D44 Mapping Plates

D44 Plate Map Background As you’ve learned, some of Earth’s lithospheric plates are slowly sliding past each other, some plates are slowly colliding, and some plates are slowly moving apart. Both earthquakes and volcanoes occur more frequently along such plate boundaries. CHALLENGE QUESTION: Can you use volcano and earthquake data to map Earth’s plates?

D44 Plate Map Guide Before the activity tell if you agree + or disagree - then answer them again at the end of the activity. Earth’s surface is divided into 50 large plates. All of Earth’s plates are about the same size. Plates include the lithosphere under oceans. All of Earth’s plates move the same direction. The edges of the continents are the same as the boundaries of the plates.

San Andreas Fault Map

San Andreas Fault, CA

44.2 Plate Boundaries Map (use light and dark colored pencils)

D44 Plate Map Procedure Use a light colored pencil to color in the continents on Sheet 44.2 “Plate Boundaries”. Use a dark colored pencil to trace the dashed major-plate boundary lines on Sheet 44.2. Boundaries of South American plate are missing. Find the missing Eastern boundary of the South American plate by plotting the locations of the earthquakes and volcanoes in Table 1 on p D38: 13J 13K 14K 15L 16L 16.5LM 16M 16O 16P 17R

D44 Plate Map Procedure 5. Complete the Eastern boundary by using a dark colored pencil to draw a line connecting the earthquakes and volcanoes you have plotted (Hint: work from top to bottom). 6. Plot locations of earthquakes and volcanoes listed in Table 2 on page D39 to find the Western boundary of the South American plate using: 10K, 9.5M, 10.5N, 10O, 10P, 10Q, and 10R

D44 Plate Map Procedure 7. Complete the Western boundary by using a dark colored pencil to draw a line connecting the earthquakes and volcanoes you have plotted (Hint: work from top to bottom and left to right). 8. Discuss how the shapes of the continents compare with the shapes of the plates. 9. Use Table 3 (p D40) to label some of the plates and draw arrows to show direction of movement: African NE, Antarctic SE, Australian NW, Eurasian E, Indian NE, North American W, Pacific NW, South American NW

D44 Plate Map Analysis: Date_______ Name_____________________ Hr___ Answer in detail using complete paragraphs: Are the continent shapes and sizes the same as the plate shapes and sizes? Explain. In geologic time, did the earthquakes and volcanoes in Table 2 on p D39 occur recently or a long time ago? Explain. What is the relationship between volcanoes, earthquakes and plate boundaries?

D44 Plate Map Analysis: Date_______ Name_____________________ Hr___ Answer in detail using complete paragraphs: Are the continent shapes and sizes the same as the plate shapes and sizes? Explain. In geologic time, did the earthquakes and volcanoes in Table 2 on p D39 occur recently or a long time ago? Explain. What is the relationship between volcanoes, earthquakes and plate boundaries?