Lesson Y8-U01-L02

Y8-U01-L02 Tectonic Plates and How They Move Quiz: KS3 Geography, Unit 7

20 questions

Written by Revision Ninja · Last reviewed 11 October 2026

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Lesson Y8-U01-L02, Tectonic Plates and How They Move: 20 multiple choice questions for the KS3 Geography (National Curriculum), Unit 7: Year 8: Restless Earth: Tectonic Hazards, written with Revision Ninja.

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The 20 questions

  1. Roughly how many major tectonic plates are there?

    • About 3
    • About 150
    • About 50
    • About 15

  2. What is a plate boundary?

    • The line where two tectonic plates meet
    • The line of latitude that runs across a map
    • The deepest part of the ocean floor
    • The border between two countries on land

  3. About how fast do tectonic plates move each year?

    • About 20 to 50 metres
    • About 2 to 5 metres
    • About 2 to 5 cm
    • About 2 to 5 kilometres

  4. Where is magma found, and what state is it in?

    • Frozen water that forms ice sheets on land
    • Loose sand blown by the wind into dunes across a desert plain
    • Cooled rock found on the surface of the ocean
    • Hot, melted rock found below the Earth's surface

  5. Where does the heat that drives the convection currents come from?

    • The Earth's core
    • Hot springs that rise only close to the surface
    • Friction from the wind blowing over the ocean
    • The Sun's rays shining onto the crust

  6. What do the tectonic plates float on?

    • The hot, slow-flowing mantle
    • A layer of liquid water beneath the crust
    • The solid surface of the outer core
    • Deep layers of ice around the poles

  7. Which country sits on the Eurasian Plate?

    • Chile
    • Brazil
    • The UK
    • Nigeria

  8. Which tectonic plate covers most of the continent of Africa?

    • The Pacific Plate
    • The Eurasian Plate
    • The South American Plate
    • The African Plate

  9. If plates move 3 cm each year, about how far do they move in 100 years?

    • 30 metres
    • 300 metres
    • 30 centimetres
    • 3 metres

  10. Two plates are moving apart at a boundary, with magma rising into the gap. Which type of boundary is this?

    • Constructive
    • Destructive
    • Conservative
    • Dormant

  11. Two plates push towards each other. What typically happens at this boundary?

    • The plates slide past each other with no change
    • New crust is made as magma rises into the gap
    • The plates are pulled apart by the Moon as it moves around the Earth each month
    • One plate is pushed down under the other, and it can melt

  12. Two plates slide past each other without any crust being made or destroyed. Which boundary type is this?

    • Hot spot
    • Constructive
    • Conservative
    • Destructive

  13. A pupil says plates move because of ocean waves. Which response is best?

    • No, plates move because convection currents in the mantle drag them slowly
    • Yes, the wind pushes the plates across the oceans and drags the continents slowly westward
    • Yes, waves push the plates sideways along the coast
    • No, the plates never move; they only grow in size

  14. Why do plate boundaries not follow national borders?

    • Countries are always built on top of plate boundaries by law
    • Plate boundaries are drawn by governments in each country
    • Borders are always drawn along mid-ocean ridges and follow the lines of tectonic plates exactly
    • Plates are defined by the Earth's crust, not by human political lines

  15. Where new crust is made, which boundary type is involved?

    • A constructive boundary, where plates move apart and magma fills the gap
    • A dormant boundary, where no movement takes place and no earthquakes or volcanoes ever occur
    • A conservative boundary, where plates slide past each other
    • A destructive boundary, where one plate is forced down

  16. Why do the shapes of the continents seem to fit together like a jigsaw?

    • The continents were once joined and have since drifted apart
    • Humans cut the pieces to fit on a map, using scissors to match the coastlines of each country
    • They were carved by rivers into matching shapes
    • They were all formed by the same volcano

  17. Why does a destructive boundary often produce volcanoes?

    • The plates are pulled apart, letting cold water seep in
    • The mantle cools, so the crust cracks upward and creates new mountains on the ocean floor
    • The plate pushed down melts, and the magma can rise to the surface
    • The plates slide past and rub the rock smooth

  18. Which statement best explains the three boundary types together?

    • Boundaries only exist beneath the oceans, not on land, and they never affect any continent or the people living on it
    • Plates move apart, towards each other, or past each other, and each movement creates different features
    • Boundaries are fixed lines that never change over time
    • All plate boundaries look the same and create identical features

  19. Why is the slow movement of plates, at 2 to 5 cm a year, important in geography?

    • It means plates move quickly enough to change maps every day
    • Over millions of years the movement builds large distances and changes the positions of continents
    • It proves that plates never move at all, because the rock is far too solid to shift anywhere over time
    • It shows that plates move as fast as a car on a motorway

  20. Why can solid rock in the mantle still drive the plates?

    • Solid rock cannot move, so the plates are driven by the core's gravity alone
    • The plates are moved by liquid water that fills the mantle and flows through cracks in the crust near every coast
    • The rock in the mantle melts and flows quickly within a single day
    • Rock in the mantle flows very slowly over long periods, so convection currents still move the plates

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