Name: _______________________________

60 Section: ______________________________
Lab 6: Applied Plate Tectonics Lab Packet
This is packet is due uploaded through Assignments

Introduction:
The earth's surface is broken and moving about, making our world of mountains and planes a very
dynamic place. Plate tectonics describes the behavior of earth's outer shell, with pieces (plates)
bumping and grinding and jostling each other about. During Lab #3 we will examine the processes
involved in plate tectonics and learn about how geoscientists quantify and track plate movement. The
concepts presented in the laboratory will be applied throughout the semester, as plate tectonics plays an
intricate role in volcanoes, earthquakes, rock & mineral formation, and climate change.

Driving Question: How do geoscientists quantify tectonic plate movement?

Learning Goals: Upon the successful completion of this laboratory, you should be able to:

▫Differentiate between ocean & continental crust, identify locations where oceanic crust is created or
destroyed/recycled.

▫ Describe how the distribution of volcanoes and earthquakes varies in relation to tectonic boundaries.

▫ Describe the relationship between age and the topography of the ocean floor relative to plate boundaries.

▫Define the Theory of Plate Tectonics, identify the different types of plate boundaries and each of their
characteristic features, and explain the tectonic cycle.

▫Calculate and explain how the rate of tectonic plate movement is determined through the interpretation of
paleomagnetic data at mid ocean ridges (sea-floor spreading rate) and through hot spot tracking.
I. Web Investigation of Earth Structure & Plate Tectonics

1. Use the information in the interactive website to answer the following questions about
Earth’s layered structure.

https://ees.as.uky.edu/sites/default/files/elearning/module06swf.swf

A. Click the “Earthquake” button. How many minutes did it take for the P-waves
to reach the opposite side of the Earth?

21 minutes

B. Why do geoscientists have to use seismic wave data to study the interior of the
Earth?
They use it to know the details of the structures inside Earth.
C. Compare and contrast oceanic and continental crust.
(Composition, age, thickness, & density)
Oceanic Crust Similarities Continental Crust
• They are both crusts
• Mostly made up of • Made up of mixture of
• They location is on the
igneous rocks igneous, metamorphic, and
litosphere, about the
• Cannot be older than 200 mantle
sedimentary rocks
ma • Older than oceanic crust
• • Thicker than oceanic crust
8 kilometers thick
70 kilometers thick in
• Denser than the
mountain belts to about 20
continental crust kilometers thick in rift zones
• Less dense

D. What is the Moho? How do we know where it is located?

It is the boundary between the mantle and the crust. The seismic waves travel
significantly faster in the upper mantle than they do in the lower crust, and this
means that there is a seismic boundary.
E. Compare and contrast the lithosphere and the asthenosphere?
Lithosphere Similarities Asthenosphere
• bending and faulting under stress
• Made of same material • a zone of the mantle that
but not flowing in a plastic
fashion behaves in a plastic fashion -
• includes the crust and the "plastic" means that it is a solid
uppermost part of the mantle and rock but that it is capable of
extends to a depth of about 100 "flowing" by means of crystal
kilometers deformation.
2. Use the information in the interactive website to answer the following questions about
the break-up of Pangaea.
https://wwnorton.com/common/mplay/6.11/?p=/college/geology/earth5/
vid/&f=geo-breakup-of-pangaea&ft=mp4&cdn=1&cc=1

A. The rocks contain evidence of several other supercontinents that pre-date Pangaea. Name
two and identify when they occurred?
Rodinia formed 750 ma while Pannotia formed 570 ma

B. What processes are responsible for splitting continents a part and then pulling them back
together?
Splitting continents happened because of rifting while pulling back together happen when
subduction consumes the ocean basin.

C. In the break-up of Pangaea animation the widths of the color bands represent ___________,
while the color represents the __________ of the oceanic crust. This information allows
geoscientists to calculate the sea-floor spreading rate. (Rate = Distance/Time)

The rate of the seafloor spreading; age

Use the information in the interactive website to answer the following questions about
3.
plate tectonic boundaries.
https://ees.as.uky.edu/sites/default/files/elearning/module04swf.swf

A. Click the “Maps” button. Then select the “Continents” base map. Now click the white box
under the “Boundaries” button. Then click the white box under the “Names” button. Take a
moment to observe the plate boundary locations. Now click the “Boundaries” button to learn
about the three main types of plate boundaries.

i. Based on your observations, write a definition for a plate boundary.

