Download Making a Model Of Sea Floor Spreading

Making a Model Of Sea
Floor Spreading
You will be able to Identify and
Comprehend the features of a
moving Sea Floor
Directions Part One
• Each of you needs to get one piece of
construction paper
• Measure 10 inches from the end and cut
paper so you have a 10” piece and 8”
piece. Keep both pieces!
• From top and bottom edges measure 1”
• From left and right edges measure 1 ½ “
Making the Sea Floor
• From top and bottom edges measure 1”
• From left and right edges measure 1 ½ “
• Connect lines to form lines of about 7” in
length
• Carefully puncture paper and cut evenly
along this line. DO NOT GO TO EDGE of
PAPER
• Measure 6” from top and 1” from both
sides and repeat making an incision of 7”
Making Sea Floor
• Identify the Middle incision as a Mid
Ocean Ridge
• Identify the other incisions as Subduction
Zones.
• You are now ready to make the Magma
and Rocks
Magma and Rocks
• With 8” piece measure 4” across from top edge
and 4” from bottom edge. Connect line all the
way from top to bottom
• Rotate paper so long sides go “West to East”
• Make measurements for every inch (should
have 12 columns) and connect lines all the way
down
• Cut this piece into 2 6” strips and then align
these pieces so that “striped paper” faces each
other
Making the Sea Floor Move
• As magma breaks through Crust Iron minerals in
rock align themselves to the Earth Magnetic field
so draw arrow pointed north on both strips
• When you see a stripe appear in the magma, the
Earth’s magnetic pole switched so draw arrow
going down on each strip
• When a stripe appears again the Earth’s
magnetic poles change so flip arrow again.
Keep doing so until all the Rock has been
identified by these arrows
Finishing touches
• Label the zones of Subduction
• What features would be found on the
land? Draw those features on the LAND
sections.
• Answer the following questions on
separate sheet of Paper
Questions?
• Why are the magnetic clues important to
understanding how the Earth Plates move over
time?
• Which Ocean do you think this model best
represents and why?
• If this ocean is growing, what ocean must be
shrinking in size?
• What does that tell you about the Earthquakes
and Volcanoes found in this region?
Big Question
• It is theorized that it takes just over 200
million years for rocks to make the journey
from the Ridge to the Subduction zones.
How has that impacted our understanding
of life on our planet? (Think…. what us
tells about past life forms and where do we
think life started?)