www.internationalschoolhistory.

net

Year 3 Human Science

Geography - The Restless Earth 2 – Plate Tectonics

Structure of the earth

The best starting point for understanding earthquakes and volcanoes is to examine the
structure of the earth. The earth is very similar to a peach in its structure. In the centre is a
solid core. Surrounding the core is the inner core, then the mantle, which is covered in the
earth’s 'skin' or crust.

Plates, Pangea and continental drift

The earth was formed 4,600 million

Pangea years ago. Since then it has been
slowly cooling down and a thin crust
has formed round the outside. The
crust is not all one piece but is broken
into several enormous sections called
plates. In 1912 Alfred Wegener
published a theory to explain why the
Earth looked like a huge jigsaw. He
believed the continents were once
joined forming a supercontinent he
called Pangaea. Over 180 million
years ago this supercontinent began to
"break up" due to continental drift.

During the 20th Century, scientists

developed the theory of plate
tectonics. The theory suggested that
the crust of the Earth is split up into
seven large plates (see map below)
and a few smaller ones, all of which
are able to move slowly around on the Earth's surface. Underneath the crust the rock is so hot
that it remains molten and can flow like warm honey. The plates float on this layer and move
about very, very slowly - just a few millimetres a year.

The major plate boundaries

In some places they move towards each other and in others they move apart or scrape
alongside each other. The place where two plates meet is called a plate boundary. The
movement at these plate boundaries can cause earthquakes and volcanic eruptions to occur.

Four types of plate boundary

Constructive plate boundaries Destructive plate boundaries Conservative plate Collision plate boundaries occur
occur when two plates move occur when an oceanic plate is boundaries occur when two when two continental plates
away from each other forced under a continental plate plates slide past each other. move towards each other.

Activities

1. Using the Pangea Cutouts sheet, colour and label each of the continents and then try
to combine and stick the continents together into a single Pangea.
2. Using a blank world map draw on the plate boundaries and then colour and label it.
3. Explain the following terms: plates, Pangea, continental drift and plate boundary.
4. Using coloured, labeled diagrams to help you, explain the four different types of plate
boundary.
5. Using the map of major plate boundaries to help you, where in the Mediterranean
basin might you expect to find earthquakes and volcanoes?
RJ-N 260909