This is where plates meet and interact.

ii. Define the motions that occur at the three main types of boundaries.

Convergent:

The plates collide.

Divergent:

The plates move away from each other

Transform:
The plates are torn apart by shearing.

iii. Which boundary type is associated with deep sea trenches? Oceanic ridges?
The deep sea trenches are product of convergent plate boundaries while oceanic ridges are
found along divergent plates.
B. Now click the white box under the “Volcanoes” button.. Take a moment to observe the
distribution of volcanoes. How does this distribution compare to the location of plate
boundaries?

i. Now click the “Volcanoes” button. Which type of boundary is most often on or near a
volcano?

ii. Now click the white box under “Hotspots”. Compare their distribution to the plate
boundaries. Now click the “Hotspots” button to learn about them. What is a hotspot?
Why do most hotspots NOT occur on plate boundaries?

You can “uncheck” Hotspots now!

C. Now click the white box under the “Earthquakes” button. Take a moment to observe the
distribution of Earthquake epicenters. How does this distribution compare to the location of
plate boundaries?

D. Click the “DETAILS” button to learn about each of the following types of plate boundaries.
Then complete each block diagram by drawing arrows to show plate movement. Finally,
label the dominant features/processes that apply to each boundary. Dominate features
include: oceanic crust, continental crust, volcanic arc, volcanic island arc, earthquakes,
mountains, mid ocean ridge, trench, rift, subduction zone, accretionary wedge, and sea floor
spreading.

1. Ocean- Continent Subduction 2. Continent - Continent Collison

3. Ocean-Ocean Subduction 4. Continental Rift

5. Ocean-Ocean Divergent 6. Continental Transform

These diagrams will be

useful when you complete
the Google Earth portion of
this packet!
II. Mapping Plate Tectonic Boundaries
Earthquakes and volcanic eruptions show that the Earth is a dynamic plane with enough energy beneath
its surface to cause disasters for those who live on its surface. For thousands of years humans wondered
about the causes of these events, until the 1960s and 1970s when geologists developed the theory of
plate tectonics—a unifying theory that answered geologic questions that had puzzled us for many years.
Plate tectonics explains the outer layer of the Earth as a group of separate plate that move with respect to
each other and change the Earth’s surface as they move. At first it was difficult to accept the concept
that Earth’s oceans, continents, and mountains are only temporary features that move and change over
time, as the changes were slow they could not be detected. Yet according to the plate tectonics theory,
planet-wide processes break continents apart, open and close oceans, and build and shrink great
mountain chains. Earthquakes and volcanoes are simply results of energy released as these processes
occur, so it makes sense that plate boundaries were originally discovered by plotting the location of
earthquake epicenters and volcanoes.

FIGURE 1. Dominant tectonic plates and plate boundaries. The location of plate boundaries correspond
to belts of tectonic activity—volcanoes, earthquakes, and mountain building.

No one ridicules plate tectonics now because evidence proved these processes are happening today, and
geologists showed that these processes have been operating for billions of years. In the following
exercises, you will have the opportunity to analyze some of evidence/scientific data used to support the
theory of plate tectonics.
Part III: Investigating Plate Tectonics with Google Earth (GE)
Now you will explore the evidence that scientists used to develop the theory of plate tectonics. Google
earth is a virtual globe application that allows you to explore, create, and analyze geographic
information.
 
If you do not have Google Earth installed on your computer, follow the instructions below:
 
1. Navigate to http://earth.google.com
2. Click “Download Google Earth” (free version)
3. Read and agree to the software application terms.
4. Click the “RUN” icon. (Congratulations, GE is now installed on your computer)..
f you have never used Google Earth before, play around a little with the program. Be sure to check out
“Navigation” and “Drawing and Measuring” beginner tutorials at http://www.google.com/earth/learn/
5. Close the Google Earth application.

Download the Plate Tectonics Tour. kmz file to your computer:

1. Sign into the GEOL 101 Laboratory Sakai site.

2. Click the Lab #6: Plate Tectonic Tab and locate the Plate Tectonic Tour KMZ file and download it and
save it to your desktop. Remember where you save it!

Open GE and complete the following:

3. To get rid of clutter, we need to turn off all irrelevant layers… In the Layers Sidebar (bottom left),
deselect the “primary database” box so that there are no labels or boundaries displayed on the virtual
globe.

