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Grade 6 Science · Plate Tectonics

Grade 6 Plate Tectonics Practice Test

Build Grade 6 Science skills with five 10-question practice tests on tectonic plates, boundary types, subduction, seafloor spreading, faults, earthquakes, volcanoes, mountains, and evidence.

Plate Tectonics Practice Tests

These Grade 6 Science practice tests help students explain how tectonic plates move and how their interactions shape Earth. Students practice divergent, convergent, and transform boundaries, subduction, seafloor spreading, faults, earthquakes, volcanoes, mountains, continental drift, and evidence from rocks, fossils, magnetic patterns, GPS, and seismic activity.

Skills covered

  • Identifying the three major plate-boundary types
  • Connecting plate motion with trenches, ridges, mountains, volcanoes, and earthquakes
  • Explaining subduction and seafloor spreading
  • Using fossils, rocks, magnetic stripes, GPS, and seismic data as evidence
  • Modeling faults, earthquakes, and volcanic processes
  • Evaluating how plate tectonics affects Earth surface and community hazards

How to use these practice tests

Start by identifying whether the plates move apart, together, or past one another. Then match that motion with the likely landforms and hazards. For evidence questions, look for repeated measurements, matching patterns, and observations that support a model of moving plates.

For more Grade 6 Science practice, return to the Grade 6 Science category.

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2. Test

Grade 6 Plate Tectonics Practice Tests

A 10-question Grade 6 Science practice test on tectonic plates, divergent, convergent, and transform boundaries, subduction, seafloor spreading, faults, earthquakes, volcanoes, and mountains.

Identify the direction of plate movement, connect boundaries with landforms and hazards, and use evidence to explain plate-tectonic models.

10 Questions
0/10 Questions0 %
Correct 0
Incorrect 0
Unanswered 10
1. QuestionMultiple choice

What is seafloor spreading?

Please select an answer first.

Correct answer: A

The correct answer is The formation of new oceanic crust as magma rises at a mid-ocean ridge.

  1. Identify the plate setting: Determine whether the plates move apart, together, or past one another.
  2. Connect movement and result: Seafloor spreading creates new crust at divergent ocean boundaries.
  3. Check the evidence: Use landforms, earthquakes, volcanoes, seafloor patterns, or rock evidence to confirm the boundary type.

Seafloor spreading creates new crust at divergent ocean boundaries.

2. QuestionMultiple choice

What happens to older oceanic crust during seafloor spreading?

Please select an answer first.

Correct answer: B

The correct answer is It moves away from the mid-ocean ridge as new crust forms..

  1. Identify the plate setting: Determine whether the plates move apart, together, or past one another.
  2. Connect movement and result: New crust pushes older crust away from the ridge on both sides.
  3. Check the evidence: Use landforms, earthquakes, volcanoes, seafloor patterns, or rock evidence to confirm the boundary type.

New crust pushes older crust away from the ridge on both sides.

3. QuestionMultiple choice

Which evidence supports seafloor spreading?

Please select an answer first.

Correct answer: C

The correct answer is Matching magnetic patterns appear in bands on both sides of mid-ocean ridges..

  1. Identify the plate setting: Determine whether the plates move apart, together, or past one another.
  2. Connect movement and result: Symmetric magnetic stripes record changes in Earths magnetic field as new crust forms.
  3. Check the evidence: Use landforms, earthquakes, volcanoes, seafloor patterns, or rock evidence to confirm the boundary type.

Symmetric magnetic stripes record changes in Earths magnetic field as new crust forms.

4. QuestionMultiple choice

Why are the youngest ocean rocks usually found near a mid-ocean ridge?

Please select an answer first.

Correct answer: D

The correct answer is Magma cools there to form new crust..

  1. Identify the plate setting: Determine whether the plates move apart, together, or past one another.
  2. Connect movement and result: New oceanic crust is created at the ridge, so the rocks there are youngest.
  3. Check the evidence: Use landforms, earthquakes, volcanoes, seafloor patterns, or rock evidence to confirm the boundary type.

