Download Lab: Geology and Plate Tectonics

Name _____________________________________________________ Class____________ Date ________________
Lab: Geology and Plate Tectonics
Please follow this page carefully. Most of the links are on this page. Sometimes you will use those on the web site. The
links are in blue and underlined. Many answers are in the captions next to the diagrams or activity. You will be graded
on complete answers and effort. You do not have permission to visit other web sites during this lab. No music. No
headphones.
1.
Click: http://www.classzone.com/books/earth_science/terc/content/visualizations/es3005/es3005page01.cfm
Play this graphic. Use the next button to figure out when India makes contact with The Eurasian
continent._________________. Is it likely that we (in Connecticut) would find fossils of animal, plants that also lived in
Africa? _______________ Explain your answer.________________________________________________
2.
http://www.platetectonics.com/book/page_2.asp
Earth's outer ____________________________________, long thought to be a continuous, unbroken, crust is
actually a fluid mosaic of ___________________________________________, or plates. Comprised primarily of
cool, solid rock 4 to 40 miles thick,* ___________________________________________ vary in size and shape,
and have definite borders that cut through continents and oceans alike. *[Oceanic crust is
___________________________________________________________________________ or terrestrial crust].
3.
Click: http://www.platetectonics.com/book/page_4.asp
Look in the second paragraph and briefly explain how the plates move. ___________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
What have you done this year that was similar to a convection current? Hint: Something is less dense and is pushed
up, then cools and drops. ________________________________________________
4.
http://education.sdsc.edu/optiputer/flash/convection.htm
Watch this animation and describe how convection currents push plates apart and pull plates together.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
In the diagram below, identify the plates, mantle, core, the convection currents, where the plates are coming together,
where the plates are moving apart.
5.
http://ology.amnh.org/earth/plates/tour.html
Mountains form, earthquakes and volcanoes occur along ___________________________________________.
Click EXPLORE. Now click on San Francisco located in California. What two plates meet at San Francisco?
_____________________________________________________. Draw below the two plates and show how they
move with arrows.
Click on STATS. When was the earthquake in San Francisco? __________________ How big was the earthquake?
_________________________
Now click BACK TO MAP. Now place the mouse on Chile, Peru. Describe what happened here before you click.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
What three plates were involved with this event? __________________________________________________
Describe how an earthquake and a volcanic eruption occurred? _________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Now click BACK TO MAP. Now find the spot to the north of India. Before you click, what is happening here?
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Click and explain how the mountain is growing. _______________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Click on STORY and find out how much it is growing each year? ________________ Draw the two plates
involved below and show the direction they are moving:
6.
Click:http://www.platetectonics.com/book/page_6.asp
Scientists hypothesize that 450 million years ago North and South America were _____________ miles apart. 250
million years later the continents were ________________________________________________________________
7.
Click NEXT (on screen)
What will happen 200 million years from now? _________________________________________________________
8.
Click: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/tryit/tectonics/shockwave.html
Move your mouse to create a “divergent boundary”. Drag your mouse to create the boundary. Explain the divergent
boundary briefly. _________________________________________________________________________
Move your mouse to create a Convergent boundary. Briefly explain what is occurring _______________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Now move your mouse to create a “collisional boundary” which is a type of convergent boundary. In this collisional
boundary, two plates __________________. (when two things smash into each other).
9.
Click: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/tryit/tectonics/crush.html
When two land masses meet neither _________________________________________________ instead _______
______________________________________________________________________________________________
10. Click :
http://www.classzone.com/books/earth_science/terc/content/visualizations/es1105/es1105page01.cfm?chapt
er_no=11
Hit F 11 for a Full View. Play it through then use the NEXT button to go slowly through the sequence.
The Himalayas formed when the tectonic plate carrying India slammed into the tectonic plate carrying Europe and Asia.
The two plates are the __________________ plate and the ____________________ plate.
