Plate Boundaries Lab

Plate tectonics is the theory that Earth's outer shell is divided into several plates that glide over the mantle, the rocky inner layer above the core. Compared to the mantle, the plates are a hard, tough, and rigid shell. California is made up of different types of plates that are unique in the way that they form and move. (LiveScience)

“Volcanic and seismic events are major pieces of evidence towards proving that plate tectonics theory is valid’ Discuss the extent to which you agree with this statement (40 marks)

Short went into depth when talking about the nine main plates of the Earth. The movement of these plates have caused land to separate and changed the location of continents. A great example of the power that these plates hold is when the Indo-Australian plate and the Eurasian plate came together.

The theory of plate tectonics states that the Earth’s lithosphere (top layer of the Earth’s crust) is split up into rigid sections called plates that are moving relative to one another as they move on top of the underlying semi-molten mantle. These plates are either continental, The North American Plate, or oceanic, The Nazca Plate.

But in fact these also proved plate tectonic theory because they showed temporal change ie they were once at plate boundaries but have moved away because of plate movement. All the evidence, sea floor spreading, hot spots and subduction proved the plates moved this knowledge then developed into the understanding that something must be providing energy or a current so that the plates could move; This theory then came about as ‘convection currents’. Convection currents is a liquid in the mantle that moves and the currents come from the subduction zones.

Plate Tectonics is a scientific theory which study how the Earth’s plates are driven and shaped by geological forces to keep them in constant movement. The theory explains the present-day tectonic behavior of the Earth, particularly the global distribution of mountain building, earthquake activity, and volcanism in a series of linear belt. (Pitman, W.C., 2007)

The theory of plate tectonics states that Earth’s outer shell is divided into plates. The crust and upper mantle is broken into plates that move around on the mantle, changing in size throughout time. The lithosphere makes up the crust and upper mantle and the asthenosphere a plastic like layer beneath the lithosphere. There are three types of plate boundaries. Divergent boundaries where two plates move away from each other. The ocean widens and new crust forms at the mid-oceanic ridge. Convergent boundaries has three types of converging, moving two plates towards each other. First we have an ocean floor plate that collides with a less dense continental plate. Next an ocean floor plate collides with another ocean floor plate. Finally a continental plate collides with another continental plate. Transform boundaries were two plates slide past one another. The resulting effects of plate tectonics is landforms such as rift valleys,

12. List the three types of plate boundaries and describe the relative motion at each of them.

Plate tectonics is the scientific theory that attempts to explain the movements of the Earth's lithosphere that have formed the landscape features we see across the globe today” (Briney). Geology defines “plate” as a large slab of solid rock, and “tectonics” is part of the Greek root word for “to build.” Together the words define how the Earth’s surface is built up of moving plates. The theory of plate tectonics dictates that individual plates, broken down into large and small sections of rock, form Earth’s lithosphere. These fragmented bodies of rock move along each other atop the Earth’s liquid lower mantle to create the plate boundaries that have shaped Earth’s landscape. Plate tectonics originated from meteorologist Alfred Wegener’s theory, developed in the early 20th century. In 1912, he realized that the east coast of South America and the west coast of Africa appeared to piece together like a jigsaw puzzle. He further examined the globe and deduced that all of Earth’s continents could somehow be assembled together and proposed the idea that the continents had once been linked in a single supercontinent called Pangaea. To explain today’s position of the continents, Wegener theorized that they began to drift apart approximately 300 million years ago. This theory

of the effects of plate tectonics acting over geologic time. The story begins with the

Evaluate how Plate Tectonic Theory helps our Understanding of the Distribution of Seismic and Volcanic Events (40 marks)

Refer to the images above. Discuss in detail the two pieces of additional evidence that supported Wegener’s theory, now known as the theory of plate tectonics.

A) along a mid-ocean ridge B) along the length of a deep mantle plume C) along a transform fault D) along a subduction zone 11) Deep ocean trenches are surficial evidence for ________. A) rifting beneath a continental plate and the beginning of continental drift B) sinking of oceanic lithosphere into the mantle at subduction zones C) rising of hot asthenosphere from deep in the mantle D) transform faulting between an oceanic plate and a continental plate 12) Plates are sliding past one another horizontally along a ________ plate boundary. A) Transform B) convergent C) divergent D) subduction 13) The true colour of a mineral as seen in its powdered form is called it's ________. A) Birefringence B) chatoyancy C) iridescence D) streak

I chose to discuss, Topography, because I really enjoyed reading about Ms. Steinbach and the way in which she chose to run her social studies class. I felt as though Ms. Steinbach had great ideas to keep her students engaged. She is the type of teacher that I am striving to be. Since I am currently student teaching, I am always searching, reading, and asking other teacher’s about their lesson planning ideas and ways in which they have successfully engaged their students. It was clear that Ms. Steinbach wanted to make sure that her students got the most of out her class as possible. Very quickly, Ms. Steinbach was eager to connect in several different ways with her students. She was not the type of teacher that

The viscosity of this base is a function of the temperature. The study of shifting continental plates is called Plate Tectonics. Plate Tectonics allows scientists to locate regions of geothermal heat emission. Shifting continental plates cause weak spots or gaps between plates where geothermal heat is more likely to seep through the crust. These gaps are called Subduction Zones.