Plate Tectonicswww.historyforkids.org

visibleearth.nasa.gov

A hypothesis that the continents slowly move across Earth’s surface

Proposed by Alfred Wagner

The Theory of Continental Drift

The name of the single landmass that broke apart 200 million years ago and gave rise to today’s continents

Pangea Interactive Map

www.enchantedlearning.com/

Evidence!

Evidence Interactive Map

“Jigsaw Puzzle”Observing: Which coastlines seem to match up like jig-saw puzzle?

The continents of Africa and South America match up like jigsaw-puzzle pieces!!

http://science.pppst.com/platetectonics.html

FossilsSame plant and animal fossils found on the coastlines of different continents.

What might the presence of marsupials in Australia and North America suggest?

Marsupials migrated and then evolved differently when continents separated.

http://science.pppst.com/platetectonics.html

Rocks and Climates Tropical plant remains (coal

deposits) found in Antarctica

Same rock patterns found in South America, India, Africa, Antarctica and Australia

Convergent Boundaries

Where plates collide, forming mountains.

Where plates move apart, forming volcanoes and ocean rifts.

Divergent Boundaries

Transform Fault Boundaries Where plates slide past each other, causing

earthquakes.

This occurs when 2 plates converge, but one plate is more dense than the other and is shoved under another

Subduction

Convection!

Hot magma in the Earth moves toward the surface, cools, then sinks again.

Creates convection currents beneath the plates that cause the plates to move.

What is a common novelty item that uses convection?

Lava Lamps!

http://science.pppst.com/platetectonics.html

Think about it….90% of world’s earthquakes75% of world’s volcanoes

http://science.pppst.com/platetectonics.html

Turn and Talk In groups of 3, take a few minutes to

discuss the following….

◦Use your knowledge of plate tectonics to explain the recent events in Haiti.

◦Make predictions about other events we could expect to see in the future in this area.