Plate Tectonics Liz La Rosa for use with
- Slides: 23
Plate Tectonics Liz La. Rosa for use with my 5 th Grade Science Class http: //www. middleschoolscience. com 2009
Earth’s Layers The Earth's rocky outer crust solidified billions of years ago, soon after the Earth formed. This crust is not a solid shell; it is broken up into huge, thick plates that drift atop the soft, underlying mantle.
The Crust • Outermost layer • 5 – 100 km thick • Made of Oxygen, Silicon, Aluminum
The Mantle • Layer of Earth between the crust and the core • Contains most of the Earth’s mass • Has more magnesium and less aluminum and silicon than the crust • Is denser than the crust
The Core • Below the mantle and to the center of the Earth • Believed to be mostly Iron, smaller amounts of Nickel, almost no Oxygen, Silicon, Aluminum, or Magnesium
Tectonic Plates
Plate Tectonics • Greek – “tektonikos” of a builder • Pieces of the lithosphere(Earth’s crust) that move around • Each plate has a name • Fit together like jigsaw puzzles • Float on top of mantle similar to ice cubes in a bowl of water
Continental Drift Alfred Wegener 1900’s theory that Continents were once a single land mass that drifted apart. Fossils of the same plants and animals are found on different continents Called this supercontinent Pangaea, Greek for “all Earth” 245 Million years ago Split again – Laurasia & Gondwana 180 million years ago http: //members. enchantedlearning. com/subjects/astronomy/planets/earth/Continents. shtml
Evidence of Pangea
Sea Floor Spreading
Sea Floor Spreading • Mid Ocean Ridges – underwater mountain chains that run through the Earth’s Basins • Magma rises to the surface and solidifies and new crust forms • Older Crust is pushed farther away from the ridge
How Plates Move http: //pubs. usgs. gov/gip/dynamic/unanswered. html
Different Types of Boundaries http: //pubs. usgs. gov/gip/dynamic/understanding. html
Divergent Boundary – Arabian and African Plates Arabian Plate Red Sea African Plate
Divergent Boundary – Iceland http: //pubs. usgs. gov/gip/dynamic/understanding. html
Divergent Boundary - Oceanic http: //www. geology. com
Divergent Boundary - Continental http: //www. geology. com
Convergent Boundary – Indian and Eurasian Plates The red marker identifies the Himalaya Mountains Eurasian Plate Indian Plate
Convergent Boundary – Oceanic & Continental http: //pubs. usgs. gov/gip/dynamic/understanding. html & http: //www. geology. com
Convergent Boundary – Oceanic & Oceanic NOTE – PLATES ARE REVERSED http: //pubs. usgs. gov/gip/dynamic/understanding. html & http: //www. geology. com
Convergent Boundaries - Continental http: //pubs. usgs. gov/gip/dynamic/understanding. html & http: //www. geology. com
Transform Boundary – San Andreas Fault www. geology. com
Review • • • Name the 3 main layers of the Earth What is a tectonic plate? What was Pangea? What is Sea-Floor spreading? Name three different types of plate boundaries and one location on Earth for each one
- Plate tectonics vs continental drift
- Types of plate tectonics
- Evidence of the theory of plate tectonics
- Plate tectonics theory states that
- Continental drift vs plate tectonics theory
- Compare continental drift and plate tectonics
- Plate tectonics webquest answers
- Inner core vocabulary
- Continental drift vs plate tectonics theory
- Seafloor spreading material at trenches
- Plate tectonics definition
- Driving force of plate tectonics
- Plate boundaries
- Summarize the theory of plate tectonics
- Arthur holmes contribution to plate tectonics
- Plate tectonic theory vs continental drift
- Mantle magma
- Plate boundaries
- Edible plate boundaries
- Pangaea
- From now
- Fossils as evidence of continental drift
- Plate tectonics definition apes
- Francis bacon plate tectonics