1 / 27

Plate Tectonics

A comprehensive presentation on plate tectonics, including teacher's notes and embedded Flash files. Covers topics such as Earth's age, evidence for plate tectonics, plate boundaries, and more. Suitable for middle and high school students.

lowrey
Download Presentation

Plate Tectonics

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Plate Tectonics

  2. Teacher’s notes and Flash files Most slides contain notes to accompany the presentation. This icon indicates that the notes contain particularly detailed instructions or extension activities. To access these notes go to ‘Notes Page View’ (PowerPoint 97) or ‘Normal View’ (PowerPoint 2000/2002). Notes Page View Normal View This icon indicates that a Flash file has been embedded into the PowerPoint slide. These files are not editable.

  3. How old is the Earth? The Earth is… 2 million years old • 100 million years old 4600 million years old 30 million years old

  4. Mark the following events on your time line. What do you notice? First flowers appear – 100 m India collides with Asia – 50 m Man (homo sapiens) inhabits the Earth – 0.1 m Formation of the Alps – 30 m You were born! – 0.00013 m Dinosaur extinction – 65 m Industrial Revolution (UK) - 0.0001 m (figures are in ‘millions of years ago’)

  5. Cross section of the Earth

  6. Continental drift

  7. Evidence for plate tectonics 1. Study of fossils – similar fossils are found on different continents. This is evidence that these regions were once very close or joined together. 2. Pattern of rocks – similar pattern of rock layers on different continents is evidence that the rocks were once close together or joined. 3. Shape of continents fit together like a jigsaw. Africa South America

  8. Evidence for plate tectonics 4. Magnetic field pattern in iron containing rocks The reversal of the Earth’s magnetic field is recorded in the rocks that solidify at constructive margins. The symmetry around the margin is evidence that the rocks are moving apart. constructive margin N S N S N N S S N N S pattern same both sides

  9. Why do the plates move? Crust Convention Currents Mantle

  10. Eurasian North American Pacific African Plate South American Indo Australian Plate Nazca Antarctic Plate Names

  11. African Plate A Indo Australian Plate B Can you name plates A and B? Plate Boundaries

  12. Plate boundaries link 1 link 2

  13. At a constructive plate boundary, two plates move apart. As the two plates move apart, magma rises up to fill the gap. This causes volcanoes at this type of boundary. However, since the magma can escape easily at the surface the volcano does not erupt with much force. Earthquakes are also found at constructive boundaries. An example of a constructive boundary is the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Constructive Plate Boundary

  14. Constructive plate boundary link 1link 2link 3 link 4

  15. Mid-Atlantic ridge Sea Floor Spreading! Did you know that the ocean floor in the Atlantic is growing by 3cm per year? • Which of the following pairs of continents are moving further away from each other? • Europe and Africa • Europe and North America • South America and North America

  16. How fast do plates move? The plates move at different rates. The Nazca and Pacific plates are moving apart at a rate of 18cm per year while the Eurasian and North Americanplates are moving apart at a rate of 3cm per year. To the nearest metre, how far will the Nazca and Pacific plates have moved over the next 200 years? 6 metres 36 metres 200 metres 928 metres

  17. A destructive plate boundary is found where a continental plate meets an oceanic plate. The oceanic plate descends under the continental plate because it is denser. As the plate descends it starts to melt due to the friction caused by the movement between the plates. This melted plate is now hot, liquid rock (magma). The magma rises through the gaps in the continental plate. If it reaches the surface, the liquid rock forms a volcano. Destructive Plate Boundary

  18. Collision boundaries occur when 2 plates of similar densities move together (i.e. a continental plate and a continental plate). This causes the material between them to buckle and rise up, forming fold mountains. The Himalayas are an example of a chain of fold mountains. They have been formed by the African plate colliding into the Eurasian plate. Collision Boundary

  19. Conservative plate boundaries exist where two plates do not directly collide but slide past each other along a fault (weakness). No volcanoes are found along these plate boundaries, but earthquakes do occur. An example of such a boundary is the San Andreas Fault in California. Conservative Boundary

  20. Attach labels to the correct part of the diagram. Outer core Crust Mantle Inner core

  21. Name this plate boundary G A B E F D C Match the labels to the letters The oceanic crust sinks under the less dense continental crust Earthquakes occur due to friction Oceanic plate The oceanic crust melts and rises Mantle Continental crust Explosive volcanoes

  22. Constructive plate boundaries MID OCEAN RIDGE A Ocean B Oceanic Crust Mantle Where would you find older rocks – at A or at B?

More Related