Download ch 7-3 Plate Tectonics PowerPoint (plate boundaries)

7-3: Theory of Plate Tectonics
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Lithospheric tectonic plates float on
asthenosphere
3 types of plate boundaries (fill in
Tectonic Plate Boundaries sheet)
• Transform
• Divergent
• Convergent
Animation of plate boundaries (website)
Transform
• slide past each other
horizontally (opposite direction)
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ex: San Andreas fault (CA)
may produce earthquakes
San Andreas Fault
(website)
California (2 plates)
North American Plate
Pacific Plate
San Andres Fault
• Divergent—plates separate
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ocean-ocean=sea-floor spreading
(mid-ocean ridge)
continent-continent=rift valley
East African Rift (from Ethiopia to
Kenya)– divergent boundary
• Convergent—collide
oceanic-oceanic plates creates
island arch (volcanic)
……animation (website)
 ocean-continent plates (denser
ocean plate moves DOWN and
continental plate folds upward)
creates trench (at subduction zone)
and volcanoes inland
……animation (website)
 continent-continent plates creates
mountains
…..animation (website)
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Aleutian Islands (between Alaska
and Russia)
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formed as 2 oceanic plates collided
Mt. St. Helens (Washington state)
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Created by ocean-continent collision
Andes
Mountain
(oceancontinent
convergent
boundary)
Himalayas (Asia)
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formed as 2 continents collided (still growing)
Other Websites
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http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/t
ryit/tectonics/shockwave.html
(what happens at the plate
boundaries!)
Summary of Plate Tectonics
(Enchanted Learning)

plate tectonics online tutorial
Question

Sea-floor spreading occurs at which
of the following types of tectonic
plates?
• a.
• b.
• c.
• d.
transform
convergent
divergent
strike-slip
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Possible causes of tectonic motion —
convection currents (website) in
asthenosphere

tracking plate motion with GPS—
plates move only a few cm per
year
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What features of Earth are produced
by the movement of lithospheric
plates?
>>mountains,
volcanoes,
volcanic islands,
rift valleys
1. Earthquakes are MOST LIKELY to
occur at the borders of _________.
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>>>>>lithospheric plates
2. The collision of two continental
plates can produce _____________.
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>>>>>>a mountain range (not a
single mountain)
3. Plate tectonics describes
movements MAINLY in ___________.
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>>>>Earth crust
(or lithosphere)
4. Which ocean was produced by sea-floor
spreading between Africa and South
America?
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>>Atlantic
5. As distance increases from a mid-ocean
ridge, the rocks grow older or younger?
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>>>>>older
6. The “ring of fire” helps scientists
predict areas where ___________ are
likely to occur.
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>>earthquakes and volcanoes
7. Volcanoes can be produced by the
collisions of ____& _______ plates.
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>>oceanic and oceanic
continental and oceanic
OR
More questions
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A convection current of magma is
made up of
a. a rising more dense liquid and a
sinking less dense liquid.
b. a rising less dense liquid and sinking
more dense liquid.
c. liquids of the same density.
d. solids of different densities.
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How do mid-ocean ridges support
both the idea of continental drift and
the theory of plate tectonics?
• a. Oceanic lithosphere is destroyed at
mid-ocean ridges.
• b. New crust forms at mid-ocean ridges.
• c. Tectonic plates collide at mid-ocean
ridges.
• d. The crust at mid-ocean ridges is old
oceanic lithosphere.