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Teaching Plate Tectonics Answers
Bellwork Bell #1: 1) Age of rocks, Magnetic fields, and Types of fossils
told me to put the DEF Continent on top and rotate 180 degrees.
(2) A close estimate of the age of the rocks in Section F might be
3.4 BY. (3) The type of fossil in Section E is most likely fish.
TRUE OR FALSE? Sections A, B, E, F were likely under water at one time.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
(1) Answer to T & F: TRUE, because fish fossils have been found on what is now land.
(2) See if you can get them to guess what the wavier line from top to bottom might be after
they’ve established the right two-thirds was under water at one time. The wavier line could be an
ancient shoreline! (3) Divergent Boundary where the arrows are moving away from each other.
Some of your students may have some Plate Tectonics background.
Bell #2: (1) Label: 1. Crust 2. Lithosphere (or upper mantle) 3. Asthenosphere (or lower mantle)
4. Outer Core 5. Inner Core
(2) The difference between the lithosphere and the
asthenosphere is that the lithosphere is rigid and the asthenosphere is not rigid, but has
plasticity. The rigid lithospheric plates are moved along the surface of Earth by convection
currents in the Asthenosphere.
Bell #3: (1) PLASTICITY is the ability of a solid to flow. Solids with plasticity are called
amorphous solids. (2) Other things in our world that have Plasticity are butter, Silly Putty,
gummy bears, modeling clay, Jello, (3) Plasticity so important to understand because it explains
why the Lithospheric Plates are able to move around the planet. It explains why most earthquakes
and volcanoes occur.
Bell #4:
Eurasian
Eurasian
No. American
Arabian
Cocos
Nazca
South
American
Indo-Australian
Pacific
Antarctican
© Copyright 2009. M. J. Krech. All rights reserved.
African
Bell #5: (1) Five evidences Wegener discovered for his continental drift theory are Mountains,
Glaciers, Rocks, Fossils, Shape of Continents, and Climate. (2) Wegener's theory wasn’t accepted
in his lifetime because he couldn’t explain how the plates move. (3) The discovery of Convection
Currents in the Asthenosphere gave credibility to Wegener's theory of Continental Drift
because it finally explained how plates drift.
Bell #6: 1. Fossils 2. Mountains 3. Glaciers Bell #7: (1) Wegener’s Theory of Continental Drift
wasn’t accepted in his lifetime because he never adequately explained how plates moved. (2)
Today’s accepted explanation for why continents move around the world is the Plasticity of the
Asthenosphere, causing Convection Currents to move Lithospheric Plates like a giant conveyor
belt. Bell #8: The direction of movement for each of the following Plate Boundaries:
(a) Divergent: moving apart (b) Convergent-Collision: moving together (c) Convergent-Subduction
: moving together (d) Transform: sliding past each other Bell #9: The features formed for each
of the following Plate Boundaries: (a) Divergent: Rift Valley, Ridge Volcanoes (b) ConvergentCollision: Folded Mountains (c) Convergent-Subduction: Trenches, Volcanoes (d) Transform:
Earthquake Zones Bell #10: (1) Convergent-Subduction (2) Divergent (3) Transform-Sliding
(4) Convergent-Collision Bell #11: 1. Label: 1. Crust 2. Upper Mantle - Lithosphere 3. Lower
Mantle - Asthenosphere 4. Outer Core 5. Inner Core 2. Look closely at this diagram. What does
it show? This map shows what will happen in the future as the Atlantic Ocean gets bigger and the
Pacific gets smaller. Eventually California will become part of Asia. How do you know? South
America and Africa are in the opposite positions from where they were in Pangaea. (3) Label the
Plate Boundaries: Key:
= Convergent-Subduction;
= Transform-Sliding;
= Convergent-
Collision;
= Divergent. Bell #12: TEST REVIEW: (1) The relationship between Plate
Tectonics and earthquakes and volcanoes is that earthquakes and volcanoes occur mostly on the
edges of the Lithospheric Plates and the move toward, away from and past each other. (2) Five
evidences that eventually supported Wegener's Theory of Continental Drift are Mountains,
Fossils, Glaciers, Rocks, Climate, and Continental Shape. (3) Convection Currents in the
Asthenosphere cause the continents (and plates) to move across the face of the Earth.
Lithospheric Plates WS: 1. North American, South American, African, Antarctican, Pacific,
Eurasian, Indo-Australian. 2. Cocos, Nazca, Scotia, Arabian, Philippine, Caroline, Fiji, Caribbean,
also Juan de Fuca (near Washington and Oregon. 3. North American 4. part of California 5. No.
American 6. Pacific 7. No. American, Eurasian, South American, African 8. North American,
African ACTUALLY ANY OF THEM! 9. on the ocean floor (NOT on plate boundaries, usually!)
