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Understanding Plate Tectonics: Earth's Moving Puzzle

Learn how plate tectonics shapes Earth's surface with major geological events like earthquakes, volcanoes, and mountain building. Explore the motion of tectonic plates and their impact on crustal features.

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Understanding Plate Tectonics: Earth's Moving Puzzle

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  1. PLATE TECTONICS

  2. TEKS 8.9B relate plate tectonics to the formation of crustal features; • TEKS 6.10C identify the major tectonic plates • TEKS 6.10D describe how plate tectonics causes major geological events such as ocean basins, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and mountain building

  3. What is Plate Tectonics? Plate tectonics describes the means by which the oceanic and continentalcrust are able to move and the results of that motion.

  4. The crust of Earth is divided intoplates. • Pacific • Nazca • North American • South American Key plates: • Eurasian • African • Indo-Australian

  5. The plates are rigid and in constant motion relative to one another.

  6. What Causes the Tectonic Plates to Move?

  7. Intense heat from the core of the Earth causes convection cells to form in the asthenosphere.

  8. The Earth’s continental and oceanic plates sit on the hot asthenosphere. While the rock in the asthenosphere is solid, it is less rigid than the plates, and therefore moves.

  9. While scientists do not fully understand the forces that move the plates, it is believed that the moving materialin the asthenosphere drags the plates along.

  10. What Are the Results of Tectonic Plate Motion?

  11. Each plate moves as a distinct unit. The borders between plates are called plate boundaries.

  12. Transform Plate Boundary • Divergent Plate Boundary There are three different kinds of motion that occurs between the tectonic plates.

  13. Even though the motion of the plates is very slow; about 10-40 mm/year (this is about how fast your fingernails grow), the motion causes major geologic events and surface features. I can out run the tectonic plates!

  14. TRANSFORM Surface Feature:faults Motion: platesgrind past one another Geologic Event: earthquakes

  15. Click here! San Andreas Fault

  16. DIVERGENT Surface Feature: • Rifts • Rift valleys • Volcanic islands • mid-ocean ridge Motion: plates move away from one another Geologic Event: • new crustis formed • shallow earthquakes

  17. Click here! rift valley Mid-Atlantic Ridge

  18. CONVERGENT Geologic Event: • crust material is destroyed • earthquakes • volcanic eruptions • mountain building Motion: plates move toward from one another

  19. CONVERGENT Surface Features: • volcanoes • Island arcs • Volcanic arcs • Trenches • Mountain ranges

  20. Click here! Mount Saint Helens

  21. Click here! The Himalayan Mountains

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