Download At a destructive plate boundary

At a destructive plate boundary
There are three kinds of plate tectonic boundaries:

constructive or divergent boundaries

destructive or convergent boundaries

conservative or transform plate boundaries.
Student task 1A
Study the diagram below. Use the diagram to describe the differences between the
continental and oceanic crusts. Write your answer in the space below.
© Booyabazooka 2006, commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Active_Margin.svg
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At a destructive plate boundary
Student task 1B
Study the diagram of a destructive plate boundary below. Use the word bank and the
diagram to help you:
1. describe the process occurring at a destructive plate boundary and
2. the differences between the continental and oceanic crusts.
convection
mantle
older
younger
thicker
thinner
less dense
more dense
subduction
melting
magma
volcano
Write your answer in the space below.
1. The process occurring at a destructive plate boundary is:
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2. The differences between the continental and oceanic crusts are:
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25807
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At a destructive plate boundary
Teaching notes
Two versions of the resource are included. Student task 1A focuses on the differences
between continental and oceanic crusts, i.e. not on the processes at a destructive plate
boundary.
Student task 1B is a differentiated version to aid less able students with an
accompanying word bank. The differentiated version also requires less depth of
knowledge for the answer as the question is split into two sections.
Sample answers
Student task 1A:

Continental crust at over 1,500 million years old is much older than the oceanic
crust at less than 200 million years old.

Continental crust is less dense than oceanic crust and cannot subduct (sink)
beneath other tectonic plates.

Continental crust, which is mainly granite, cannot be renewed or destroyed unlike
oceanic crust, which is usually basalt.

Continental crust is thicker than oceanic crust and forms continents. Oceanic
crust is heavier than continental crust. It forms on the floor of the ocean.
Student task 1B.1:

Convection currents are causing the oceanic plate to crash into the continental
plate.

The oceanic plate is being subducted (sinking) under the continental plate.

This causes melting. Magma rises towards the surface.

The magma make break through the crust and form a volcano / volcanic eruption.
Student task 1B.2:

Continental crust is thicker than oceanic crust.

Continental crust is much older than the oceanic crust.

Continental crust is less dense than oceanic crust and cannot be subducted (sink).

Oceanic crust is heavier than continental crust and forms on the floor of the
ocean.

Continental crust cannot be renewed or destroyed, unlike oceanic crust.
© www.teachitgeography.co.uk 2016
25807
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