2. To make terrain easier to see, we are going to increase our vertical exaggerate (makes the mountains
taller and the valleys deeper). (PC: Main menu > Tools > Options or Mac: Google Earth >
Preferences), in the Terrain Quality section (half way down the window), enter a “3” in the “Elevation
Exaggeration” blank. Push OK.

3. Open the “PlateTectonicsTour.kmz” file that you downloaded from Sakai. In the “Places” sidebar (on
the left) you should see the “PlateTectonicsTour.kmz.” Expand it by clicking on the small triangle to the
left. Double click on the first item “1AB Mid Atlantic Ocean Ridge.”

Evidence for Plate Tectonics

1. Ocean floor mapping (Bathymetry)
In the 1950s, data gathered by oceanographic surveys led to the discovery that a great mountain range
on the ocean floor virtually encircled the Earth. Called the global mid-ocean ridge, this immense
submarine mountain chain -- more than 50,000 kilometers (km) long and, in places, more than 800 km
across -- zig-zags between the continents, winding its way around the globe like the seam on a
baseball. Rising an average of about 4,500 meters above the sea floor, the mid-ocean ridge
overshadows all the mountains in the United States except for Mount McKinley in Alaska (6,194 m).
Though hidden beneath the ocean surface, the global mid-ocean ridge system is the most prominent
topographic feature on the surface of our planet.
 
a. In GE, examine the bathymetry of the Atlantic Ocean. The bottom of the GE window gives the latitude,
longitude, and elevation of the location of your curser. Find the Mid Atlantic Ocean ridge and describe its
shape… Is it closer to any one continent or does it lie in the middle in the Atlantic Ocean?

b. How does the shape of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge compare to the coasts of the continents surrounding the
Atlantic Ocean?
 

 
c. In the Places sidebar, double click the next item in the PlateTectonicsTour, “1C Mid Atlantic Ocean
Ridge Fracture”. Notice the numerous fractures running perpendicular to the Mid Atlantic ridge. Follow
the fracture to the west to where it intersects the coast of South America and then follow the fracture to the
east where it intersects with the coast of Africa. How does the location of these two intersections support
the conclusion that South America and Africa once fit together (look at the shape of the coasts)?
 

 
2. Concentration of Earthquakes
During the 20th century, improvements in seismic instrumentation and greater use of earthquake-recording
instruments (seismographs) worldwide enabled scientists to learn that earthquakes tend to be concentrated
in certain areas.

a. In the PLACES sidebar, click on the little box to the left of “2 AB Earthquakes” to view all Earthquakes
recorded in 2010 by the United State Geological Survey. Note that to see all the earthquakes, you must zoom
in (ctrl + shift + up arrow). Are there many earthquakes near mid ocean ridges? Are they deep or shallow
(look at the symbol color).

b. Do more earthquakes occur on the edge or in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean? Do more
earthquakes occur on the edge or in the middle of the Pacific Ocean?
 

 
c. Click on next item in the PlateTectonicsTour, “2C Japanese Earthquakes”. What major
bathymetric feature is present near the string of earthquakes? You can view the area obliquely by
holding “Shift + down arrow” to get a better 3D perspective. What is the approximate elevation of
the ocean floor at “2C Japanese Earthquakes”? Remember, the bottom of the GE window gives
the elevation of your curser.
 3. Age of the Ocean Floor
Using a variety of geochronological methods, scientists have been able to date the ocean floor. Unlike the
continental crust which is ~3.8 billion years old in some places, the ocean crust is relatively young with rocks
no older than ~200 million years.

Questions:

a. Deselect the “2C Japanese Earthquakes” layer and the “2AB Earthquakes” layer. Then
select the “3 Ocean Crust Age.” Displayed is the color coded age of the ocean floor.
What is the relationship between ocean crust age and mid ocean ridges?

 
b. What is the relationship between the ocean crust age at ocean trenches (like the one off
the coast of Japan?) and at mid ocean ridges?
 
