PLATE BOUNDARIES & PATTERNS OF ACTIVITY RESEARCH PROJECT

INTRODUCTION: Earth’s crust is divided into several plates. Some plates consist of mainly ocean crust, some are mostly
continental crust, and some plates are made up of both ocean and continental crust. The plates, which together make up Earth’s
lithosphere (Greek word meaning “stone”), float on top of the mantle and move due to convection cells in the mantle. Movement
of these plates causes earthquakes, volcanoes, and the building of mountain ranges. In this activity, you will investigate patterns
of earthquakes, volcanoes, and mountain ranges and determine the type of motion that takes place between earth’s plates.

MATERIALS:
 Internet to obtain assignment, data, and maps at the sites listed below
 Assignment page (i.e., this page, page 1)
 Data tables (page 2)
 Conclusion questions (found at bottom of page 1)
 Map of tectonic plates to plot earthquakes and volcanoes (page 3)

ASSIGNMENT ESSENTIALS:
 Conclusion questions must be typed on a sheet of paper the student produces.
 All conclusions must state the question and be thoroughly answered in complete sentences.
 The assignment must stapled in the following order: title page, data table, map, conclusion questions.

DELIVERABLES:
1. Completed data table
2. Completed map as per the instructions below
3. Conclusion questions Part 1 (bottom of this page) & Part 2

CRUSTAL ACTIVITY PATTERNS ASSIGNMENT:

Obtain latitude and longitude coordinates of the 10 most recent earthquake epicenters in the world greater than magnitude 4.0 at:
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/recenteqsww/Quakes/quakes_all.html. Using the map you downloaded and the latitude/longitude
coordinates of the earthquake from the web, determine the location the earthquake occurred, the nearest plate or plate boundary, the
boundary type, and the earthquake’s depth. If the depth of the quake was less than or equal to 70 km, record the plot in RED. If the
quake depth was >71km but <350 km, plot it in BLUE. If the quake depth was >350 km, plot it in YELLOW.

Obtain latitude and longitude coordinates of the 10 most recent volcanic eruptions in the world at
http://www.volcano.si.edu/reports/usgs/. Using your downloaded map, plot volcano positions in GREEN. On your data table, record
the nearest plate or plate boundary that the volcano is near, the boundary type, and the volcano type.

CONCLUSION QUESTIONS:

Observe recent seismic (earthquake) activity at http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/.

 How does the information on this map correlate with the map you created?
 Is there a relationship between the depth of the earthquake and the boundary it is near (e.g., shallow earthquakes are usually
found at _____; deep focus earthquakes are usually found at_____)?

Observe the world volcano map at http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Glossary/PlateTectonics/Maps/map_plate_tectonics_world.html or th

ring of fire map at: http://pubs.usgs.gov/publications/text/fire.html.
 At what type of boundary do the majority of volcanoes occur?
 Is there a relationship between the volcano type and the boundary it is near?

Observe the map at http://maps.howstuffworks.com/world-mountain-ranges-map.htm and the map at

http://www.maps.com/map.aspx?pid=16011.
 Along which boundaries do the mountains seem to fall with respect to the map you created?
 What can you conclude about the patterns of earthquakes and volcanoes and plate boundaries?
 Why are most of the world’s earthquakes and volcanic mountains located along plate boundaries?

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 DATA TABLES

Earthquake Latitude Longitude Boundary Depth

Nearest Plate or Boundary
Location (-) = S (-) = W Type (km)

Volcano Latitude Longitude Nearest Plate or Volcano Type: Cinder/

Location (-) = S (-) = W Boundary Shield/ Strato/ Composite

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