Why are magmas produced by partial melting more felsic than the source rock?

  • True or False: Climate change and warming average global temperatures will result in glacial retreat?  Explain your answer using the glacial budget.
  • Some continental crust rocks are almost 4.2 billion years old. Meanwhile, the oldest seafloor rocks are only about 180 million years old. Why do we not find older seafloor rocks?
  • Is melt all over the earth the same composition? Why or Why not?
  • Why are magmas produced by partial melting more felsic than the source rock?
  • Have all the rocks on earth passed through the rock cycle the same number of times? Why or Why not, provide examples for your conclusion.
  • Scientists use seismic waves to interpret important clues about the interior structure of the earth. Describe how specific characteristics of certain seismic waves can inform scientists about the features of earth’s interior that they cannot see for themselves?
  • For each of the 5 plate boundary interactions, provide a modern geographic example of each. (Review LT p25-26 for clues to this).
  • For each of the following tectonic locations, list the rocks that commonly form there: collisional mountains, passive margins, hot spot, volcanic island arc, continental volcanic arc.
  • Explain why a high magnitude earthquake at the San Andreas transform boundary fault in California is unlikely to produce a tsunami.
  • Scientists predict that 5 million years in the future, the Yellowstone hotspot will be erupting in south-central Montana instead of in northwest Wyoming. Explain how scientists can confidently predict the location of the Yellowstone hotspot in the  future.
  • The Olympic Mountains in Washington state are made of sandstone, shale, and siltstone – rocks we expect to find on the seafloor. Explain how seafloor sedimentary rocks come to be found in the Olympic Mountains.
Why are magmas produced by partial melting more felsic than the source rock?
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