquake?
a) Magnitude
b) Intensity
c) Aftershock
d) Seismic wave
Answer: b) Intensity

Which type of fault is characterized by the hanging wall moving down relative to the footwall?
a) Normal fault
b) Reverse fault
c) Strike-slip fault
d) Thrust fault
Answer: a) Normal fault

What is the term for the scale used to measure the intensity of shaking during an earthquake?
a) Richter scale
b) Mercalli intensity scale
c) Moment magnitude scale
d) Seismograph scale
Answer: b) Mercalli intensity scale

Which of the following is NOT a method used to measure the magnitude of an earthquake?
a) Richter scale
b) Mercalli intensity scale
c) Moment magnitude scale
d) Seismograph scale
Answer: d) Seismograph scale

What is the term for the measure of the total energy released by an earthquake?
a) Magnitude
b) Intensity
c) Aftershock
d) Seismicity
Answer: c) Aftershock

Which of the following is NOT a type of seismic wave?
a) P-wave
b) S-wave
c) L-wave
d) R-wave
Answer: d) R-wave

What is the term for the shaking or trembling of the Earth’s surface caused by seismic waves?
a) Magnitude
b) Intensity
c) Aftershock
d) Seismicity
Answer: d) Seismicity

Which type of fault is characterized by the hanging wall moving horizontally past the footwall?
a) Normal fault
b) Reverse fault
c) Strike-slip fault
d) Thrust fault
Answer: c) Strike-slip fault

What is the term for the measure of the amount of slip on a fault during an earthquake?
a) Magnitude
b) Intensity
c) Aftershock
d) Rupture length
Answer: d) Rupture length

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