 
 
c. What does this imply about the movement of oceanic crust? In other words, how does this
support the theory that oceanic crust is moving away from mid ocean ridges and towards
ocean trenches?
 

d. Calculate the rate at which the Mid Atlantic ridge is spreading apart. Double click on “1C
Mid Atlantic Ocean Ridge Fracture” in the Places sidebar. Use the Ruler Tool to measure the
distance from South America to Africa along the fracture path specified by the yellow
thumbtack. *Hint: select the “Path” tab which allows you to measure curved lines. Report
your answer in cm/yr.
 

 
e. Are Australia and Antarctica moving away from each other faster or slower than South
America and Africa? What is the difference in rate between the two in cm/yr?
 
 Questions:
In the Layers Sidebar, deselect “3 Ocean Crust Age” and select “Plate Boundaries.” This
layer shows the Earth’s tectonic plate boundaries and names. Fly to each of the locations
listed below by entering the latitude and longitude coordinates listed. Determine which
type of plate boundary is located at each location. Be specific—if convergent identify the
types of crust involved. Then identify several of the characteristic features present at the
boundary (earthquakes, volcanic arc, volcanic island arc, trench, ridge, etc).

b. Did you find volcanoes present at the transform boundaries you identified?
Why or why not?
 
 
 
 
 
c. Visit the following location: 10° 44’ 51 S and 32° 22’ 49 E. Then answer the
following:

1. What are the tectonic plates involved?

2. Describe the plate movement?

3. Identify which tectonic process is involved?

4. Which type of plate boundary do you think this will develop into over time? WHY?
5. Active vs Passive Continental Margins
Earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are common on the west coast of North America, but
there are no active volcanoes on the east coast and large magnitude earthquakes are rare.
Geologists refer to the west coast as a (tectonically) active continental margin and the east
coast a passive continental margin. These differences can be found on several continents.
Most passive continental margins have broad continental shelves, whereas active continental
margins typically have narrow continental shelves. In addition, active continental margins
are near plate boundaries whereas passive continental margins are further away from an
active plate boundary.

Questions:
A. Compare the west coast of South America with the west coast of Africa.

i. Which has a broad continental shelf? A narrow continental shelf?

ii. Which is near a trench?

iii. Which coast would you expect to have the most earthquakes? WHY?

iv. Based on your answers above, is the west coast of South America an active or passive
continental margin?

b. Visit 30 43' 02''N, 77 03' 53''W Based on the features that you see, is this location
an active or passive continental margin? WHY? (Explain what you see!)

C. Based on what you now know about plate tectonics, explain why some continental
margins are active and others are passive. Do you think that continental margins change
through time? If so, how?
 IV. Evidence for Seafloor Spreading
If you drop a pen, it falls to the floor. The pen is under the influence of Earth’s gravity—an invisible force field
that pulls everything and everyone towards the center of our planet. But Earth has another force field that is not so
obvious, its magnetic field. It is as though a giant bar magnet resides inside the Earth, giving our planet both a
magnetic north pole and a magnetic south pole. Invisible lines of magnetic force field arc out through space from
the south to form a magnetic pole, travel around the outside of the Earth at its equator, then arc back into the north
magnetic pole. You can use the tiny magnetic needle of a compass to detect Earth’s magnetic field. Magnetic
compass needles are not attracted to the geographic North Pole. Instead, they are attracted to the magnetic north
pole, which is located in the Artic Islands of Northern Canada, about 700km (450 miles) from the geographic
North Pole.
In the 1950s geologists learned that tiny crystals of iron-
rich minerals, such as magnetite (Fe3O4), acquire and
retain the directional signature of Earth’s magnetic field
when they form. This happen when volcanic lava cools
and crystalizes below the Curie Point (~580°C). This
ancient magnetism is called paleomagnetism.

When geologists first started detecting paleomagnetism

in layers of cooled lava (volcanic rock) stacked one atop
the other, they discovered that Earth’s magnetic field has
Figure 2. Earth’s magnetic field is defined by magnetic not always been the same. It has undergone periodic
lines of force shown by arrows. reversals. During times of normal polarity the north-

Seeking compass needle (and tiny iron-bearing mineral crystals in volcanic rock) points in the direction of
Earth’s present magnetic north pole. But during times of reversed polarity, the north-seeking end of the
compass needle points in the opposite direction (geographic south).

