Download Plate-Tectonics-Web-Quest

Name: _____________________________________________________ Date: ____________ Hour: ________
Plate Tectonics Web Quest
Directions: Follow the directions, explore the website, and answer the questions below. All answers must be written in
complete sentences.
Part I:
Step 1: Go to http://www.learner.org/interactives/dynamicearth/index.html.
Step 2: Read the introduction, then click the red link “Start your exploration with Earth’s Structure” at the bottom of
the page.
Step 3: Read the information on the top and for each layer of the earth when you roll over it with your mouse.
Step 4: Answer the following questions in complete sentences.
1. Describe how the composition of the inner core
2. Describe the mantle.
and outer core is related.
3. Describe how the thickness of Earth’s crust changes based on location.
Part II:
Step 1: When you finish on “Earth’s Structure” click the red link “Next Chapter: Plate Tectonics” at the bottom of the
page.
Step 2: Choose the map that best represents Earth today.
Step 3: Click on the green tab that says “How do we know this?”
Step 4: Read the information on the page and answer the following questions in complete sentences.
4. What evidence did Wegener present to support
5. What do you think the word “vehemently” means
his hypothesis of continental drift?
as it is used in the second paragraph?
6. What happened at the beginning of the breakup of Pangaea? (see the “Continents on the Move” chart)
Part III:
Step 1: When you finish on “Plate Tectonics” click the red link “Continents Over Time” at the bottom of the page.
Step 2: Try to place each world map at the appropriate time period. Continue to move them around until you get them all
correctly placed. Answer the bonus question and read the explanation given.
Step 3: Click on the red link “Plate Boundaries” under the explanation of the bonus question answer.
Step 4: Read the information on the page and answer the following questions. Answers DO NOT have to be in complete
sentences for this section.
7. Using the map of the tectonic plates below, match the letter of the plate with the name of the plate on the left.
______ African Plate
______ Antarctic Plate
______ Eurasian Plate
______ Pacific Plate
______ Indo-Australian Plate
______ North American Plate
______ South American Plate
______ Arabian Plate
______ Caribbean Plate
______ Cocos Plate
______ Nazca Plate
______ Juan de Fuca Plate
______ Philippine Sea Plate
______ Scotia Plate
______ Okhotsk Plate
8. Fill out the chart below.
Boundary Type
Convergent
Divergent
Transform
What happens at this type of
boundary?
Illustration
Examples
9. Use the map in #7, the chart in #8, and the interactive key on the website to answer the following questions.
a) What type of boundary is found between the
b) What are the Pacific and North American plates
South American and African plates?
doing (moving together, apart, or horizontally)?
10. Once you have answered the questions above, click the red “Plates & Boundaries Challenge” link at the bottom of the
webpage. Use the map above to locate the tectonic plates and identify the boundary types. Record the score you get on
the challenge here:
_______________________ out of 22 points
Part IV:
Step 1: When you finish the Plates & Boundaries Challenge, your score will pop up on the screen. Click on the move to next
chapter link in red under your score.
Step 2: Read the information on the page, then click “See what happens at different plate boundaries.”
Step 3: Read the information on the page and answer the following questions. You may need to run your mouse over words
in order to see the definitions and explanations.
11. How are oceanic crust and continental crust different?
12. Which type of crust is more dense: oceanic or continental?
13. List and describe at least 2 events that occur at convergent boundaries.
14. Describe how sea-floor spreading and rifts can occur at divergent boundaries.
15. What is a fault?
16. How are earthquakes and transform boundaries related?
(You may have to click the red “back” link at the bottom of the page to answer #17-19)
17. a)At what type of plate boundary does a mountain form at?
b) What type of plate interaction is it: Continental-continental,
oceanic-continental,
or
oceanic-oceanic?
18. At what type of plate boundary does a strike-slip 19. At what type of plate boundary does a rift form?
fault occur?
20. Click on the red “Plate Interactions Challenge” link at the bottom of the page. Answer the questions and record your
score here.