Download Standards

Unit
Plate Tectonics
Title
2. Plate Patterns
Summary
Starting with an earthquake epicenter map (generated by students in The Big One activity),
students add information about where active volcanoes are located and the location of the midocean ridges. With the combined information about volcanoes, mid-ocean ridges, and
earthquake epicenters, student can trace the boundaries of the Earth’s major plates. On
individual student maps containing earthquake epicenter data, they outline the plate
boundaries, learn the names of each plate, and use colored pencils to highlight volcano zones
and mid-ocean ridges. Future activities in this box have students adding plate direction and
speed information to student maps as well as labeling 4 different types of plate boundaries:
continent-continent convergent boundaries, subducting convergent boundaries, transform
boundaries, and divergent boundaries. The direction and speed of many plates can be inferred
from the opposition of mid-ocean ridges on one side of the plate and volcano zones on the
other.
Objectives
Can recognize that the Earth’s crust is broken into large, independently moving pieces known as
tectonic plates.
Can define the boundaries of the tectonic plates using data about the location of earthquake
epicenters, active volcanoes, and mid-ocean ridges.
Can use latitude and longitude information to plot locations on a world map.
Vocabulary
Earthquake
Epicenter
Volcano
Mid-ocean ridge
Tectonic plate
Plate boundary
Time
20-30 min add volcano data to map
20-30 min learn about mid-ocean ridges and add them to the map
45-50 min trace and color code plate boundaries and label with the names of tectonic plates
Grouping
Individual
Materials
 Copies of the USGS/NPS World Earthquake Map for each student (download a copy of
the “World Earthquake Map” from the USGS/NPS website
http://www2.nature.nps.gov/Geology/usgsnps/misc/pdfdocs.html under PDF
documents)
A MyScienceBox Lesson Plan by Irene Salter (http://www.mysciencebox.org). This work is licensed under the
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License. To view a copy of this license, visit
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.5/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 559 Nathan Abbott Way,
Stanford, California 94305, USA.
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Overhead transparency version of the World Earthquake Map
1 teacher copy of the USGS/NPS World Plates Map for reference (download a copy of
the “Earth’s Tectonic Plates” from the USGS/NPS website
http://www2.nature.nps.gov/Geology/usgsnps/misc/pdfdocs.html under PDF
documents)
1 teacher copy of the Mid-Ocean Ridges Map for reference (print a copy from the USGS
website http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/dynamic/baseball.html).
Overhead projector
4 colors of overhead projector pens
1 copy of the Volcano List for the class, cut into strips with one line per strip.
Large world map used in The Big One activity (An alternative strategy is to use a copy of
the “This Dynamic Planet” poster from the USGS, $14 + $5 handling
http://www.minerals.si.edu/tdpmap/order.htm).
Colored pencils or markers
Red 1/4” to 1/2” removable color dots (available in most stationary stores and drug
stores for labeling maps and documents, each package usually contains 4 colors of dots:
red, yellow, green and blue – only red is needed for this activity)
Masking tape or the somewhat less sticky blue or green painters’ tape
Optional: photos or a brief video clip of the mid-ocean ridges (see Sources section for
good sources of images and videos)
Setting
Classroom
Teacher Background
As early as the 1920’s scientists recognized that earthquakes lined up along fault zones and
were not randomly scattered across the globe. The technology improved dramatically in the
1960’s when standardized seismic monitoring stations were established around the globe to
police the ban on above-ground nuclear testing. The location of active volcanoes also lines up
along these same zones. For example, the Pacific Ocean is surrounded by volcanoes and
earthquake zones – commonly known as the “Ring of Fire”. These zones mark the boundaries
of the Pacific Plate. Other tectonic plate boundaries may also be identified in this way.
Yet to see all the borders you also need to look under the ocean. In the late 1950’s, the
exploration of the oceans revealed enormous mid-ocean ridges that zig-zag across the ocean
floor between continents, nearly encircling the globe in places. These mid-ocean ridges rise on
average 4,500 kilometers above the ocean floor and reach peaks higher than most mountains
on land. More recent explorations have revealed that the mid-ocean ridges are characterized by
huge upwellings of magma similar to volcanoes on land. Incredibly, life, in the form of
archaebacteria and other species, exists along the mid-ocean ridges, surviving on the chemicals
and nutrients exiting from hydrothermal vents.
