Plate Tectonics

YouTube: Continental Drift: Alfred Wegener Song3:03

Tectonic Plates

• Large broken pieces of the earth’s crust (lithosphere) that collide or slide past each other atop the asthenosphere

YouTube: Early Earth and Plate Tectonics5:16

Pangaea

• Current theory suggests that all of Earth’s continents were once combined to form a single landmass we call Pangaea

YouTube: Bill Nye Pangaea2:25

Alfred Wegener

• Alfred Wegener was a German scientist who formed the Theory of Plate Tectonics and proposed the idea of continental drift

• This theory states that Earth is broken into several plates that are constantly moving and drifting, resulting in changes to the earth

YouTube: Alfred Wegener: Great Minds4:54

Theories, Laws, and Facts!

• Scientific Theory – Explains a complex idea and is supported by evidence– Ex: Theory of Plate Tectonics

• Scientific Law – Describes an observed phenomenon and is supported by evidence from multiple experiments, but does not explain how or why– Newton’s Law of Gravity or Laws of Motion

• Scientific Fact – Accepted as being true, measurable and observable– Water freezes at 0 degrees Celsius; Earth has one moon

Name That Plate!

Prediction Answer

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1. Leave space at the top of your page for today’s notes.

2. Draw a table on your notebook page just like the one shown on the right. (Hint: Place your numbers on the left side of the red line.)

3. Title the first column “Prediction”.

4. Title the second column “Answer”.

Notes

Name That Plate!

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Types of Tectonic Plates

• Continental Plate – A thicker (fatter) plate containing continental crust (a continent exists on top)

• Oceanic Plate – A thinner (skinnier) plate containing only oceanic crust (covered entirely by ocean water)

Color Your Plate Boundaries Map1 = Yellow2 = Brown3 = Purple4 = Green5 = Orange6 = Blue7 = Red8 = Brown9 = Blue10 = Green11 = Brown12 = Red13 = Green14 = Yellow15 = Blue

Name That Plate! KEY1. Pacific Plate2. North American

Plate3. South American

Plate4. Eurasian Plate5. African Plate6. Antarctic Plate7. Australian Plate8. Indian Plate9. Juan de Fuca

Plate10. Nazca Plate11. Filipino Plate12. Caribbean Plate13. Scotia Plate14. Arabian Plate15. Cocos Plate

Name That Plate Interactive Quiz – Learner.org

Name That Plate! KEY1. Pacific Plate2. North American

Plate3. South American

Plate4. Eurasian Plate5. African Plate6. Antarctic Plate7. Australian Plate8. Indian Plate9. Juan de Fuca

Plate10. Nazca Plate11. Filipino Plate12. Caribbean Plate13. Scotia Plate14. Arabian Plate15. Cocos Plate

Name That Plate Interactive Quiz – Learner.org

3 Types of Plate Boundaries

• Divergent – Plates move away or spread apart• Convergent – Plates come together• Transform – Plates slide past each other in

opposite directions

Divergent Convergent Transform

Divergent Boundaries

• New crust is formed as plate spread apart– This process is called

seafloor spreading and creates mid-ocean ridges in the ocean basin

Divergent Animation

Convergent Boundaries

• Crust is destroyed and recycled back into the mantle– This movement creates

volcanoes, mountains, trenches, and earthquakes

Convergent Animation

Convergent Boundaries

• Some plates get pushed together and one plate is subducted under the other– This area of the

boundary is called the subduction zone

• Some plates get pushed together and both fold up to form folded mountains

Convergent Animation

Transform Boundaries

• Plates slide past and against each other in opposite directions– This creates earthquakes

and fault lines

Transform Animation