Continental Drift through Plate Tectonics Warm Up Carefully

Continental Drift through Plate Tectonics

Warm Up • Carefully tear one page out of your magazine to use. • Rip up your page into exactly 7 pieces. • Pile your 7 pieces into one pile. • Rotate one table clockwise and choose a new seat. Do not touch the piles. • Piece together the magazine into a full page on the desk. • What evidence did you use to piece together the magazine?

Kontinentalverschiebung

Drifting Continents? 500 Years Ago -World thought to be flat Who is the most famous person that challenged this?

Drifting Continents Notes 500 Years Ago -World thought to be flat Alfred Wegener: 1910 -Made a hypothesis that all the continents had once been joined together in a single landmass, and have since drifted apart. -Named this supercontinent “Pangaea” (meaning “all lands”)

Theory of Continental Drift -10 million years ago, the continents began to slowly move apart from Pangaea and into their present locations. Wegener’s Evidence -Landforms- mountains matched across continents -Fossils- fossils matched across oceans -Climate- fossils and landforms created in climates that do not match today’s climate

Missing Evidence -Wegener could not come up with an explanation for what caused continents to move -Theory was rejected by geologists and other scientists because no force could be found.

Continental Drift Notes: Page 28 -32 Read the section in the book, and then answer the following questions in your notebook: 1. What was Alfred Wegener’s theory of Continental Drift? 2. Explain the three types of evidence Wegener used to support his theory that continents move. 3. What is the main reason scientists rejected Wegener’s theory of continental drift? 4. Use Wegener’s theory of continental drift to explain why we find coal deposits in Antarctica? (Coal deposits can only form in warm swampy climates).

Warm-Up 1/20/14: What was the main reason scientists rejected Alfred Wegener’s theory of Continental Drift? The main reason that scientists rejected Wegener’s theory of Continental Drift is because…

New Evidence! Seafloor Spreading Notes • Chain of mountains discovered at the bottom of the sea after WWII. • Longest (continuous) chain of mountains in the world!

• The idea was proposed that material from the mantle rises up and erupts in underwater volcanoes. • Molten material spreads out, pushes older rocks to both sides

To understand “seafloor spreading, ” we first have to know mantle convection. http: //classzone. com/books/earth_science/te rc/content/visualizations/es 0903 pa ge 01. cfm? chapter_no=visualization

Why don’t oceans keep getting wider and wider? • As older rocks cool, they become more dense. • Dense basalt oceanic crust “sink” under less dense continental crust made of granite • (figure 23, page 38)

Event 1. Use of Sonar in WWII 2. Harry Hess’s theory 3. Alvin deep sea dive 4. Magnetic stripes 5. Glomar Challenger Describe the event Contribution to Seafloor Spreading Sonar used to find Mountains in middle submarines, of Atlantic ocean mapped ocean floor discovered

Seafloor Spreading Questions 1. Fill out the table of evidence for seafloor spreading using the book (page 33 -39) 2. Define Subduction. (Page 38) 3. Explain why this information provides strong evidence for Alfred Wegener’s continental drift. 4. Draw figure 23 from page 38 into your notes.

Plate Tectonics Notes • The geological theory that states that pieces of Earth’s lithosphere are in constant, slow motion is theory of Plate Tectonics.

• Pieces of Earth’s lithosphere called “plates” are in constant motion. • Plates can’t move without interacting with one another. • Plate motion is powered by Mantle Convection

Convergent, Divergent, Transform Convergent Divergent Transform

Convergent, Divergent, Transform Convergent: Island arc or folded mountain range Divergent: Mid-ocean ridge or rift valley Transform: Transform boundary

Use given sheet of paper to draw diagram of plate tectonics on bottom of page 44 -45. Color, fold, then glue into science notebook.

Warm-Up 1/22/14: With a partner at your table, practice the science handshake for Plate Boundary Types (Converging, Diverging, Transform).

Plate Tectonics Rock Paper Scissors Two types of crust: Oceanic and Continental • C+C= folded mountain range / rift valley • O+C= subduction zone / volcanic mountain range • O+O= island arc / midocean ridge

Option 1: Plate Boundary Rock Paper Scissors Rulebook Create a rulebook for the game. You must include: • Describe how to play the game • List all the different combinations you and the other player can make • Describe why each landform is created. (Example: A Subduction zone is created by a continental crust and ocean crust converging because the denser ocean crust will be pushed under the less dense continental crust. )

Option 2: Letter to Alfred Wegener never discovered the force that was able to move the continents. Later, that force was discovered at the bottom of the oceans. Write a letter to Alfred Wegener telling him that he was right about the moving continents, and that his missing evidence was found! Include: • A description of the missing force (Sea Floor Spreading) • A description of the new theory, Plate Tectonics, which includes his theory of Continental Drift and theory of Seafloor Spreading. Include the different plate boundaries that can be formed. • An excited voice (Alfred Wegener would be VERY happy to learn this news!)