Combining information from all these sources (earthquakes, volcanoes and mid-ocean ridges, it
is possible to draw the boundaries of all the Earth’s major plates. The seven largest plates are
easily identified: African Plate, Antarctic Plate, Eurasian Plate, Indo-Australian Plate, North
American Plate, Pacific Plate, South American Plate. The smaller Philippine and Caribbean plates
can be outlined using the prominent volcano and earthquake data. The Cocos and Nazca plates
can be distinguished using mid-ocean ridge data.
A MyScienceBox Lesson Plan by Irene Salter (http://www.mysciencebox.org). This work is licensed under the
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License. To view a copy of this license, visit
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.5/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 559 Nathan Abbott Way,
Stanford, California 94305, USA.
Only the Juan de Fuca, Scotia, and Arabian plates are easily overlooked. In fact, I generally
don’t emphasize these 3 plates if my students don’t identify them themselves since it is not
essential to me that they memorize all the world’s tectonic plates, only that they recognize how
the crust is broken into moving plates and that they understand how the plate boundaries can
be determined with earthquake, volcano and mid-ocean ridge information.
Several critical questions remain:
 Why are there earthquakes, volcanoes and ridges at the plate boundaries?
 How come you don’t see earthquakes at the midocean ridges so much?
 Why are there earthquakes but not volcanoes in the Himalayas above India?
All these questions are related to the differences in what is happening at each of the plate
boundaries. (I choose to hold off on discussing these issues with my students until after they
learn about the interior of the Earth, convection cells, and sea floor spreading.)
Plate boundaries may be divided into 3 main categories: convergent boundaries where plates
collide, divergent boundaries where plate pull apart, and transform boundaries where plates
grind past each other. Convergent boundaries in turn have different characteristics depending
on if it is 2 pieces of continental crust colliding (continent-continent convergent boundary) or if
1 piece of oceanic crust is diving down below a piece of oceanic or continental crust (subducting
convergent boundary).
 With divergent boundaries, like the mid-ocean ridges, Iceland, and the African rift valley,
you get few earthquakes because the plates are pulling apart, not storing up energy as
they collide or rub past each other. Instead, a gap forms between the plates and
magma is pushed up from the mantle below to fill in the hole. Thus, you get lots of
volcanoes, thermal vents, and great broken rifts in the earth.
 With transform boundaries, like the San Andreas fault (most of other transform
boundaries lie on the ocean floor), you get lots of earthquakes and only occasional
volcanic activity. The plates are moving past one another and storing energy between
them until the friction holding them together gives way in the form of an earthquake.
 With subducting convergent boundaries, as in the northwestern edges of the Pacific
Plate, the west coast of South America, and the northeastern edges of the IndoAustralian Plate, you get a combination of volcanoes and earthquakes. The lighter plate
floats on top while another plate dives below the edge in a process known as
subduction. As this occurs, the submerging plate melts and bubbles up through cracks in
the overlying crust as volcanoes.
 With a continent-continent convergent boundary, like the Himalayas at the boundary
between the Indo-Australian and Eurasian plates, you get lots of earthquakes but very
little volcanic activity. That is because both continental crusts are light and resist
subduction. Instead, they buckle and crumple against one another, gradually rising
skywards inch by inch. In fact, the Himalayas continue to rise at the rate of
approximately 5 mm a year.
For ways to model these different plate boundaries with students, see the Sea Floor Spreading
activity.
Student Prerequisites
A MyScienceBox Lesson Plan by Irene Salter (http://www.mysciencebox.org). This work is licensed under the
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License. To view a copy of this license, visit
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.5/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 559 Nathan Abbott Way,
Stanford, California 94305, USA.
Students should have participated in labeling and discussing the large classroom map with
earthquake epicenter data. Students should already know that earthquakes cluster in lines
along faults and that these faults occur at the edges of pieces of land that are colliding or
grinding past one another.
Getting Ready
1. Make copies of the “World Earthquake Map” from the USGS/NPS website
http://www2.nature.nps.gov/Geology/usgsnps/misc/pdfdocs.html
2. Make one copy of the Volcano List for each class, cutting them into strips with
information about one volcano on each strip.
3. Make a transparency version of the World Earthquake Map.
4. Display the large map with earthquake data already plotted at the front of the
classroom.
5. Set out color dots and colored pencils.
6. Print out reference sheets - Earth’s Tectonic Plates
(http://www2.nature.nps.gov/Geology/usgsnps/misc/pdfdocs.html) and Mid-Ocean
Ridges Map (http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/dynamic/baseball.html).
Lesson Plan
Volcano data
1. Briefly review the patterns discovered by the students from the previous activity (The
Big One).
2. Pass out the volcano data strips and a single red color dot per student. Describe to them
that their job is to read about their volcano and use the latitude and longitude
information to plot the volcano on the map.
