Year 9 Earth and Space Science Practice Test
Multiple choice:
1. Which impact of volcanic eruptions causes problems for society?
a. Red sunsets
b. Pollution of the atmosphere
c. Cyclones
d. Tsunamis
2. 225 million years ago, all continents were joined to form a super
continent called:
a. Pangaea.
b. Gondwana.
c. Laurasia.
d. Tethys.
3. Which of the following layers of the Earth is solid and composed mostly
of iron?
a. Crust
b. Mantle
c. Outer core
d. Inner core
4. Which of the following can be explained by the theory of plate
tectonics?
a. The slow movement of the continents
b. The San Andreas fault
c. The growth of the Himalayas
d. All of the above
5. A subduction zone is formed when:
a. two plates slide past each other.
b. an oceanic plate slides under a continental plate.
c. two plates move apart from each other.
d. All of the above.
Year 9 Earth and Space Science Practice Test
6. Which of the following events do not take place in the Earth’s crust?
a. Convection currents
b. Earthquakes
c. Faulting
d. Folding
7. The folding process is caused by:
a. the bending of rock as a result of forces beneath the surface.
b. a crack in rocks due to the forces beneath the surface.
c. the slipping of blocks of crust past each other.
d. the action of volcanoes and earthquakes.
8. Select the true statement from the following.
a. Continental crust is thicker than oceanic crust.
b. Continental crust is denser than oceanic crust.
c. Subduction zones occur where two plates of continental crust
collide.
d. Sliding plates occur along the west coast of South America.
9. A volcano is said to be extinct if it:
a. is erupting or may erupt at any time.
b. is not active, but may erupt again in the future.
c. has shown no sign of erupting for at least ten years.
d. has shown no signs of erupting for thousands of years.
10. Which of the following statements is correct?
a. All volcanoes are found at the boundaries of tectonic plates.
b. Many volcanoes are found at the boundaries of tectonic plates.
c. Few volcanoes are found at the boundaries of tectonic plates.
d. No volcanoes are found at the boundaries of tectonic plates.
Year 9 Earth and Space Science Practice Test
Short answer questions:
1. What is a dormant volcano?
A dormant volcano has not erupted for 20 years, but may erupt again.
2. An earthquake has occurred and two points are labelled in the diagram.
Identify X and Y.
a. X: Epicentre
b. Y: Hypocentre/focus
3. What is lava and how is it different from magma?
Lava is the molten material that emerges from a volcano.
Magma is molten rock below the surface of the Earth.
4. Complete the following sentence.
Mid-ocean ridges form when magma spews up to the surface between
plates that are diverging
Year 9 Earth and Space Science Practice Test
5. Complete the labelling to show the four layers of the Earth.
6. Complete the following Richter scale table for earthquakes effects by
inserting the correct descriptions from the list below.
Richter Description of effects
Great earthquake magnitud
e
Can be noticed by humans
1.0 Detectable by
Can be destructive over a 100 km seismometer
2.0 Can be noticed by
wide area
humans
Detectable by seismometer 5.0 Objects on shelves
Objects on shelves may rattle or may rattle or fall
down
fall down 6.5 Can be destructive
over a 100 km wide
area
9.0 Great earthquake
Year 9 Earth and Space Science Practice Test
7. The following map shows the location of volcanoes near Australia.
a. Explain why the volcanoes are found in these locations.
The volcanoes are found at plate boundaries where the heat from
plate movement causes the formation of magma.
b. Explain why there are no active volcanoes in Australia.
The Australian continent is not near a plate boundary, so there are
no active volcanoes.
8. State briefly (in a single sentence) what the theory of plate tectonics
suggests about the Earth’s crust.
It suggests that it is made up of a number of moving plates.
9. Explain how convection currents and gravitational forces account for
the movement of the Earth’s plates.
Below the Earth’s crust, the top layer of the mantle rock is partially
molten. Heat causes this material to expand and rise towards the crust,
where it spreads out and cools. The gravitational force causes it to sink,
thus setting up convection currents in the mantle so that the crustal
plates are carried along with the currents.
Year 9 Earth and Space Science Practice Test
10. Complete the table below.
Plate Land
Real world
boundar Sketch Definition formations/nat
example
y ural disasters
Continental
continental:
Fold mountains Himalayas
Oceanic
continental: Atacama
Deep ocean Trench
When two tectonic trench (Peru/Chile)
Converge
plates move Earthquakes Andes
nt
towards each other Volcanic Mountain
mountain ranges Range
Tsunamis
Oceanic oceanic:
Ocean trench
Earthquakes Mariana
Volcanic island Trench
arcs
Tsunamis
Mid-Atlantic
When two tectonic Mid-ocean ridge ridge
Divergent plates move away Rift valleys East African
from each other Volcanic islands Rift Valley
Iceland
Year 9 Earth and Space Science Practice Test
When two tectonic
Earthquakes San Andreas
Transform plates slide past
Fault lines Fault
each other
11. At which of the above boundaries is sea floor created? Describe this
process.
Divergent plate boundaries are called constructive plate boundaries as
they create sea floor. When two tectonic plates pull away from each other,
magma rises from the mantle to fill the gap. As the magma cools, it
solidifies to form new rock, adding to the Earth’s crust.
12. At which of the above boundaries is sea floor destroyed? Describe
this process.
Convergent plate boundaries are called destructive boundaries as they
remove and ‘recycle’ the sea floor. When two plates move toward each
other, the denser plate (oceanic) is forced down into the mantle — this is
called subduction. The subducted plate melts in the mantle, destroying
old crust.
13. 90% of volcanoes are situated along plate boundaries. Describe how
volcanoes such as those in Hawaii form.
A hot spot is an area in the mantle where extremely hot magma rises
through a weak spot in the crust.