The Earth’s Crust in Motion… Plate Tectonics The Earth’s Crust in Motion…

The Theory In 1910 Alfred begins to wonder… What’s the relationship? Perhaps all these pieces used to be connected. Continental drift=slow movement over Earth’s surface 300 million years ago… Ask the students to look closely at the map. “What does it remind you of?” When ‘puzzle’ is suggested introduce first line. Click on the image of Wegener for the hyperlink to USGS while discussing who he was. Continue to discuss Wegener’s theory and introduce continental drift definition.

Supercontinent Pangea – all lands Reptiles and insects Tropical forrests -coal deposits Discuss the theory of Pangea and show animation (click on link). Tens of Millions of years!

Structure of the Earth’s Interior Using a laser pointer, briefly highlight and describe the layers of the earth’s interior. Also highlight the fact that the earth has oceanic and continental crust.

How does it work? Plates – pieces of the lithosphere Plates fit closely together along cracks called Plate Boundaries Convection Currents  movement Explain that the lithosphere is broken into pieces called plates. The place where the pieces fit together are the boundaries. Using a laser pointer, explain the theory that plate movement is caused by convection currents in the mantle.

Earth’s Puzzle What plate do we live on? What plates do we border? USGS Earth’s Plates How far do we move every year? Open the link to the USGS. Using a laser pointer, discuss the idea that the of plate boundaries. Ask the students to locate the plate that we live on. Ask the students to name the plates that our plate borders. They can write the answers on their handout of the slide show. Use the next hyperlink to answer the last question. With this page open, explain how the arrows depict the direction of movement of the plates.

Types of Boundaries Divergent Convergent Transform Define each term. Have the students as a class mimic the movement of divergent, convergent, and transform boundaries using their hands. Use the hyperlinks as visuals while discussing each type of plate boundary.

Your Task...Get Organized Get into teams of three Each person will focus on one type of boundary divergent (Column A) convergent (Column B) transform (Column C) Look only at your column Make a concept map Organize students into groups of three. Give them a moment to assign their roles. Instruct students that they will be taking notes on the information they see in the next few slides. Tell them they will have only 1 min to see each slide so they should only look at their assigned columns. Explain that they will be using this information to make a concept map at the end.

A Divergent B Convergent C Transform plates are moving apart new crust is created Magma is coming to the surface plates are coming together crust is returning to the mantle plates are slipping past each other crust is not created or destroyed

A Divergent B Convergent C Transform Continental crust  rift valley Oceanic crust  mid-ocean ridge 2 continental plates  mountain range Plates move against each other Stress builds up Stress is released earthquake 2 oceanic plates or oceanic + continental subduction

The Big Picture Remind students to look for their assigned boundaries and write down information to describe them.

Key Terms for Map convergent boundary divergent boundary transform boundary subduction rift valley mid-ocean ridge continental crust oceanic crust mountain range earthquake Have students write down the above terms to put in their concept map. Be sure to have the students tie the terms with verbs or meaningful associations.