3. One by one, have students come up to the front of the room to read the information
about their volcano then plot their volcano on the map. While they plot their
information, another student can come up and describe their volcano. Regulate the flow
so that no more than 2-3 students are plotting their data on the map at one time.
4. When all students have gone and all the data is plotted on the map, discuss any
patterns you see on the map as a class. The goal here is have students recognize that
volcanoes and earthquakes often line up along the same zones. Point out the ring of
earthquakes and volcanoes that encircle the Pacific Ocean. This prominent zone is
known as the “Ring of Fire”.
Mid-ocean ridges
1. Describe to students that there are many volcanoes under the ocean. Briefly discuss the
discovery and characteristics of the mid-ocean ridges. If available, show the students
photos or a video clip of the bizarre life forms near the ridges and thermal vents.
2. Refer to the Mid-Ocean Ridges Map and place masking tape on the class map where the
mid-ocean ridges are located. Point out how the mid-ocean ridges nearly encircle the
globe in places (such as going almost all the way around Antarctica) and how they cross
land masses in 2 places – Iceland and East Africa.
Trace and color code plate boundaries
1. Give each student a World Earthquake Map.
2. Distribute the colored pencils so each student has at least 3 different colors available.
3. Place your overhead copy on the projector.
A MyScienceBox Lesson Plan by Irene Salter (http://www.mysciencebox.org). This work is licensed under the
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License. To view a copy of this license, visit
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.5/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 559 Nathan Abbott Way,
Stanford, California 94305, USA.
4. Select one color to represent the mid-ocean ridges. Set up a legend in one corner of the
map and create a key showing that that color represents mid-ocean ridges. Refer to the
large class map and trace the mid-ocean ridges in that color.
5. Select another color to represent volcanic zones. Add that color to your key. Refer to the
large class map and trace the volcanic zones. Some volcanoes (Kilauea in Hawaii, Mount
St Helens in Washington, Vesuvius, Etna and Stromboli in Italy, and Erta Ale in Africa)
don’t appear to have others nearby. Use a single dot of color to represent them is so
desired.
6. Select another color to outline the plate boundaries. Connect the dots and lines to trace
the boundaries of the major tectonic plates. If students overlook the Juan de Fuca,
Scotia, and Arabian plates, that’s OK. Also, the boundary between the North American
and Eurasian plates is difficult to identify. If students insist on placing it through Alaska
based on the earthquake evidence rather than through Russia as it truly lies, don’t be
surprised and use your judgment as to whether to let them proceed with that error or
not.
7. Finally, label each of the plates with the name of each plate. If you wish, label the “Ring
of Fire” as well.
8. Turn these maps in or store them in a safe place for use in future lessons (such as the
Sea Floor Spreading activity).
Assessment
1. Collect students’ color coded maps.
2. Assign a plate puzzle as homework where students cut out, assemble, and label the
Earth’s tectonic plates. My favorite tectonic plates puzzle is produced by the USGS/NPS.
(download a copy of the “Plates Puzzle 1 and 2” from the USGS/NPS website
http://www2.nature.nps.gov/Geology/usgsnps/misc/pdfdocs.html under PDF
documents).
Going Further
1. Investigate and build models of different types of plate boundaries. See the Sea Floor
Spreading activity and the Evidence for Plate Tectonics activity.
2. Read excerpts from the booklet “This Dynamic Earth” which explains the theory of plate
tectonics in greater detail. See the Sources section for how to get a copy.
3. Travel (virtually) to the plate boundaries around the world and explore the geology of
different countries that straddle 2 plates. See the Plate Boundaries Around the World
activity.
4. Research the recent discoveries of deep ocean life near the mid-ocean ridges.
5. Use Google Earth to visit volcanoes and earthquake regions around the world! Download
Google Earth (http://earth.google.com/download-earth.html) then install volcano layers
from the Smithsonian
(http://www.volcano.si.edu/world/globallists.cfm?listpage=googleearth) and visit the
1906 Earthquake in San Francisco courtesy of USGS
(http://earthquake.usgs.gov/regional/nca/virtualtour/).
Sources
Three excellent resources for more information on plate theory include:
A MyScienceBox Lesson Plan by Irene Salter (http://www.mysciencebox.org). This work is licensed under the
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License. To view a copy of this license, visit
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.5/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 559 Nathan Abbott Way,
Stanford, California 94305, USA.
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The booklet, “This Dynamic Earth”, published by the USGS, is indispensable, providing
all the background information a teacher could want and more. It can be downloaded in
its entirety from the USGS website (http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/dynamic/dynamic.html).
