Explain the most widely accepted hypothesis behind the formation ...

[jilianpiloj]

Explain the most widely accepted hypothesis behind the formation of the Basin and Range Province. When was this process supposed to be occurring?
 
  What will be an ideal response?

Question 2

How can plate tectonics help explain the existence of fossil marine organisms in rocks found on top of compressional mountains?
 
  What will be an ideal response?

[blakeserpa]

Answer to Question 1

Answer: Approximately 30 million years ago, the west coast of North America was a convergent plate boundary as the Plate subducted beneath the North America Plate. This process generated a great deal of compressional stress. However, that pressure lessened starting 25 million years ago, when subduction ceased and the spreading center separating the Farallon and Pacific Plates began to subduct beneath North America. The result was the San Andreas Fault, a transform boundary. Due to the northwestward motion of the Pacific Plate, the North American Plate began to experience tensional stress. (See Sec. 14.5 in Ch. 14.)
Diff: 3

Answer to Question 2

Answer: When two landmasses collide, rocks that are located between them will get compressed. The result is shortening and thickening of the crust, forcing the rocks upward. If the rocks in question happen to be a fossiliferous limestone from a shallow marine shelf, then the rocks at the top of the mountains would be those that formed in the sea.