Name______Date______Period______
Plate Tectonics Internet Activity
Directions: Follow the step by step instructions to walk you through the
This computer lab exercise. Answer in complete sentences!
A. First, enter the following web address:
http://wikifuller.wikispaces.com/
Click on the “Plate Tectonics e - Learning” link on the left side of page directly underneath the “home” link. Scroll down the webpage until you have found the correct activity that matches the assignment.
B. Click on “Introduction” Read the Introduction to answer the following questions:
1. What is the outer part of the earth made of?
2. How did other geologist’s feel about Alfred Wegener’s Hypothesis?
C. Click on “The Controversial Hypothesis” and navigate through the slides to answer the following questions:
3. Who was Alfred Wegener and what did he suggest?
4. Who first noticed that the outlines of Africa and South America fit together like two pieces of a jig saw puzzle? (Hint: it is not Alfred Wegener)
5. Could Mesosaurus swim across the ocean, why or why not?
6. What are the names of the four fossils that provided evidence to help prove Pangaea once existed?
7. What present day continents used to be assembled, forming the ancient super continent Pangaea?
8. So, were the animals living at the time of Pangaea able to swim across the oceans?
9. What covered Pangaea 300 million years? Would this be considered a fossil, rock, or climate evidence?
10. What could Alfred Wegener not explain about his theory continental drift?
Mini quiz: Circle correct response
1. Which of the following provide evidence for Plate Tectonics?
a. fossils and rocks matched up b. ocean currents and sea temperature
c. continents fit like a puzzle d. both a and c
2. What was the name of the supercontinet made up of all the continents?
a. Eurasia c. gondwanaland
b. bigcontinent d. pangea
3. The idea or theory that continents have moved horizontally to their current locations is called _____.
a. / continental drift / c. / magnetismb. / continental slope / d. / convection
D. Click on “The Hypothesis becomes a Theory” and navigate through the slides to answer the following questions:
11. What happened after the second world war?
12. What is the Mid-Atlantic or Ocean Ridge?
13. What color is the youngest ocean rock (basalt)? What color is the older ocean rock?
14. How long ago was Africa and South America positioned side by side?
15. How old is the ocean crust that is green in color?
16. What is happening to the Atlantic ocean?
17. What pattern emerged on the ocean floor? What is it called?
18. As the seafloor spread apart, how does the magnetism of rocks oriented themselves with respect to the earth’s present magnetic field? Do the rocks forming (cooling & crystallizing) today show normal or reversed magnetism?
19. What’s the difference between positive and negative anomalies?
20. What color is the positive magnetic anomaly?
21. During the history of the Earth, what has shifted from normal to reverse?
22. What recorded the change or shift in the earth’s magnetic field?
23. During the last 5 million years, how many times has the earth’s magnetic field shifted?
24. What is the Ring of Fire?
25. What do you notice about the pattern of volcanoes and earthquakes?
Mini quiz: Circle correct response
1. The youngest basaltic rock on the ocean floor is found at _____.
a. / plains / c. / trenchesb. / basins / d. / Mid-ocean ridges (atlantic)
2. As you get farther from a mid-ocean or atlatic ridge, (increasing distance) sea floor rocks become ______.
a. Older c. More magnetic
b. split and create new ocean crust d. less magnetic
3. The formation and alignment of new iron minerals (magnetite) reflect the fact that Earth's _____ has reversed itself several times in its past.
a. / magnetic field / c. / asthenosphereb. / core / d. / gravity
4. While studying the ocean floor, scientists found _____ of magnetism.
a. / very weak / c. / nob. / Stripes / d. / rectangular
5. Bands or stripes of basaltic rock on the seafloor showing alternating magnetic orientation indicate Earth's magnetic field has _____ in the past.
a. / reversed itself / c. / become strongerb. / weakened / d. / remained the same
6. Which of the following provide evidence for sea floor spreading and Plate Tectonics?
a. fossils and rocks matched up b. magnetic stripes (anomilies) on the seafloor
c. continents fit like a puzzle d. all of the above
E. Click on “the Driving force” and navigate through the slides to answer the following questions:
26. What is the driving force behind plate tectonics?
27. How do convection currents work in a pot of water?
28. How does convection work inside the earth?
Mini quiz: Circle correct response
1. Alfred Wegener could not explain what caused the continents to move. It is now believed that _____ currents inside Earth cause plates to move.