Describe what is happening in this sequence___________________________________________________
The reason the plates collided (and not subducted) and built mountains, is because the two plates are continental plates
and have the same ________________________ (rhymes with propensity). Early in this sequence however, there is
some magma production at a subduction boundary! Why was this occurring?__________________
11. http://vathena.arc.nasa.gov/curric/land/tectplts.html
Look at this map and explain why the Himalayas are still growing about 1 inch each year. ____________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
12. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/everest/earth/shock.html
This is another view of the birth of the Himalayas. At 60 million years what happens to the earth’s crust?
______________________________________________
13. Click on “20 million years”. Would you expect to find fossils of sea life in the Himalaya Mountains?
___________Explain why or why not
______________________________________________________________
14. Click “Today”. What is the speed of the India Plate? ____________________________________________
15. http://discoverourearth.org/tools/tectonics/tectonics.swf
Directions: Turn “Pangea ON” and then try to get the continents into their position. Explain how you did it
_________________________________________________________________________________________
16. click: http://www.classzone.com/books/earth_science/terc/content/investigations/es0602/es0602page02.cfm
This animation shows a cycle called the _______________________________________________. Go through
each step of the animation and list each of the 7 steps of this cycle.
1____________________________________
2____________________________________
3____________________________________
4_____________________________________
5____________________________________
6____________________________________
7_____________________________________
Describe in your own words what takes place in the “Rock Cycle” _____________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
17. Click: http://sio.ucsd.edu/marianas/science/index.cfm
The western edge of the Pacific tectonic plate is one of the world's oldest sections of oceanic crust. It disappears
underneath the Philippine plate sometimes at such sharp angles that it is almost going straight down. The subduction zone
there, creates the deepest point on Earth's surface, the 7-mile-deep_________________________.
18. http://www.extremescience.com/PlateTectonicsmap.htm
Find the Marianas Trench on this map. (Western boundary of Pacific Plate where meets the Phillipine Plate)
What continents is the Marianas Trench closest to? ____________________________________________________
19. Click: http://sio.ucsd.edu/marianas/science/index.cfm
What is the name of the volcanic islands associated with this subduction zone________________________________
20. Click: http://sio.ucsd.edu/marianas/science/tectonics.cfm
The seafloor mountains that circle Earth are called the ______________________________ Magma is pushing up from
Earth's interior all along this ridge and creating new _____________. The same forces that pull the plates apart also
allow magma from Earth's interior to come up along the ridges and create new crust. Areas where new crust is created and
plates are forced apart are called ____________________________
When scientists first discovered that new crust was being created continuously, they wondered if Earth were
__________________________. Using mathematical models of Earth and sophisticated measuring tools scientists
confirmed that it was ____________
If this much new land has been created and Earth is no larger now than it was 200 million years ago, where is all the extra
going? The answer is __________________________________________________.
Do your best to explain how it is recycled ______________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
21. Click: http://discoverourearth.org/tools/earthquakes/main_content.html
Click on Connecticut and list earthquakes that have occurred here.
Draw a map of Connecticut below and indicate the fault lines that occur through the state.
22. http://www.classzone.com/books/earth_science/terc/content/investigations/es1101/es1101page03.cfm
Use the tools on the left of the screen. Follow the instructions. What is the length and width of the Appalachian
Mountain Belt. Length____________________ Width ________________________
23. Click : http://www.classzone.com/books/earth_science/terc/content/investigations/es1101/es1101page04.cfm
What are some things associated with Ancient Mountain Belts?___________________________________________
What are some things associated with Active Mountain Belts?______________________________________________
http://discoverourearth.org/tools/tectonics/continental_puzzle.html
http://education.sdsc.edu/optiputer/flash/seafloorspread.htm
sea spread
http://education.sdsc.edu/optiputer/flash/convection.htm
convection
http://education.sdsc.edu/optiputer/flash/plates1.htm
good plates
http://ology.amnh.org/earth/plates/tour.html
++
http://www.classzone.com/books/earth_science/terc/content/investigations/es0602/es0602page02.cfm
++
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/tryit/tectonics/shockwave.html
mountain shaker
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/tryit/tectonics/shockwave.html
http://www2.wwnorton.com/college/geo/egeo/flash/2_1.swf
good map w movable continents fit later will play with
http://www2.wwnorton.com/college/geo/egeo/flash/2_5.swf