10. Fiji-although this could be debated.
Plasticity of the Asthenosphere Activity: NOTE: these answers are the idea. It all
depends on how good your homemade Silly Putty is! My suggestion: Try this at home the
night before!
1. Accept any reasonable answer. 2. Hard, doesn’t move; 3. Breaks into pieces;
4. acts like a solid; 5. fills in, doesn’t divide into 2 pieces; 6. flowed into flatter shape; 7. Sits
there but sags; 8. falls apart; SQ: a. it flowed; 2. it falls apart or crumbles; 3. solid with liquid
properties. Some may know the correct term of AMORPHOUS SOLID; 4. Plasticity: solid with
properties of both a solid and a liquid. A solid that flows. 5. Has plasticity, too. Asthenosphere
© Copyright 2009. M. J. Krech. All rights reserved.
has convection currents that rise and fall with an increase or decrease in heat; 6. Not rock; 7.
moving asthenosphere causes plates to move; 8. Shows Mantle (Asthenosphere) moving; shows
Continental Plate sinking and causing the upper mantle to sag from it’s weight; 9. Top, Left to
right: Crust, Sedimentary Deposits, Oceanic Crust; Bottom: top layer on down: Lithosphere,
Asthenosphere, Lower Mantle.
Convection Currents Activity: 1. Blue ice water sank because it’s denser than the warmer water.
2. Cooler Mantle(Asthenosphere) sinks because it’s denser; hotter Mantle will rise because it’s
less dense. 3. Sinking convection currents cause plates to move toward each other; rising
convection currents cause plates to move apart; 4.a. In order to stop rising and start sinking,
the hot rock has to get cooler. This is caused by the cooler crust and air above the Mantle. b. In
order to stop sinking and rise back up, the cooler rock must get hotter, which is caused by the
hotter outer/inner core.
Rift
Folded
Convection Currents Worksheet: Ridge
Valley
Mtn.
Trench
Volcanic
Mtn.
A
CONVECTION
CURRENTS
A
B
B
SQ: 1. hot rock rises because it’s less dense; 2. cooler rock sinks because it’s dense; 3. rises,
sinks, Convection Currents; 4. Above rising column: move apart, rift valleys and ridges,
Divergent, Mid-Atlantic Ridge; 5. Above sinking column: move toward, trench, volcanic mtn.,
Convergent-Subduction, Mariana Trench; ALSO: move toward, folded mtn., Convergent-Collision,
Himalayan Mtns. 6. move apart; move toward; 7. It starts to get cooler because of the cooler
surface; 8. it starts to get hooter because of the hot core.
Wegener’s Evidence Lab. SQ: 1. a. Same age and type of rocks in both continents. The two
continents’ shapes match up. c. The glacial striations match on both continents. d. The fossil
evidence is similar on both continents. e. Both continents had similar climates at the same time.;
2. Greenland should be in-between North America and Eurasia. There is Mountain and rock age
evidence to suggest this. 3. Sauropods; 4. All continents must have been connected at one time.;
5. Antarctica must have been closer to the equator at one time.; 6. They weren’t connected to
© Copyright 2009. M. J. Krech. All rights reserved.
North America or Africa at that time. 7. It was colder. 8. NW Africa to Spain. There is some
rock evidence. 9. They probably didn’t move across land fast enough. 10. Appalachians = Older, are
Andes = younger, Himalayas = younger, Rockies = younger, Alps = older.
Plate Tectonics Lab. SQ: 1. Eurasian & Indo-Australian; 2. No. America and Eurasia or So.
America & Africa; 3. Eurasian & Pacific; 4. There are many along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge; 5.
Divergent = ridges and rift valleys; 6. Pacific and No. American = transform-sliding; 7. The
Atlantic Ocean is getting bigger and the Pacific Ocean is getting smaller. Evidence: divergent in
middle of Atlantic; Subduction zones around edge of Pacific; 8. The Red Sea is getting bigger
because it has a divergent boundary down its middle.
Plotting Earthquakes and Volcanoes. SQ. 1. b 2. along plate boundaries 3. moving plates cause
energy releases (Earthquakes) and lava leakage from the Asthenosphere (Volcanoes). (may vary
wildly from this!) 4. Earthquakes and volcanoes occur at crustal plate boundaries as plates move.
5. Plate Tectonics 6. Enormous energy is being released as the plates move against each other as
they float on the Asthenosphere. 7. Convection currents in the Asthenosphere.
Seafloor Spreading Activity. SQ. 1. The rift valley at the divergent boundary. 2. Divergent
Plate Boundary, two plates are moving away from each other. 3. Rock Ages. 4. The plates are
moving away from each. 5. youngest 6. oldest. 7. Atlantic is getting larger because of Seafloor
Spreading. 8. The Pacific must be getting smaller as the Pacific Plate is subducted under the
Eurasian Plate.
