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When tectonic plates collide head on they create mountain ranges.

Chemistry - Earth's Crust (AQA)

The Earth’s crust is a thin rocky skin packed with minerals and ores. This GCSE Chemistry quiz explores how useful elements are found, extracted and used.

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Fascinating Fact:

Elements are extracted from crustal minerals. Mining and processing must balance yield, cost and environmental impact.

In GCSE Chemistry, you study how the Earth’s crust contains rocks, minerals and ores that provide metals and non-metals. You also learn how extraction methods affect energy use, cost and the environment.

Key Terms

Earth’s crust: The thin, solid outer layer of the Earth made from rocks and minerals.
Mineral: A naturally occurring solid substance with a fixed chemical composition found in rocks.
Ore: A rock that contains enough of a valuable mineral for it to be worth extracting.

Frequently Asked Questions (Click to see answers)

What is the Earth’s crust in GCSE Chemistry?

In GCSE Chemistry, the Earth’s crust is the outer solid layer of the planet. It is made of rocks and minerals that contain useful elements and compounds.

How are metals obtained from the Earth’s crust?

Metals are obtained by mining ores from the crust and then using processes such as crushing, heating and electrolysis to separate the metal from other elements in the ore.

Why can mining the Earth’s crust cause environmental problems?

Mining can damage habitats, create waste rock, use a lot of energy and release pollution. Careful planning and restoration are needed to reduce these environmental impacts.

Try These Related Quizzes

1 .

Which of the layers of the Earth is the hottest?

Core

Mantle

Crust

Atmosphere

Since the core is at the very centre of the Earth, it is well insulated and heat can only escape very slowly

2 .

What is thought to cause the plates to move around?

The spinning of the Earth

The Earth orbiting the Sun

Convection currents in the mantle

The Earth is shrinking

The mantle has the properties of a solid, but can flow very slowly

3 .

When seen in cross section, the core accounts for about how much of the Earth?

20%

33%

Just under a half

Just over a half

The core accounts for about 3,500km of the 6,300km from surface to centre

4 .

Alfred Wegener suggested that the continents moved around on the surface of the Earth. Which of the following is not one of the observations he used?

The same types of fossilised plants and animals are found in South America and Africa

Madagascar fits the east coast of Africa

Africa and South America fit together like pieces in a jigsaw puzzle

Matching rock formations and mountain chains are found in South America and Africa

The fossil plants Wegener used as evidence for his theory were found in Antarctica, India and Australia so he thought that the continents had once been joined in a supercontinent that came to be known as Pangaea

5 .

Wegener put forward his theory early in the twentieth century but scientists at the time refused to accept his idea until the 1960s. Why?

He was not a geologist

His ideas contradicted what the experts of the time believed

He could not explain how it occured

All of the above

One respected geologist said:
"If we are to believe in Wegener's hypothesis we must forget everything which has been learned in the past 70 years and start all over again."
It turned out that he was absolutely right but by the time the theory was accepted it was more like forgetting everything that had been learnt in the last 120 years than the last 70!

6 .

Wegener used the similarities between fossil animals and plants as evidence for his theory. How did his critics explain it?

They were accidentally transported round the world on ships

The animals swam and plant seeds were blown on the wind

There were once land bridges linking the continents

It was a mistake and the fossil animals and plants were not actually the same

Scientists can almost always find alternative explanations for anything. Sometimes these explanations are better than existing ideas, sometimes worse. The idea of convenient land bridges that have disappeared without trace seems to us even more difficult to believe than the idea that the continents move

7 .

What was the main piece of evidence that convinced scientists that continental drift was right?

They discovered that the land bridges didn't exist

They measured the distance between America and Britain and found it was further than the last time they measured

They used sensitive equipment buried in the ground to observe the movement of the plates

Evidence from magnetism in the ocean floor showed that the seafloors were spreading by a few centimetres each year

The fastest plate is the Indian plate which 'rushed' northwards from near the south pole to where it is today at the massive speed of six centimetres per year

8 .

Read the following passage. Choose the answer that has the missing words in the correct order.

Where the _______ meet, the Earth's crust becomes unstable as the plates push against each other, or ride under or over each other. __________ and volcanic eruptions happen at the _________ between plates, and the crust may ‘crumple’ to form __________ ranges.

segments, volcanoes, centre, mountain

boundaries , mountain, plates, earthquakes

plates, earthquakes, boundaries , mountain

mountains, volcanoes, plates, segments

The heat that powers plate tectonics is thought to come from natural radioactivity deep in the Earth

9 .

Why is it so difficult to predict when, where and how strong an Earthquake will be?

Because the Earth rotates

Because convection currents in the mantle happen at random times

Because seismometers aren't sensitive enough

Because the plates don't move smoothly

There is a lot of friction between the rocks of moving plates so they actually move in a series of 'jerks'

10 .

Why do major earthquakes and volcanoes occur in very narrow and well defined areas?

They only occur at plate boundaries

They only occur near the centre of plates

They only occur where you find certain types of rock

They only occur where mountains meet the sea

Earthquakes are recorded all over the world but the big destructive ones only occur where the tectonic plates meet. Where one plate is being pushed underneath another, you get volcanoes too

Author: Kev Woodward (PGCE, Science & Chemistry Teacher, Quiz Writer)