Download Push Those Plates Activity

Push Those Plates Activity
A crack in the earth's crust is called a fault. The large crack where two huge earth plates move
against each other is a fault line. Fault lines are where the action happens.
What you'll need:
 Graham crackers
 Waxed paper spread with a thick layer of frosting, peanut butter or pudding.
 Water
Put two graham crackers side by side, and slide one up away from
you and the other one down toward you.
When plates move past each other like this, things don't exactly go
smoothly. In fact, the plates usually get stuck on each other and then
give a lurch and move on, sending waves of vibrations through the
earth's interior (much like the circular waves that ripple out when you
drop a pebble in the water). These vibrations are so powerful that we
have a special name for them— earthquake!
Put two graham crackers very close to each other on the wax paper
and slowly push them together.
You've made a rift, or big crack in the ocean floor. As the plates
separate, magma oozes up from below and makes new ocean floor or
creates underwater mountain ranges.
Push two crackers toward each other and make one slide underneath
the other.
When this happens on earth, watch out! The bottom plate starts to
melt from the intense heat and pressure. It becomes new magma that
floats up between two plates, building up and up over many years until
it finally causes a volcano blast! That plate action caused Mt. St.
Helens in Washington State to blow its top!
Put two graham crackers side by side on the wax paper (wet the edge
of one graham cracker in water first), and slowly push them together.
The ridge of pushed-up cracker is just like many mountain ranges
around the earth that were formed as two plates slowly crumbled
together over millions of years. The Himalayas (the mountain range
that includes Mount Everest) were formed when India crashed into
Asia.
http://www.mbmg.mtech.edu/kids/shakin.htm