Absentee - Plate Boundaries

Thursday, 19 March 2020

9:16 AM
 
Go to the site https://www.learner.org/series/interactive-dynamic-earth/ and click on start Exploration.
 
Follow the interactive readings and lab and answer the following questions as you go.
 
1. How did geologist study the interior of the Earth?
Geologists record the seismic waves and study how they travel through Earth. Seismic waves speed and the path
they tell about the earths structure
 
2. Give a one sentence description of Each of the layers of the Earth. Crust, Mantle, Inner Core and Outer Core.
- crust is the outermost layer of a planet. The crust of the Earth is composed of a great variety of igneous,
metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks.
- The mantle is the mostly solid bulk of Earth's interior. The mantle lies between Earth's dense, super-heated
core and its thin outer layer, the crust.
- The inner core is the very centre of the Earth, and the hottest part of the planet. It is a mainly a solid ball
with a radius of about 1,220 km.
- The outer core of the Earth is a liquid layer about 2,261 km thick composed of iron and nickel which lies
above the Earth's solid inner core and below its mantle
 
3. How long ago were the continents all pushed together?
About 175 million years ago.
 
4. What was the scientist’s name that first discovered plate tectonics?
Alfred Wegener.
 
5. What are three pieces of evidence that he found that supported his theory?
- He saw that there were the same plant species on the opposite side of the world, but when put countries
together they match up.
- Same things with animal species, they were on opposite sides of the worlds. He thought that they couldn’t
have swum far across the ocean, so when he put the countries together, they matched up.
-
 
6. What is the name of the super continent and what does it stand for?
Pangaea or Pangea
 
7. Describe how the continents moved from 200 mya, 135 mya, 65 mya and 50-40 mya.
I don’t understand this one
 
Click on the Continents Over Time link on the bottom and read the directions. You will be arranging the pictures of
continents on the timeline in the order you think they belong.
 
1. Click Begin and start to arrange the pictures on the timeline. Click CHECK when you complete it to see if you are correct.
 
2. Were you correct and how many times did you need to complete it?
I only had to complete it once
3. Answer the bonus question about what the Earth will look like in 250 million years.
 
4. Were you correct?
 No
5. What will be the name of the new supercontinent?
 Pangaea Ultima
Click on PLATE BOUNDARIES at the bottom to continue.
 
1. How many major plates are there?
Seven major plates
 
2. What are the two types of crust, and which one is the thickest?
Thin oceanic crust that underlies the ocean basins, and thicker continental crust that underlies the continents.
 The thin oceanic crust is composed of primarily of basalt, and the thicker continental crust is composed primarily
of granite.
 
3. What are the three types of boundaries called and what type of motion do they have?

The movement of the plates creates three types of tectonic boundaries: convergent, where plates move into one
another; divergent, where plates move apart; and transform, where plates move sideways in relation to each
other.
 
4. What type of boundary lies off the coast of Washington State?
The Cascadia subduction zone
 
Click on the Plates & Boundaries Challenge. You will drag and drop the names of the plates where you think they belong on
the map. You will also identify which boundaries are transform, convergent and divergent.
 
1. How many plates did you identify correctly?
10
 
2. How many boundaries did you identify correctly?
11

3. Click move on to the next chapter.

 
Slip, Slide and Collide Convergent boundaries
 
1. What are four natural disasters caused by plate tectonics?
earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, landslides
 
2. Click see what happens at different plate boundaries.
 
3. How is a subduction zone formed?
A subduction zone forms when continental crust and oceanic crust collide.
 
4. What feature is formed as the ocean crust sinks below the continental crust?
 Subduction zone

5. What is a famous chain of volcanoes created from the convergence of oceanic and continental crusts?
 The Cascades

6. What feature is formed when two oceanic plates converge?

 oceanic subduction zone

7. What is a famous example of this feature?

 
8. Describe what happens when two continental plates converge.
This occurs when plates move towards each other and collide. When a continental plate meets an oceanic plate, the
thinner, denser, and more flexible oceanic plate sinks beneath the thicker, more rigid continental plate.
 
9. Why doesn’t continental to continental convergence boundaries have a subduction zone?
 The two thick continental plates collide, and both have a density that is much lower than the mantle, which
prevents subduction

 
Divergent boundaries
 
1 What causes sea floor spreading?
 Seafloor spreading occurs at divergent plate boundaries.

2 What is the feature called that is formed at oceanic to oceanic divergent boundaries?
 Divergent zones in oceanic plates form a geological feature called a ridge, forced upward by the pressure of the rising
magma. The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is an example of an oceanic divergent boundary formation.
3 What is the feature called when two continental plates diverge?
 When two continental plates diverge by continental rifting then features like Rift valley, volcanoes are found.

 
6 What features do transform boundaries create?
 causes intense earthquakes, the formation of thin linear valleys, and split riverbeds.

7 What major natural disaster is created from a transform boundary?

 Earthquakes

8 What is the best studied strike slip fault?

 San Andreas Fault in California
Now complete the handout listed under the lesson called 'Handout - Plate Boundaries'

The following activity requires you to transform information:

1. Draw an annotated scientific diagram to show the collision of plates for each type of convergent boundaries.
2. Write a simple explanation of what occurs at Transform Boundaries.
** Divergent Boundaries has been completed as an example of expected response.
 
 
Divergent Boundary
Divergent boundaries occur where plates are
moving apart. Hot mantle rock rises and partial
melting occurs. New crust is created by the
magma pushing up from the mantle.
 

Convergent Boundary - When two plates come  

together, it is known as a convergent boundary.  
There are 3 types:

Oceanic-oceanic convergence—When two  

oceanic plates converge, one subducts beneath  
the other, and in the process a trench and  
volcanoes are formed  
 
 
 
 
 

Oceanic-Continental convergence—  
An oceanic plate converges on a continental  
plate and the denser crust of the oceanic plate  
sinks beneath the more-buoyant continental  
plate.  
 
 
 
  

Continental-continental convergence—When  
two continents meet, neither is subducted  
because the continental rocks are relatively light  
and, resist downward motion. Instead, the crust  
tends to buckle and be pushed upward or  
sideways.  
 
 
 
 

Transform Boundary  
 
Monitoring Task - Comparing and contrasting plate boundaries
Thursday, 19 March 2020
8:33 AM