Question

Now and in the future, severe earthquakes are more likely to strike North America along the Pacific coastline than elsewhere on the continent. Which model of Earth would be most useful for explaining the likelihood of these earthquakes?
A.
a map of hotspots below Earth's crust
B.
a globe that shows the shapes and positions of the continents
C.
a three-dimensional model of Earth's inner layers
D.
a map of tectonic plates and their boundaries

Answer 1

D. a map of tectonic plates and their boundaries

Earthquakes are concentrated where tectonic plates interact (subduction zones, transform faults, etc.), so a plate-boundary map best explains why the Pacific coast (the Ring of Fire) is especially seismically active.