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Astronomy
Planet Earth: Plate Tectonics
Name_______________________
Standards
 Describe convection as the mechanism for moving heat energy from deep within Earth to the
surface and discuss how this process results in plate tectonics, including:
 Geological manifestations (e.g., earthquakes, volcanoes, mountain building) that occur at plate
boundaries
Part 1: Types of Plate Boundaries
There are 3 types of plate boundaries and a fourth called a “plate boundary zone” in which the type of
plate boundary is not clearly defined. To learn about these, go to the following website and answer the
questions below: http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/dynamic/understanding.html
1. What are the four types of plate boundaries?
2. What directions do the plates move relative to one another in a divergent plate boundary?
3. What is a spreading center and what is made at one?
4. What country is being torn apart by divergent activity on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge?
What type of feature has formed on the above country because of the divergent activity?
5. Name one spreading center (or divergent plate boundary).
6. Because the size of the Earth has not changed significantly over the past 600 million years, what does
this indicate about the crust?
7. Where does recycling of crust occur?
8. What are the three types of convergent plate boundaries?
9. What type of convergent boundary are the Himalaya Mountains formed by?
10. How do the plates move relative to each other along a transform boundary?
11. Name a famous transform fault in western North America.
12. Which plates are sliding past each other along the San Andreas Fault?
What is their average rate of movement?
Part 2: Plate Boundary Interactions
Go to http://www.iris.edu/hq/programs/education_and_outreach/animations/11
Click on and watch the movie for divergent boundaries
13. What happens to the plates at the divergent boundary?
14. How fast does newly formed oceanic crust move away from the ridge crest?
Now click on and watch the movie for convergent boundaries
15. What happens in a subduction zone?
16. What magnitude earthquakes can be produced by the processes at subduction zones?
17. What can be caused by these earthquakes?
18. What other geologic feature, that is NOT addressed in the animation, is produced at subduction zones
(hint: read the information)?
Part 3: Plate Tectonic Maps
Go to http://denali.gsfc.nasa.gov/research/lowman/Lowman_map1_lg.jpg
You will see a plate tectonic map of the world. Rest the mouse on the bottom right corner of the map and
an enlargement icon should appear. Click on this icon to see the map in full size. Now you can use the
scroll bars on the side and bottom to maneuver around the map.
19. Using the key at the bottom of the map, name two tectonic features that can be found along the west
coast of the United States.
20. Scroll over to Asia and locate the Java Trench. This is where the Indian Plate and Eurasian Plate
interact. What kind of plate interaction occurs here (this was responsible for the December 26,
2004 tsunami)?
21. What geological features, formed as a result of subduction at a convergent boundary, can be seen
running in a line down the west coasts of Central America and South America?
Go to http://emvc.geol.ucsb.edu/forteachers/flashmovies/Pangea.swf
This animation shows how the plates looked around 150 million years ago, when all the continents were
together, forming the supercontinent Pangaea, and how the plates moved through time to their present
configuration.
22. What continents did North America used to be attached to during the time of Pangaea?
Part 4: The Driving Force that Causes Plate Tectonics
Go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryrXAGY1dmE
Watch the video that shows how convection currents in the Earth move the plates. Answer the following
questions.
23. What is heated by the Earth’s core and rises?
24. What happens near the surface?
25. What happens to the cooler rock?
Part 5:Pulling it All Together
Go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtqumXEHKUs and watch the video.
26. List at least one thing that stood out to you in the video

L. Brown, modified from S. Wilson, Updated January 2014