1. Earth’s Layers Note booklet pgs. 2-4
Plate Tectonics
Earth’s Layers
Note booklet pgs. 2-4

2. Density – It’s in the layers
Earth’s layers are divided based on density. List the layers of the Earth in order from MOST to LEAST dense.
Inner Core
Outer Core
Mantle
Oceanic Crust
Continental Crust

4. Mark out the Mantle

5. This is one layer - Mesosphere

6. Questions to ponder:
How do you think they figured out the different densities of the layers?

7. Questions to ponder:
Answer – Seismic Waves

8. What do you think it looks like in between the layers?
Questions to ponder:
What do you think it looks like in between the layers?

9. Questions to ponder:
Answer – It looks like separation in the same way oil and water separate

10. Layer % (°C) Elements Other Facts
Crust 1%
Air temp. -
1,600 ºC
Calcium (Ca), Sodium (Na), Aluminum (Al), Sulfur (S)
8-32km thick
Oceanic = thin & dense basalt
Cont. = thick & less dense granite
Mantle
84%
1,000 – 3,700 ºC
Iron (Fe), Magnesium (Mg), Calcium (Ca), Aluminum (Al), Oxygen (O), Silicon (Si)
2,890 km thick
Outer Core
15%
2,200 – 5,000 ºC
Nickle (Ni) & Iron (Fe)
Liquid
2,260 thick
5,000 ºC
Inner Core
Solid
1,220 km thick

11. Questions to ponder:
Why do you think the inner core is solid even though the outer core is a liquid?

12. Questions to ponder:
Answer - Pressure

13. What layer do you think most directly affects the crust?
Questions to ponder:
What layer do you think most directly affects the crust?

14. Questions to ponder:
Answer – The mantle, it’s such a large % of the Earth’s volume and it’s directly underneath the crust

15. Lithosphere
The rigid outer part of the earth, consisting of the crust and the upper mantle.

16. Lithosphere
Two types of crust
Lithosphere
Upper mantle

17. Asthenosphere
What causes Earth’s lithospheric plates to move?

18. Answer –
Convection Currents in the mantle

21. Plate Tectonics
On the next page of your notebook, pg. 4, complete the reading and answer the 2 follow up questions.
You have 15 minutes
You will be called on to answer the questions

22. Plate Tectonics
List four pieces of evidence to support Wegener’s theory of continental drift

23. Plate Tectonics
1. Puzzle-like fit of the continents 2. Similar fossils on different continents 3. Remains of tropical plants found in the Arctic areas and glacial deposits in the tropics 4. Similar rock structures found on different continents

24. Plate Tectonics
Why was Wegener’s theory of continental drift rejected by other scientists?

25. Plate Tectonics
Wegener couldn’t explain why or how the continents moved

26. Questions to ponder:
So, what do you think the continent Pangaea that Wegener describes would have looked like?

27. Classwork Great answers!
Let’s look at this puzzle further – turn to pg. 3 in your classwork booklet

28. Final Thoughts On your own paper answer the following questions
Make sure to put your name on the exit ticket to be turned in!

29. Exit Ticket
1. If all of the continents were once joined as Pangaea, what did the rest of Earth look like? 2. How does the occurrence of the same plant fossils in South America and Africa support continental drift? Explain.