Magnetic anomalies are deviations from the average strength of the magnetic field
in a given area. Areas of higher than normal strength are positive anomalies and
areas of less than average strength are negative anomalies. In the late 1950’s the
US Coast and Geodetic Survey scanned the ocean for marine magnetic anomalies
and discovered that the rocks of the sea floor contained alternating striped patterns
of high and low magnetic anomalies, called paleomagnetic stripes. They also
discovered that the pattern of paleomagnetic stripes was symmetrical on opposite
sides of mid-ocean ridges. In 1963, a group of scientists discovered that the
symmetrical pattern of the paleomagnetic stripes on the seafloor rocks was the
result of two processes: the formation of seafloor (lava cooling) and the reversals
of Earth’s magnetic field. They proposed that as volcanoes erupted along a mid-
ocean ridge, the lava cooled below the Curie Point and recorded the reversals of
Earth’s paleomagnetic field. Rocks formed during times of normal polarity now
have magnetic signatures that add to the modern field strength and create a positive
anomaly, while rocks formed during times of reversed polarity have magnetic
signatures that oppose the modern field and create a negative anomaly. The
symmetrical pattern of paleomagnetic stripes developed as new crust was formed
and magnetized and older crust moved down and spread away from both sides of
the ridge under the influence of gravity in a process called seafloor spreading.

Figure 3. Radiometric dating of lava flows shows magnetic reversals for only the past 4Ma.
Major intervals of positive or negative polarity are called chrons and are named after scientists who contributed
to the understanding of the magnetic field. Short duration reversals were called subchrons.
 Figure 4. Magnetic anomaly stripes in the Atlantic and Pacific.

(a)

(b)

Activity A. Interpreting Ocean Ridge Magnetic Stripes

In Figure 4a, compare the orientation of the magnetic anomaly stripes for the Mid-Atlantic
Ridge with the orientation of the ridge crest (dashed line). In Figure 4b, do the same for the
Juan de Fuca Ridge and its anomalies.

1. Are the individual anomalies orientated randomly? Are they parallel to the ridge
crests? Oblique to the ridge crests? (1pt)
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________

2. Explain how the process of seafloor spreading can produce these orientations and
relationships. (1pt)

__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________

3. Some magnetic stripes are wider than others. Knowing what you do about the
seafloor spreading and magnetic reversals, suggest an explanation. (1pt)

__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
Activity B. Comparing Seafloor Spreading Rates in Different Basins
Magnetic reversals are found worldwide, so magnetic stripe should be the same width in
every ocean if the rate of seafloor spreading is the same at all ridges. If a particular
anomaly is wider in one ocean than another, however, it must result from faster spreading.
The figure on the right shows simplified magnetic stripes from the South Atlantic and
Pacific oceans, the ages of the rocks and the distance from the spreading center (ridge
crest). For simplicity, only the most recent 80 million (Ma) years of data are shown for the
two ocean basins.
Figure 5. Map view of magnetic anomaly stripes in two ocean basins.
Black = normal polarity.

1. Measure the distance from the spreading center to the farthest magnetic anomaly stripe in each
ocean and determine the age of that anomaly. (4pts)
 
South Atlantic Ridge: ______________________km Age: ____________________

East Pacific Rise: ______________________km Age: ____________________

 2. Calculate the TOTAL spreading rate (in cm/yr and in km/m.y.) for each ridge.
[Remember these data are for only one side of the ocean ridge, so , to calculate TOTAL spreading
rate, you will need to double the spreading rate.] (4pts)

South Atlantic Ridge: __________km/Ma East Pacific Rise: __________km/Ma

_________cm/yr _________cm/yr

*Hint: There are 1,000,000 millimeters in a kilometer!

3. Why are the anomalies in the East Pacific wider than those in the South Atlantic? (2pts)

__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________

V. Plate Motion at a Continental Transform Fault

Continental transform faults can be found in New Zealand (Apline Fault), Turkey (Great Anatolian
Fault), Haiti (Enriquillo-Plantain Garden Fault), and the US (San Andreas Fault). The San Andreas
Fault system of California is an active transform boundary that has caused major damage and the loss of
life over the past 100 years. It is comprised of a network of several faults. It extends for more than
1000km, connecting segments of the Juan de Fuca Ridge and Cascade Trench at its northern end to an
unnamed ridge segment in the Gulf of California to the south.

Activity A. Tracking the Amount and Rate of Motion Along the San Andreas Fault
The more we know about the history of a continental transform fault close to heavily
populated regions, the better we can prepare for its next pulse of activity. Geologists try to
find out hos long a continental transform fault has been active, how much it offsets the
plates it separates, and how fast it has moved in the past.