a. / Hot magma / c. / Convection currentsb. / downward vertical / d. / none of the above
F. Click on the “Converging Plates” and navigate through the slides to answer the following questions:
29. What do we call where two plates are converging together?
30. What are the three types of convergent plate boundaries?
1-
2-
3-
31. What type of convergent boundary is Japan located at?
32. What is happening to the Pacific plate?
33. What happens as the Pacific plate subducts beneath the Eurasian plate?
34. As the plate melts, how does it make it back up to the surface?
35. What is happening to the Nazca plate?
36. When did India collide with Eurasia?
37. How did the Himalayan Mountains form? How long ago did they form?
G. Click on the “Diverging Plates” and navigate through the slides to answer the following questions:
38. What do we call it when two Lithosphereic plates are moving away from each other?
39. What is happening to Iceland?
40. What is happening to East Africa?
41. What will eventually form in between East and West Africa?
H. Click on the “Transform Faults” and navigate through the slides to answer the following questions:
42. How fast is the Pacific plate moving relative to the North American plate?
43. What will eventually happen to L.A.?
I. Click on the “The Velocity of the Plates” and navigate through the slides to answer the following questions:
44. How did the Hawaiian Islands form?
45. What is the oldest Hawaiian Island? What is the youngest?
46. How fast does the Pacific plate move over the Hot spot?
47. How fast is the Pacific Plate moving away from the Nazca plate? (In a year)
Mini quiz: Circle correct response
1. Plates move apart at _____ boundaries.
a. / convergent / c. / divergentb. / stable / d. / volcanic
2. Features found at divergent boundaries include ____.
a. / ocean ridges & rift valleys / c. / crumpled mountainsb. / deep-sea trenches & mountains / d. / island arc volcanoes
3. The boundaries between two colliding plates are called _____.
a. / divergent / c. / a transform faultb. / convergent / d. / lithosphere
4. Subduction results in the formation of ____.
a. / a deep-sea trench / c. / a rift valleyb. / a magnetic reversal / d. / new continental crust
5. The subduction of Oceanic plate beneath a Continental plate produces a
a. volcanic mountains c. ocean ridge
b. rift valley d. non-volcanic mountains
6. Ocean to ocean plate collisions results in the formation of .
a. / Chain of volcanic Islands (Japan) / c. / Mountain ranges (Himalayas)b. / Transform faults / d. / Rift valleys
7. Continental-continental plate collisions produce ____.
a. / island arcs (Japan) / c. / deep-sea trenchesb. / rift valleys / d. / tall mountain ranges (Himalayas)
8. Features such as trenches and volcanic mountains can be seen at _____.
a. / abyssal plains / c. / ocean floorsb. / ocean margins / d. / plate boundaries
9. A _____ forms where two plates collide.
a. / hot spot / c. / transform faultb. / Deep ocean trench / d. / rift valley
10. A trench is evidence for what kind of plate boundary?
a. convergent c. divergent
b. transform d. uniform
11. The _____ is (are) an example of a transform fault boundary.
a. / Appalachian Mountains / c. / Mid-Atlantic Ridgeb. / Himalayas / d. / San Andreas Fault
J. Click on the “Summary” to answer the following questions:
48. Was Alfred Wegener’s hypothesis on Continental drift accepted by the geologic community?
49. After World War II, what observations supported Wegener’s hypothesis?
50. Where do most earthquakes and volcanoes occur?
51. What is formed when an oceanic plate and a continental plate move toward each other? What eventually happens to the oceanic plate as it is brought into the mantle?
52. How did the Himalayan Mountains form?
53. When two oceanic plates move apart, what forms between them?
54. On average, how fast do the lithosphere plates move a year?
55. Draw a Divergent, convergent, and transform boundary:
Divergent:
Convergent:
Transform: