Plate Motion
What causes Earthquakes?
Plate motion
What is Earth's outer layer made of?
Hard, Solid Rock
Dr. Raisa and her team of geologists have been studying GPS data that shows that two plates moved apart. Explain what happened between the two plates as they moved away from each other?
Soft, solid rock from underneath the plates rose and hardened, adding solid rock to the edges of both plates.
Volcanoes
What is a convergent plate boundary?
Two plates that move towards each other
How do scientists track the rate of plate motion? Hint: How fast they're going
GPS
What is underneath our outer layer?
The mantle which is made of soft solid rock
When they were living, all the Lystrosaurus lived together on land, and they could not swim. However, now there is an ocean between the Lystrosaurus fossils. What could explain how these fossils got so far apart?
Divergent plate boundary
What landform will a convergent plate boundary create?
Convergent Plate Bloundary
What is a cross section?
Looking at the inside of something
How long does it take for our plates to move enough for us to notice?
What patterns do we notice on our plate boundaries?
Earthquakes and Volcanoes occur
A team of geologists wants to study hard, solid rock under the surface of Earth. The team is considering drilling down in Saudi Arabia (on land) or in the Arabian Sea (on water). Where will the geologists find hard, solid rock?
Hard, solid rock
What is the theory of a supercontinent that once existed called?
Pangea
What is a Plate?
one of the very large sections of hard, solid rock that make up Earth’s outer layer
At what rate do plates move each year on average?
Around 3 cm
True/False
Underneath both the soil and the ocean, Earth’s outer layer is made of sand and water.
False
Dr. Patel and her team have been using GPS to track two plates that are moving toward each other. What is happening at the place where the plates are moving toward each other?
One plate is going underneath the other plate and sinking into the soft rock below.
What is a mid-ocean ridge and which plate boundary creates this landform?
an underwater mountain range formed when two plates move apart (divergent)
What is a trench?
a long, deep indentation in the ocean floor formed when two plates move together
How did the Mesasaurus Fossils end up on two different continents?
The fossils were on two different plates that moved apart slowly over millions of years.
What is the area where two plates meet each other?
Plate Boundary
In the past, Africa used to be farther away from Europe than it is now. What could explain why Africa is closer to Europe now than it was before?
Africa and Europe are parts of different plates. The plates slowly moved toward each other as one plate went under the other plate into soft, solid rock over millions of years.
Where would you find volcanic activity?
near a plate boundary
The large pieces of the outer layer
Plates