Geologists estimate that the San Andreas Fault system has been active for about 20 million
years. This exercise shows how geologists use geologic markers cut by faults to measure
the amount and rate of motion along a transform fault.

Figure 6. (A) Simplified geologic setting of San Andreas Fault system. (B) Amount of fault movement
indicated by offset bodies of identical rock. (Color diagram is available via the PDF on Sakai.
Field geologists have mapped an active continental transform fault (labeled below) for several
hundred kilometers. A 50-million year old (50Ma) body of granite and a 30Ma vertical layer of
marble have been offset by the fault as shown.
Figure 7. Geologic markers displaced by a continental transform fault.

Transform fault

1. Draw arrows to the direction in which the pate on the northeast side of the fault has moved
relative to the plate on the southwest side. (1pt)

2. Measure the amount of offset to the 50-Ma granite body. _______________ km (1pt)

3. The geologists have proved that faulting began almost immediately after the granite formed
and continues today. If the fault blocks moved at a constant rate for the past 50 million years,
calculate the rate of the offset. (plate movement rate) (2pts)

_________________km/million years ____________________mm/year

4. Assume the fault blocks moved at a constant rate for the past 30 million years and calculate
the offset rate. (plate movement rate) (2pts)

_________________km/million years ____________________mm/year

5. Based on your calculations, has the rate of the offset (plate movement) been constant for
the past 50 million years? Why or why not? (1pt)
 VI. Analyzing Hot Spots to Track Plate Motion
Mantle plumes are areas of hot, upwelling mantle. A hot spot develops above the plume. Magma generated by the
hot spot rises through the rigid plates of the lithosphere and produces active volcanoes at the Earth's surface. As
oceanic volcanoes move away from the hot spot, they cool and subside, producing older islands, atolls, and
seamounts. As continental volcanoes move away from the hot spot, they cool, subside, and become dormant and
eventually extinct.
 
Hot spots are places within the mantle where rocks melt to generate magma. The presence of a hot spot is inferred
by anomalous volcanism (i.e. not at a plate boundary), such as the Hawaiian volcanoes within the Pacific Plate.
The Hawaiian hot spot has been active at least 70 million years, producing a volcanic chain that extends 3,750
miles (6,000 km) across the northwest Pacific Ocean. Hot spots also develop beneath continents. The Yellowstone
hot spot has been active at least 15 million years, producing a chain of calderas and volcanic features along the
Snake River Plain that extends 400 miles (650 km) westward from northwest Wyoming to the Idaho-Oregon
border.
Activity A. Tracking the Movement of the Pacific Plate via the Hawaiian Hot Spot
The Hawaiian Islands, located in the Pacific Ocean far from the nearest oceanic ridge, are an
excellent example of hot spot volcanic islands (see figure below). Volcanoes on Kauai, Oahu, and
Maui have erupted for millions of years, but the island of Hawaii hosts five huge volcanoes, one
of which (Kilauea) has been active for the past 31 years. In addition a new volcano, Loihi, is
growing on the Pacific Ocean floor just southeast of Kilauea. As the Pacific Plate moves, Kilauea
will become extinct and Loihi will be the primary active volcano.

1. Where is the Hawaiian hot-spot plume located today relative to the Hawaiian Islands?
Explain your reasoning. (1pt)

__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________

2. Use a ruler to draw a line connecting each volcano center (tip of arrow). Connect Maui to
Molokai, Molokai to Oahu, and Oahu to Kauai. (1pt)

3. Measure distance between the volcanic centers of the Hawaiian Islands using a ruler and
the map scale. Then calculate the rate of plate motion (distance between volcanoes divided by
the time interval between eruption ages. Record your answers in the table on the next page.
Express the rates in millimeters per year. (8pts)
 Figure 8. Hawaiian Hot Spot Track.

Pa
cif
ic
p la
te
m
ot
io
n

Ag
ei
nM
illi
on
s of
Ye
ars
(M
a)

Distance between Number of years of Rate of plate motion

volcanic centers (km) plate motion (mm/yr)
(Ma)
 

Hawaii to Maui      

Maui to Molokai      

Molokai to Oahu      

Oahu to Kauai      

*Hint: There are 1,000,000 millimeters in a kilometer!