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Sajjad1994
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According to the theory of plate tectonics, the lithosphere (Earths Updated on: 16 Oct 2025, 01:44
Originally posted by Sajjad1994 on 10 Oct 2025, 09:00.
Last edited by Sajjad1994 on 16 Oct 2025, 01:44, edited 1 time in total.
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According to the theory of plate tectonics, the lithosphere (Earth’s relatively hard and solid outer layer consisting of the crust and part of the underlying mantle) is divided into a few dozen plates that vary in size and shape; in general, these plates move in relation to one another. They move away from one another at a mid-ocean ridge, a long chain of sub oceanic mountains that forms a boundary between plates. At a midocean ridge, new lithospheric material in the form of hot magma pushes up from the Earth’s interior. The injection of this new lithospheric material from below causes the phenomenon known as sea-floor spreading.

Given that the earth is not expanding in size to any appreciable degree, how can “new” lithosphere be created at a midocean ridge? For new lithosphere to come into being in one region, an equal amount of lithospheric material must be destroyed somewhere else. This destruction takes place at a boundary between plates called a subduction zone. At a subduction zone, one plate is pushed down under another into the red-hot mantle, where over a span of millions of years it is absorbed into the mantle.
1. According to the passage, a mid-ocean ridge differs from a subduction zone in that

A. it marks the boundary line between neighboring plates
B. only the former is located on the ocean floor
C. it is a site for the emergence of new lithospheric material
D. the former periodically disrupts the earth’s geomagnetic field
E. it is involved with lithospheric destruction rather than lithospheric creation


2. It can be inferred from the passage that as new lithospheric material is injected from below

A. the plates become immobilized in a kind of gridlock
B. it is incorporated into an underwater mountain ridge
C. the earth’s total mass is altered
D. it reverses its magnetic polarity
E. the immediately adjacent plates sink


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According to the theory of plate tectonics, the lithosphere (Earths 13 Oct 2025, 07:46
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Official Explanation

1. According to the passage, a mid-ocean ridge differs from a subduction zone in that

The subduction zone is the site of the destruction or consumption of existing lithospheric material. In contrast, the midocean ridge is the site of the creation or emergence of new lithospheric material.

Choice A is incorrect. Both mid-ocean ridges and subduction zones are boundaries between plates.

Choice B is incorrect. Both are located on the ocean floor.

Choice D is incorrect. It is unsupported by the passage.

Choice E is incorrect. The reverse is true.

Answer: C
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According to the theory of plate tectonics, the lithosphere (Earths 13 Oct 2025, 07:55
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Official Explanation

2. It can be inferred from the passage that as new lithospheric material is injected from below

Choice B is correct. You are told that the new lithospheric material is injected into a mid-ocean ridge, a suboceanic mountain range. This new material does not disappear; it is added to the material already there. Thus, it is incorporated into the existing midocean ridge.

Choice A is incorrect. “In general the plates are in motion with respect to one another.” Nothing suggests that they become immobilized; indeed, they are said to diverge from the ridge, sliding as they diverge.

Choice C is incorrect. The passage specifically denies it. (“The size of the earth is essentially constant.”)

Choice D is incorrect. It is the earth itself whose magnetic field reverses. Nothing in the passage suggests the new lithospheric material has any such potential.

Choice E is incorrect. At a mid-ocean ridge, the site at which new lithospheric material is injected from below, the plates diverge; they do not sink. (They sink, one plate diving under another, at a subduction zone.)

Answer: B