Tectonic Plates

Directions:

• Use this PowerPoint to guide you through making your illustrations and information for your notes page.

• When you finish your notes page, write and answer the review questions at the end of the PowerPoint in your CNB.

Plate Tectonics

• Greek – “tektonikos” of a builder• Pieces of the lithosphere that move around• Each plate has a name• Fit together like jigsaw puzzles• Float on top of mantle similar to ice cubes

in a bowl of water

Continental Drift

http://members.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/astronomy/planets/earth/Continents.shtml

Alfred Wegener 1900’sContinents were once a single land mass that drifted apart.

Fossils of the same plants and animals are found on different continents

Called this supercontinent Pangea, Greek for “all Earth”

245 Million years ago

Split again – Laurasia & Gondwana 180 million years ago

Evidence of Pangea

Sea Floor Spreading

Sea Floor Spreading

• Mid Ocean Ridges – underwater mountain chains that run through the Earth’s Basins

• Magma rises to the surface and solidifies and new crust forms

• Older Crust is pushedfarther away from the ridge

How Plates Move

http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/dynamic/unanswered.html

Different Types of Boundaries

http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/dynamic/understanding.html

Divergent Boundary – Arabian and African Plates

Arabian Plate

African Plate

Red Sea

Divergent Boundary – Iceland

http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/dynamic/understanding.html

Divergent Boundary - Oceanic

Click here to discover the type of land formation created

Divergent Boundary - Continental

Click here to discover the type of land formation created

Convergent Boundary – Indian and Eurasian Plates

Indian Plate

Eurasian Plate

Convergent Boundary – Oceanic & Continental

http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/dynamic/understanding.html & http://www.geology.com

Click here for land formations

Convergent Boundary – Oceanic & Oceanic

http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/dynamic/understanding.html & http://www.geology.com

NOTE – PLATES ARE REVERSED

Click here for land formations

Convergent Boundaries - Continental

http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/dynamic/understanding.html & http://www.geology.com

Click here for land formations

Transform Boundary – San Andreas Fault

Click here for results of transform boundaries

ReviewComplete this review when you finish your notes and illustrations page.

1. Name the 3 main layers of the Earth.2. Which layer makes up most of the Earth’s

mass/size?3. What is a tectonic plate?4. What was Pangea?5. What is Sea-Floor spreading?6. Name the three different main types of plate

boundaries and one location on Earth for each one.