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Unit 1 Activity: The Solid Earth

Investigating the Interactions of the North
American Plate
As lithospheric plates move past, collide, or separate from one another,
predictive and specific types of landforms and events occur. In this activity, you’ll
use your knowledge of convection currents, plate boundaries, and their resultant
landforms to analyze and explain the motion and interactions of the North
American Plate.

Part A
Tectonic plate movement is the reason why northern California has a very different
landscape than southern California. Two different tectonic plates, each moving in
different directions, border the western side of the North American Plate. Use the map
to identify the two tectonic plates that border the North American Plate to the west.
 The Pacific Plate and the Juan de Fuca Plate border the North American Plate to the west.

Part B
On the map, take a close look at the boundary along southern California and Mexico’s
Baja California Peninsula. The arrows on the map show the direction and speed of the
plates along this boundary in millimeters per year. Based on the speed and direction of
the arrows, identify the type of plate boundary at this location. Which landforms or
events are likely to occur there as a result? (Hint: It may be helpful to model the motion
of the plates using your hands or pieces of paper.)
The arrows show a convergent boundary because one would collide with the other. Mountains
and volcanoes can be formed in this region, as well as subduction zones considering one is
water and one is land.

Part C
A small oceanic plate borders the North American Plate along northern California,
Oregon, and Washington. As a result of this plate boundary, the Pacific Northwest
contains a volcanic mountain range known as the Cascades.
Based on the volcanic mountain range shown on the map, describe the motion of the
plates and identify the type of plate boundary in this region.

The plate boundary of this region is convergent because of all the mountains being formed.

Part D
To the east, the North American Plate is bordered by the Eurasian and African Plates.
These plates diverge from the North American Plate, creating an underwater mountain
range known as the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Each color on the map represents crust of a
different age, from new red crust to pink crust that is 280 million years old.
Question 1
Use the map to describe the motion of the plates at this boundary and the
age of the rocks along each side of the ridge.

Theplates are divergent because the newest color is in the middle while the oldest are
being pushed away from each other.

Question 2
Explain the importance of this discovery to the current theory of plate
tectonics.
 The importance of the current theory of plate tectonics is that it can help
us foresee what the world might look like in the future and what it might
have looked like in the past.

Part E
Reflect on what you have learned. Complete the paragraphs to describe the tectonic
motion and interactions of the North American Plate. Use the words in the box to
complete the paragraph below. Not all words in the box will be used.

Lithosphere, asthenosphere, mantle, ocean currents, electric currents,

convection currents, converges with, diverges from, slides past, an oceanic,
a continental, a growing, continental, extinct, oceanic, convergent,
transform, divergent, ocean currents, plate subduction, seafloor spreading

The ___asthenosphere__ is divided into different tectonic plates. These plates move
because of ___convection currents__ in the asthenosphere. The North American Plate
contains the continent of North America, as well as some of the surrounding Pacific and
Atlantic Oceans. Along its western border, two plates interact with the North American
Plate. In the northern United States, the Juan de Fuca Plate __diverges from__ the
North American Plate and subducts underneath. That’s because the Juan de Fuca Plate
is ___a continental__ plate, which is denser than the ___transform_ North American
Plate. The subduction causes the plate to melt, becoming magma and forming
volcanoes. Near southern California and northern Mexico, the North American Plate and
the Pacific Plate are both moving northwest, but the Pacific Plate is moving faster. This
creates a _seafloor spreading_ boundary as the plates slide past each other and create
earthquakes. Along its eastern border, the North American Plate is moving away from
the Eurasian and African Plates (divergent boundary). This movement results in new
crust rising to the surface along the boundary and the creation of underwater mountain
ranges such as the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. That happens because convection currents
within the asthenosphere are pulling the sea floor apart. This is also known as
____mantle__, the mechanism that explains the driving force behind the moving plates
and the theory of plate tectonics.