Download Guided Notes – Lithospheric Plates

Name ____________________________________________________________ Date ___________________________
EQ: How do the lithospheric plates affect Earth’s surface?
Lithospheric Plates
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______________________________ is like a jigsaw puzzle in motion. The pieces in the puzzle are made of large
chunks of ____________________________________
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_____________________ is the ____________________________________ of Earth.
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It ____________________________________ and the top of the _______________. The __________________ of
the lithosphere are called _______________________________
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Continents and the _________________________ rest on these plates. Where these
__________________________ or separate, events take place that shape Earth’s surface
The Lithosphere
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Lithosphere- The solid, _________________________ of the Earth that consists of the crust and the rigid
___________________________ of the mantle. Divided into pieces called _________________________.
Continents in Motion
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German scientist, _________________________ (VAY guh nuhr ), ______________________ that
all land masses on Earth had once made up a single, __________________________.
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A ________________ is a proposed explanation for one or more _____________________.
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As ______________________________ passed, pieces of this giant continent separated and moved to
their ________________________________. This process is called __________________________.
Continents move about 2 cm a year.
Continents in Motion
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After years of observations _______________ came up with a hypothesis he called continental drift. He thought
_______________________________ were once joined in a single, huge continent.
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CONTINENTAL DRIFT- The hypothesis that states that the _______________________________ a single landmass,
broke up, and drifted to their present locations.
Fossils
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Fossils can show evidence of __________________________. For example, ________________ was a reptile that
lived more than 250 million years ago
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It lived in __________________________________________________.
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Scientists ____________________________ in both South America and Africa. These continents are now separated
by the salty _____________________________________.
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How did their ____________________ end up on both ____________________?
Events Caused by Moving Plates
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Scientists divide Earth’s lithospheric plates into two groups•
_________________________ continental plates
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_________________________ oceanic plates
The collision of these plates produce different events on Earth’s surface
Oceanic Plate vs. Continental Plate
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When an _______________ plate runs into a ____________________ plate, the more dense plate slides under the
less dense plate
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This causes ______________________________________ like Mount St. Helens in the state of Washington to form.
Oceanic Plate vs. Oceanic Plate
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When ______________________________________________________ meet, one slides under the other
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A ________________________ in the ocean floor forms and volcanic islands may pop through the ocean’s surface.
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The Aleutian islands between Alaska and Russia were formed this way
Continental Plate vs. Continental Plate
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When two _________________________________________________________, neither slides under the other
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The plates buckle upward where they meet
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This buckling produces ______________________________________________________________
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Example: _____________________________________________________
Earthquakes!
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Some plates get stuck as they __________ into each other or ____________________ each other.
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When they become __________, a sudden jolt happens.
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Energy is released and energy sends waves through the ground.
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This causes the ground to _______________…It’s an ____________________!
Earthquakes Part 2
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Earthquakes occur more frequently along _____________________________________ than anywhere else.
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This accounts for the “Ring of Fire” that curves around the Pacific Ocean.
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The “Ring of Fire” is a belt where volcanoes and earthquakes are very common.
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The belt follows the borders of plate boundaries.