The poster and downloadable/printable handouts, “This Dynamic Planet”, provides maps
and figures showing plate boundaries, volcanos, earthquake data, impact craters and
more (http://www.minerals.si.edu/tdpmap/index.htm). The back of the map has
excellent information on different types of boundaries, rock ages, hot spots and more.
You can even download the data that was used to generate the map for further
analysis.
The website “What on Earth is Plate Tectonics?” by the USGS and the National Parks
Service (http://www2.nature.nps.gov/Geology/usgsnps/pltec/pltec1.html). In very easy
to understand language, the site walks the user through the composition of the Earth,
plate tectonics theory, and Earth history in view of plate tectonics.
The list of active volcanoes, their locations, and information about each was taken from several
sources. In addition to the 20 or so “most active volcanoes”, the others on the Volcano List are
either famous (such as Mount Saint Helens), deadly (such as Mount Vesuvius and Mount Pelee),
or are located among a string of other volcanoes (such as Mount Cleveland).
 Latitude and longitude information was taken from This Dynamic Planet’s website
(http://www.minerals.si.edu/tdpmap/index.htm).
 The Smithsonian’s Global Volcanism Program provided most of the detailed information
about the volcanoes with is incredible database of photos, eruption history and other
data (http://www.volcano.si.edu/world/).
 The Space Science and Engineering Center at the University of Wisconsin – Madison
provided a list of the most active volcanoes in the world and has cool satellite images of
each volcano (http://www.ssec.wisc.edu/data/volcano.html).
 John Search, a volcano photographer, documentary maker and tour guide also lists the
worlds most active volcanoes on his website with lots of excellent pictures
(http://www.volcanolive.com/active2.html).
For information on life along the mid-ocean ridges, see:
 The VENTS program sponsored by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
researches deep sea hydrothermal vents and submarine volcanoes
(http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/vents/home.html).
 The BBBC “Blue Planet” has a kids area that allows you to conduct virtual explorations of
the life in the deep ocean
(http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/blueplanet/alien/flash/main_game.shtml).
 The Smithsonian recently had an exhibition called “Ocean Planet”. It’s online resources
have great information about the life at the mid-ocean ridges
(http://seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov/OCEAN_PLANET/HTML/oceanography_recently_revealed1.
html).
 The “Blue Planet – The Deep”, episode 2 of the extraordinary BBC television series with
David Attenborough, explores the life that exists in the deepest reaches of the ocean
including the mid-ocean ridges
(http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/programmes/tv/blueplanet/programme2.shtml). It is
perhaps the most visually enthralling introduction to mid-ocean ridges that you can find.
A MyScienceBox Lesson Plan by Irene Salter (http://www.mysciencebox.org). This work is licensed under the
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License. To view a copy of this license, visit
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.5/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 559 Nathan Abbott Way,
Stanford, California 94305, USA.
Standards
Grade 6
Plate Tectonics and Earth's Structure
1. Plate tectonics accounts for important features of Earth's surface and major geologic events.
As a basis for understanding this concept:
a. Students know evidence of plate tectonics is derived from the fit of the continents; the
location of earthquakes, volcanoes, and midocean ridges; and the distribution of fossils, rock
types, and ancient climatic zones.
d. Students know that earthquakes are sudden motions along breaks in the crust called faults
and that volcanoes and fissures are locations where magma reaches the surface.
e. Students know major geologic events, such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and
mountain building, result from plate motions.
Shaping Earth's Surface
2. Topography is reshaped by the weathering of rock and soil and by the transportation and
deposition of sediment. As a basis for understanding this concept:
d. Students know earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, landslides, and floods change human and
wildlife habitats.
Investigation and Experimentation
7. Scientific progress is made by asking meaningful questions and conducting careful
investigations. As a basis for understanding this concept and addressing the content in the
other three strands, students should develop their own questions and perform investigations.
Students will:
f. Read a topographic map and a geologic map for evidence provided on the maps and
construct and interpret a simple scale map.
Grades 9-12 Earth Science
Dynamic Earth Processes
3. Plate tectonics operating over geologic time has changed the patterns of land, sea, and
mountains on Earth's surface. As the basis for understanding this concept:
d. Students know why and how earthquakes occur and the scales used to measure their
intensity and magnitude.
A MyScienceBox Lesson Plan by Irene Salter (http://www.mysciencebox.org). This work is licensed under the
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License. To view a copy of this license, visit
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.5/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 559 Nathan Abbott Way,
Stanford, California 94305, USA.