Plate Tectonics Study Guide. 1. Plate: a piece of the crust. 2. Theory of Plate Tectonics theory that explains the formation/movement of the Earth’s crust. 3. Lithosphere: outermost
solid part of the crust. solid, pieces, basalt, more dense, float 4. Asthenosphere - the partially
melted part of the mantle that contains convection currents that move the crustal plates.
5. circular arrows = convection currents, left 2 surface arrows = moving apart, right 2 surface
arrows = moving toward, circular arrows moving toward surface = expands and rises, circular
arrows moving away from surface = cools and sinks. 6. Plates move away from each other when
currents are rising. 7. and toward each other when currents are sinking. 8. Theory of Continental
Drift - Wegener’s theory that says all of today’s continents were once part on one
supercontinent which broke apart and the continents then moved into their present positions. 9.
rocks, mountains, glaciers, continental shape, fossils, climate. 10. earthquakes and volcanoes
occur on plate boundaries because that’s where massive amounts of energy are released where the
broken edges move against each other. 11. Pacific Plate edges = Ring of Fire = most active
earthquake and volcano region in the world. 12. pattern of magnetic polarity = reversals of
polarity “recorded” in the rock, and identical on each side of the rift valley. 13. Seafloor
spreading shows how the plates can push away from each other and make one ocean larger each
year, moving the continents on the plates farther away from each other. 14. diverging = moving
apart; Seafloor Spreading; rift valley, ridge volcanoes. 15. Sliding = moving past each other; San
Andreas Fault Zone. 16. converging = moving together; a. subduction = trench, volcanic mtns;
b. collision = folded mountains. 17. as the Atlantic Ocean increases in size at mid-ocean ridges,
the Pacific Ocean is getting smaller in response as plates subduct under other plates to equalize,
© Copyright 2009. M. J. Krech. All rights reserved.
Plate Tectonics Fact Sheet. NOT DONE YET.
Plate Tectonics Criss Cross. Across. 9. divergingboundaries Down. 1. seafloorspreading
2. lithosophericplates 3. continentaldrift 4. asthenosphere 5. platetectonics 6. slidingboundaries
7. lithosphere 8. convergingboundaries
Earth’s Layers FOLDABLE Question Sheet 1. four (from the center out) inner core, outer
core, mantle, crust 2. thickest: mantle, thinnest: crust 32/2900 = about 1/90th 3. Crust = we
live on it, it’s the thinnest, it’s mostly granite and basalt, it’s solid rock 4. lithosphere
5. Mantle: it’s mostly silicon, oxygen, and magnesium, it’s the thickest, it’s mostly molten rock 6.
moving rock, molten rock, solid rock with plasticity, etc. 7. nickel and iron; about 5,100 km deep
8. acts like a solid even though it’s hot enough to be a liquid 9. 5,000 oC
10.
continental crust oceanic crust
mostly granite
mostly basalt
less dense
more dense
Wegener’s Evidence Foldable Summary Questions: 1. the blacker areas represent the
continental shelf which may have been above water at this point in time 2. the layers are
identical on both continents 3. the arrows show that the glaciers all moved away from the center
toward the outside edge, which is how glaciers move 4. stop right at the edges of the continents
5. the Lystrosaurus couldn’t swim across the ocean 6. the continent must have once been closer
to the South Pole and then moved closer to the equator 7. answers vary by students, but be sure
they give a reason for their choice!
Plate Boundaries Foldable Questions NOTE: Project the Lithospheric Plates Map a. Nazca
Plate and South American Plate b. rift valley and ridge volcanoes c. Pacific Plate and Eurasian
Plate d. Mariana Trench volcanic mountains of Japan e. Indo-Australian Plate and Eurasian Plate
f. Folded Mountains - Himalayan Mtns. g. North American Plate and Pacific Plate h. San Andreas
Fault Zone
Pop Quiz #1 1. Glacial evidence shows that certain southern hemisphere plates were once joined
into one supercontinent 2. the continents were once joined together 3. mountains 4. a 5.
Antarctica was once closer to the equator 6. b 7. a
Pop Quiz #2. 1. b 2. a 3. 4. b 5. 6. b 7.
Introduction to Plate Tectonics PowerPoint 1. The Earth has three main layers. List three:
crust, mantle, core 2. Shell = crust, white = mantle, yolk = core 3. Tectonic plates are also
called crustal or lithospheric 4. Pangaea (“all land”) slowly began drifting apart after millions of
years 5. The earth split into major plates 6. Pacific Plate is also known as the Ring of Fire for
all the volcanoes around its edges 7. Plate tectonics move about a half inch to 4 inches a year 8.
Earthquakes and volcanoes occur along the edges of these plates
© Copyright 2009. M. J. Krech. All rights reserved.
Wegener’s Drifting Plates Theory 1. fossil 2. climate 3. mountains 4. grooves 5. shape, Pangaea
6. rocks 7. Wegener couldn’t explain HOW the continents moved
© Copyright 2009. M. J. Krech. All rights reserved.