Plate Tectonics 10/22/12 *Take out your Continental Drift summary for me to check* Earth’s Insides Plate boundaries Do Now [journal] How do plate tectonics cause changes in crustal features? What is the lithosphere? What are the three pieces of evidence for continental drift?

The Earth’s Insides Early earth

There are five major layers within the earth that are identified on the basis of their different compositions.

NAME SOLID/LIQUID/GAS? DENSITY Lithosphere Solid! 1 Asthenosphere Semi-liquid 2 Mantle 3 Outer core Liquid 4 Inner core Solid 5

How does density relate to our Earth’s insides? Density differences cause matter to sink or float. Let’s see this in action!

Density of layers Silicon and oxygen rise to form lithosphere (lightest continental crust, lighter oceanic crust). What layer was this? Silicon and iron sink to the middle to form the mantle. What layer was this? Iron and nickel sink to form core. What layers were these?

How do we know the Earth has a solid core? Bill Nye explains it again!

As plates move, they collide, pull apart, and grind past each other causing major geological events!!

Topic: Earth’s Features Essential Question: What crustal features are created by the movement of Earth’s plates?

Topic: Earth’s Features Essential Question: What crustal features are created by the movement of Earth’s plates? Plate tectonics The lithosphere (crust) is divided into tectonic plates The movement of these plates is what creates Earth’s crustal features

Topic: Earth’s Features Essential Question: What crustal features are created by the movement of Earth’s plates? Types of boundaries A boundary is where 2 tectonic plates meet

The theory of plate tectonics states that pieces of Earth’s lithosphere are in constant, slow motion, driven by convection currents in the mantle. We will look at our demonstration and look for this convection on a small scale.

Topic: Earth’s Features Essential Question: What crustal features are created by the movement of Earth’s plates? Divergent Boundary When tectonic plates move away from each other Crustal features: mid ocean ridges, rifts

Great Rift Valley

Topic: Earth’s Features Essential Question: What crustal features are created by the movement of Earth’s plates? Convergent Boundary When 2 continental plates collide Crustal features: mountains

The Himalayas

Topic: Earth’s Features Essential Question: What crustal features are created by the movement of Earth’s plates? Convergent Boundary When an ocean plate collides with a continental plate, the ocean plate sinks under the continental plate (subduction) Crustal features: trenches and volcanic mountains

Topic: Earth’s Features Essential Question: What crustal features are created by the movement of Earth’s plates? Transform Boundary When 2 tectonic plates slide past each other Crustal Features: faults and earthquakes

San Andreas Fault