Download Plate Boundaries Lab

Plate Boundaries Lab
Warm up Dec. 10th

I will learn the type
of plate boundaries
Homework: 6
weeks test
Thursday…
Semester exams
next week
schedule on board


What are the types
of plate
boundaries?
What happens at
the plate
boundaries
Background
Information
The Mystery of Plate
Tectonics
Layers of the Earth

If you imagine the
earth like an apple,
there are three
main parts. There
is the core, the
mantle (the
“white” part of the
apple), and the
crust (the skin of
the apple).
Earth Layers

Earth’s rigid outer
shell, the
lithosphere, is
made up of the
crust and the top
part of the mantle.
The asthenosphere
is the plastic-like
layer below the
lithosphere.
Plate Tectonics

According to the
plate tectonic
model, the
lithosphere is
broken into vast
slabs called plates.
Plate tectonics

Plate tectonics is
the idea that the
Earth’s outer shell
consists of
individual plates,
which interact in
various ways and
thereby produce
earthquakes,
volcanoes,
mountains, and the
crust itself.
Convection Current.

These plates are
slowly and continually
moving. This
movement is caused
by hot material
moving up from deep
within the Earth
unevenly and
spreading over the
asthenosphere,
setting the plates in
motion. This is called
a convection current.
Plates moving

When plates move,
they can interact in
several ways.
Because each plate
moves as a distinct
unit, all interaction
among individual
plates occurs along
their boundaries.
Complete Part One
Divergent Plate
Boundaries
Divergent boundaries

Divergent
boundaries are
where plates move
apart, leaving a
gap between them.
The gap then fills
with the
asthenosphere
from below, and
cools, forming new
crust.
Seafloor Spreading

Seafloor spreading is the
movement of two oceanic
plates away from each
other (at a divergent plate
boundary), which results in
the formation of new
oceanic crust (from
magma that comes from
within the Earth's mantle)
along a a mid-ocean ridge.
Where the oceanic plates
are moving away from
each other is called a zone
of divergence. Ocean floor
spreading was first
suggested by Harry Hess
and Robert Dietz in the
1960's.
Part 1 Divergent Plate
Boundaries
1. What happens to the frosting
between the graham crackers, how
does it look?
2. What do each of the graham
crackers represent?
3. What does the frosting represent?
4. Draw and label a divergent plate.
Predict what would be happening at
a divergent boundary.
Complete Part Two
Convergent plate
boundaries
Continental and Oceanic
Convergent boundaries

Convergent
boundaries are
where plates move
together, forcing
one of the slabs of
lithosphere to
descend beneath
the other or both
get pushed up.
Oceanic Plate and Continental
Plate

Oceanic Plate
and Continental
Plate - When a
thin, dense oceanic
plate collides with
a relatively light,
thick continental
plate, the oceanic
plate is forced
under the
continental plate;
this phenomenon is
called subduction
Oceanic Plate and Continental
Plate
Part 2 Convergent Plate
Boundaries (continental and
ocean)
1. What type of plate does the
Styrofoam represent?
2. What type of plate does the
graham cracker represent?
3. What happens when a piece of
crust goes under another piece of
crust (called subduction)?
4. Draw and label a convergent plate
(continental and ocean)
Complete Part Three
Convergent plate
boundaries
Continental and
Continental
Convergent plate boundaries
Continental and Continental

Two Continental
Plates - When two
continental plates
collide, mountain
ranges are created
as the colliding
crust is
compressed and
pushed upwards.
Convergent plate boundaries
Continental and Continental
Part 3 Convergent Plate
Boundaries
1. What does the graham cracker
represent?
2. In what way are the wet graham
crackers more like the real crustal plates
than are the dry graham crackers?
3. What feature is represented where
curling and folding occurred at the ends of
the wet graham cracker?
4. Draw and label a convergent plate
boundary ( two continental plates). What
type of land feature would you predict to
be in this area?
Complete Part Four
Transform Plate
Boundaries
Transform boundaries

Transform
boundaries are
where plates grind
past each other,
scraping and
deforming as they
pass.
Transform Plate Boundary

When two plates move
sideways against each
other there is a
tremendous amount
of friction which
makes the movement
jerky. The plates slip,
then stick as the
friction and pressure
build up to incredible
levels. When the
pressure is released
suddenly, and the
plates suddenly jerk
apart, this is an
earthquake.
Transform Plate Boundary
Earthquake

An earthquake is
the vibrations
produced by the
breaking of rock.
Most Recent Earthquakes
 http://neic.usgs.gov/neis/qed/
Cleburne Earthquakes????
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/scienc
e/2009-06-15-drillingearthquake_N.htm
 http://cbs11tv.com/local/Cleburne.to
.get.2.1039543.html
Faults

The location where
the plates break or
move is called a
fault. Faults
interrupt rock
layers by moving
them out of place.
Faults

There are three
kinds of faults.
One kind pushes
the rocks together,
one pushes them
apart, and in one,
the rocks slide past
each other.
Normal fault

In a normal fault,
there is a pullapart force. In a
normal fault, rock
above the fault
surface moves
downward in
relation to rock
below the fault
surface.
Reverse fault
In a, the rock gets
squeezed and the
rock is forced over
and up.
Slip-strike fault,

In a slip-strike
fault, rocks on
either side of the
fault are moving
past each other
without much
upward or
downward
movement. The
San Andreas fault
in California is a
slip-strike fault.
Part 4 Transform Plate
Boundaries
1. Why is this movement often described
as “horizontal sliding?”
2. What famous fault is associated with
this type of movement?
3. As you modeled this type of fault,
nothing happened at the beginning, but as
the pressure increased, the graham
crackers finally broke. How is this similar
to the situation in California?
4. Draw and label a transform plate
boundary. What type of catastrophic
event might you predict to occur in this
area?
Conclusion
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/tryit/tectonics/#
http://geology.com/plate-tectonics.shtml
http://www.learner.org/interactives/dynamicearth/slip4.html
Conclusion
 What
 Why
is an Earthquake?
do you think it is easier to
predict where an earthquake will
occur than it is to predict when it will
occur?