Mountains, Volcanoes and

Earthquakes
YEAR THREE
SPRING 1
 LESSON FOUR
HOW DOES AN EARTHQUAKE OCCUR
 Mark your own
work.

How many did you

The Himalaya mountain range is in Asia. The Alps mountain
get correct?
range is in Europe. (there are other correct answers – check your
knowledge organiser) What do you need to test
yourself on more at
home?

Did you spell all of the

key words and names
correctly?
KEY VOCABULARY
What happens when the radiator is turned on?
 WHY DO TECTONIC PLATES MOVE?

• Materials inside Earth’s core is undergoing radioactive decay (giving out energy)
• The energy heats up the mantle and makes it move!
• it heats up, rises, cools, and sinks and repeats itself, called convection current
• This makes the tectonic plates move
A convection current happens when liquid or gas is heated up. The hot liquid
or gas rises and then cools when it is far away from the heater. The cool liquid
or gas sinks back down, when it reaches the heater it is heated up again.

When a convection current causes the tectonic plates to move apart a shield
volcano is formed.

When a convection current causes the tectonic plates to towards each other
fold mountains are formed.
 LET’S CHECK BY DRAWING

• How are fold mountains formed?

• How are shield volcanoes formed?

 WHAT IS AN EARTHQUAKE?

• Earthquakes happen when two tectonic plates move against each other
• it makes the ground shake and causes huge problems such as a building may fall
• We measure the size of earthquakes on a Richter scale ( > 6.0 is major damage)
WHAT SCALE DO WE USE TO MEASURE THE SIZE OF
EARTHQUAKES?

Richter scale
 WHAT CAUSES AN EARTHQUAKE?

• Earthquakes happen when two plates rub against each other

• A fault line is the place where the two plates meet and move against each other
• It creates a crack in Earth’s crust
• Sometimes the plates get stuck when rubbing against each other and continue to push until rocks
break off
• When rocks break off, it creates an earthquake ! We call where this happens the epicentre
 SAN ANDREAS FAULT, CALIFORNIA

• formed by the North American plate and Pacific plate moving

• The crack is about 1,200 km long
• Plates are moving about 30mm to 50mm each year
 EARTHQUAKES HAPPEN WHEN:

a.) two plates move towards each other

b.) two plates rub against each other

c.) two plates move away from each other

d.) one plate breaks in two

 THE EPICENTRE OF AN EARTHQUAKE IS:

a.) the centre of an earthquake

b.) the place where the rocks broke

c.) the place on the Earth’s surface above where the rock broke

d.) the crack in the Earth’s surface left behind after and earthquake
 WHY ARE EARTHQUAKES USUALLY A SURPRISE?

• Earthquakes happen often because two plates are moving past each other
• About 50,000 years ago, earthquakes happened once a year but were usually small
• Scientists have no way to accurately predict when an earthquake will happen or how big it may be
 THINK PAIR SHARE: COMPLETE THE FOLLOWING
SENTENCES

• Earthquakes happen frequently because …

• Earthquakes happen frequently but …

• Earthquakes happen frequently so …

 WHAT HAPPENS WHEN EARTHQUAKES ARE REALLY
BIG?

• When the ground shakes hard by an earthquake, a tsunami might happen

• A tsunami is a huge wave caused by an earthquake
• A Richter scale 9.0 earthquake in Tohoku, Japan in 2011 caused a 39m high tsunami to happen, it
travelled 10km onto land which flooded homes and buildings
Mountains, Volcanoes and
Earthquakes
YEAR THREE
SPRING 1
Complete your
learning review
 LEARNING REVIEW

• How do tectonic plates move?

• How are earthquakes formed?
• Why are earthquakes are usually a
surprise?