Name ______date ______pd.______
Exploring Plate Tectonics
SITE: Brain POP - Plate Tectonics
1. ______was the name of the supercontinent that existed millions of years ago.
2. The surface, or ______, of the Earth is broken into about ____ plates that float on the liquid ______.
3. When the plates move, the ______shift along with them. We don’t notice the ground moving because they only move a few ______each year.
4. Volcanoes, ______, ______, and trenches occur at active ______between the plates.
5. Divergent boundaries are where plates are moving ______and new ______is created by liquid rock pushing up from the mantle.
6. Convergent boundaries are where plates are moving ______each other. Sometimes one plate ______, or is subducted under another.
7. Transform boundaries are where plates ______horizontally past one each other and cause ______.
8. The plates are always ______slowly changing the face of the ______.
SITE: Dynamic Earth
Go to Earth Structures to start your tour of the world of plate tectonics!
- Click on each layer of the Earth to see the properties and description of that layer.
What are the 4 main layers of the Earth?
- Roll your mouse over the crust.
What do you notice about the thickness of the crust under the ocean, compared to the thickness of the crust under the continent?
- Roll your mouse over the word Mantle.
The Mantle is divided into 2 layers, what are the names of the 2 layers? ______and ______.
4. The lithosphere is made up of the ______and a tiny bit of the ______.
5. The plates of the lithosphere move (or float) on this hot, malleable ______zone in the upper mantle, directly underneath the lithosphere. This is known as the ______.
6. The layer of Earth that is the only liquid layer is the ______.
7. What happens at a convergent boundary? Explain and draw a diagram!
8. What happens in each situation?
Continental plate meets oceanic plate–
Two continental plates meet–
Two oceanic plates meet -
9. What happens at a divergent boundary? Explain and draw a diagram!
10. What is sea-floor spreading?
11. Describe transform plate movement. Explain and draw a diagram!
12. What are three geographic features that may be found at plate boundaries?
SITE: ZOOM Plate Tectonics
1. Who first proposed the idea of continental drift? ______
2. What did he name the gigantic supercontinent that existed 200 million years ago? ______
3. When did it begin to break up? ______Period
4. What were the names of the two smaller supercontinents created by the break up?
______and ______
5. How fast are the plates moving? ____ to ____ cm per year