Download Plate Tectonics and Building a Volcano

ScienceQuest at St. Lawrence Place for 10/3/2007
Each group should have:
*liquid glue
*tupperware
*newspaper
*newspaper strips
*cardboard base
*table cloth
*map sheet
VOLCANOES
A. Observe plants
a. Update observation sheets
b. Were hypotheses correct? Why or why not?
c. Make predictions for next week
B. Understanding Volcanoes
a. Begin by asking students what they know about volcanoes
i. Some neat facts you can share:
1. over 550 active volcanoes on earth
2. can be underwater
3. on Moon, Mars, Venus
4. front of lava flows at 6 mph but when channels are developed
can flow at almost 40mph
5. lava is over 2100 deg. Fahrenheit
b. Look at map “a”
i. What is the map showing? (Tectonic Plates)
ii. Which plate do we live on? (North American Plate)
iii. Are the plates moving or always the same (always moving)?
1. Explain subduction (when one plate goes under another) and
spreading center (when plates move away from each other)
c. Now look at map “b”
i. What is this map showing? (Tectonic plates and active volcanoes)
ii. Is there a connection between plate boundaries and active volcanoes?
(Volcanoes tend to occur at plate boundaries where subduction and
spreading occurs.)
iii. Not all of the volcanoes are around plate boundaries though. How do
you explain those? (Hot spot volcanoes –like Hawaii- are a fixed
location in the mantle where it is abnormally hot. As the plate
tectonics move over this hot spot, island chains can be formed)
C. Build Your Own Volcano
a. What type of volcano will ours be? Caused by subduction of plates? (Yes—
OR HOTSPOTS) Caused by spreading of plates? (No).
b. Bundle whole newspaper sheets around wide mouth bottles to begin shaping
volcano on cardboard base
c. Dip strips of newspaper in liquid glue and run vertically along volcano from
top of bottle to bottom of newspapers
d. Work way around volcano to make sure it is completely well covered