New oceanic crust is created at the ridge, so the rocks there are youngest.

5. QuestionMultiple choice

What usually happens at an oceanic-continental convergent boundary?

Please select an answer first.

Correct answer: A

The correct answer is The denser oceanic plate subducts beneath the continental plate..

  1. Identify the plate setting: Determine whether the plates move apart, together, or past one another.
  2. Connect movement and result: Oceanic crust is generally denser, so it can sink beneath continental crust.
  3. Check the evidence: Use landforms, earthquakes, volcanoes, seafloor patterns, or rock evidence to confirm the boundary type.

Oceanic crust is generally denser, so it can sink beneath continental crust.

6. QuestionMultiple choice

What landforms can form when an oceanic plate subducts beneath a continent?

Please select an answer first.

Correct answer: B

The correct answer is A trench and a volcanic mountain range.

  1. Identify the plate setting: Determine whether the plates move apart, together, or past one another.
  2. Connect movement and result: Subduction can form a trench offshore and magma-fed volcanoes on the continent.
  3. Check the evidence: Use landforms, earthquakes, volcanoes, seafloor patterns, or rock evidence to confirm the boundary type.

Subduction can form a trench offshore and magma-fed volcanoes on the continent.

7. QuestionMultiple choice

What may form when two continental plates collide?

Please select an answer first.

Correct answer: C

The correct answer is Large folded mountain ranges.

  1. Identify the plate setting: Determine whether the plates move apart, together, or past one another.
  2. Connect movement and result: Continental crust is buoyant, so collision can compress and uplift the crust.
  3. Check the evidence: Use landforms, earthquakes, volcanoes, seafloor patterns, or rock evidence to confirm the boundary type.

Continental crust is buoyant, so collision can compress and uplift the crust.

8. QuestionMultiple choice

What commonly occurs at a divergent continental boundary?

Please select an answer first.

Correct answer: D

The correct answer is A rift valley can form as the crust stretches and pulls apart..

  1. Identify the plate setting: Determine whether the plates move apart, together, or past one another.
  2. Connect movement and result: Stretching at a continental divergent boundary can create a long rift valley.
  3. Check the evidence: Use landforms, earthquakes, volcanoes, seafloor patterns, or rock evidence to confirm the boundary type.

Stretching at a continental divergent boundary can create a long rift valley.

9. QuestionMultiple choice

Why are earthquakes common at plate boundaries?

Please select an answer first.

Correct answer: A

The correct answer is Plate motion can build stress that is released when rocks slip along faults..

  1. Identify the plate setting: Determine whether the plates move apart, together, or past one another.
  2. Connect movement and result: Stress from plate movement can fracture or move rocks and release seismic energy.
  3. Check the evidence: Use landforms, earthquakes, volcanoes, seafloor patterns, or rock evidence to confirm the boundary type.

Stress from plate movement can fracture or move rocks and release seismic energy.

10. QuestionMultiple choice

How can the age of seafloor rocks help test plate-tectonic ideas?

Please select an answer first.

Correct answer: B

The correct answer is A pattern of younger rocks near ridges and older rocks farther away supports spreading..

  1. Identify the plate setting: Determine whether the plates move apart, together, or past one another.
  2. Connect movement and result: The age pattern matches the prediction that new crust forms at ridges and moves outward.
  3. Check the evidence: Use landforms, earthquakes, volcanoes, seafloor patterns, or rock evidence to confirm the boundary type.

The age pattern matches the prediction that new crust forms at ridges and moves outward.

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Frequently asked questions about Grade 6 Plate Tectonics

What topics are covered?

The page covers tectonic plates, divergent, convergent, and transform boundaries, subduction, seafloor spreading, faults, earthquakes, volcanoes, mountains, continental drift, and scientific evidence.

How can students identify a plate boundary?

Determine the direction of plate motion, then look for related evidence such as ridges, trenches, mountains, volcanoes, faults, earthquakes, or GPS movement.

How many questions are on this page?

The page includes five mini tests with 10 questions each, for 50 Grade 6 Plate Tectonics questions in total.