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S4 Geography: Plate Tectonics Practice Paper 3 (10 questions with answers)
S4 Geography: Plate Tectonics Practice Paper 3 (10 questions with answers)
Paper 3 applies the ideas to real cases: Hong Kong position, the Tohoku tsunami, volcano monitoring and Atlantic widening.
Direct answer Hong Kong lies inside the Eurasian Plate, so its seismic risk comes from nearby regions; keep margin and intra-plate cases apart.
01 Paper details (check answers afterwards)
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Questions | 10 items |
| Suggested time | 20 to 25 minutes |
| Difficulty mix | Foundation 3 · Intermediate 4 · Challenge 2 · Error redo 1 |
| Chapter | Chapter: S4 Geography: Plate Tectonics – Tutor Lesson Plan |
| Level | S4 (DSE Geography) |
02 Questions (10 items)
- FoundationIs Hong Kong located on a plate margin?
- FoundationWhere is the deepest ocean, and how deep is it?
- FoundationHow does silica content affect the style of an eruption?
- IntermediateA plate subducts at 8 cm per year. How many kilometres are consumed in one million years?
- IntermediateWhy did the 2011 Tohoku earthquake produce such a large tsunami?
- IntermediateWhich three kinds of signals are used to monitor volcanic risk?
- IntermediateWhy are fold mountains and island arcs so common around the Pacific?
- ChallengeHong Kong is not on a plate margin, so why are tremors felt here?
- ChallengeUse plate tectonics to explain why the Atlantic widens while the Pacific narrows.
- Error redoA student wrote that fold mountains form at divergent margins. What is wrong?
03 Answers and one-line notes
| # | Answer | One-line note |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | No. Hong Kong sits on the South China block inside the Eurasian Plate, hundreds of kilometres from the nearest margin | Intra-plate earthquakes are fewer but not zero, so design codes still look at nearby events. |
| 2 | The Mariana Trench, about 11 000 m | The deepest water lies in subduction zones, and trench depth reflects the scale of subduction. |
| 3 | More silica makes the magma stickier, gas escapes with difficulty, and eruptions are more explosive | Basaltic magma flows easily while rhyolitic magma is sticky, so the eruption styles differ completely. |
| 4 | 80 km | 8 cm times one million gives 8000000 cm, or 80 km. |
| 5 | A shallow thrust fault displaced the sea floor vertically and lifted a huge volume of water | Tsunami energy depends on vertical displacement and the volume of water moved, not on magnitude alone. |
| 6 | More earthquakes, ground deformation, and changes in gas emissions | When all three are abnormal at once, the alert level is usually at its highest. |
| 7 | Subduction zones surround it, so converging plates squeeze rock and generate magma | Trenches, arcs, volcanoes and deep earthquakes all belong to one subduction system. |
| 8 | Long-period waves from moderate to strong regional earthquakes reach the city, and tall buildings amplify them | Tall buildings resonate with long-period waves, so upper floors sway more noticeably. |
| 9 | The Mid-Atlantic Ridge keeps making new crust, while subduction around the Pacific consumes crust faster than it forms | Plate areas change at each other expense, while the total surface area stays about the same. |
| 10 | Fold mountains need compression at a convergent margin, whereas divergent margins pull apart | Divergent margins make ridges and rift valleys, not fold belts. |
04 What to do after marking
- After marking, redo only the wrong items and write down which step went wrong (formula, unit, or misread number).
- Repeat the same item two days later; move to the next paper only when both attempts are correct.
- Parents only need the answer and note columns; there is no need to explain every item.
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Questions and answers are written originally by the TutorZone team and are not taken from any school, publisher or examination authority paper. Every value is checked by computer.
