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Published byEleanore York Modified over 6 years ago
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Plate Tectonics Liz LaRosa for use with my 5th Grade Science Class
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Earth’s Layers The Earth's rocky outer crust solidified billions of years ago, soon after the Earth formed. This crust is not a solid shell; it is broken up into huge, thick plates that drift atop the soft, underlying mantle.
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The Crust Outermost layer 5 – 100 km thick
Made of Oxygen, Silicon, Aluminum
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The Mantle Layer of Earth between the crust and the core
Contains most of the Earth’s mass Has more magnesium and less aluminum and silicon than the crust Is denser than the crust
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The Core Below the mantle and to the center of the Earth
Believed to be mostly Iron, smaller amounts of Nickel, almost no Oxygen, Silicon, Aluminum, or Magnesium
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Tectonic Plates
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Plate Tectonics Greek – “tektonikos” of a builder
Pieces of the lithosphere that move around Each plate has a name Fit together like jigsaw puzzles Float on top of mantle similar to ice cubes in a bowl of water
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Continental Drift Alfred Wegener 1900’s
Continents were once a single land mass that drifted apart. Fossils of the same plants and animals are found on different continents Called this supercontinent Pangea, Greek for “all Earth” 245 Million years ago Split again – Laurasia & Gondwana 180 million years ago
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Evidence of Pangea
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Sea Floor Spreading
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Sea Floor Spreading Mid Ocean Ridges – underwater mountain chains that run through the Earth’s Basins Magma rises to the surface and solidifies and new crust forms Older Crust is pushed farther away from the ridge
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How Plates Move
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Different Types of Boundaries
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Divergent Boundary - Oceanic
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Divergent Boundary - Continental
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Divergent Boundary – Arabian and African Plates
Arabian Plate Red Sea African Plate
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Divergent Boundary – Iceland
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Convergent Boundary – Oceanic & Continental
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Convergent Boundary – Oceanic & Oceanic
Note – plates are reversed &
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Convergent Boundaries - Continental
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Convergent Boundary – Indian and Eurasian Plates
Indian Plate
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Progression of Indian Land Mass
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Transform Boundary – San Andreas Fault
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Review Name the 3 main layers of the Earth What is a tectonic plate?
What was Pangea? What is Sea-Floor spreading? Name the three different types of plate boundaries and one location on Earth for each one
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Consequences of Plate Tectonics
Aerial view of the area around Thingvellir, Iceland, showing a fissure zone (in shadow) that is an on-land exposure of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Right of the fissure, the North American Plate is pulling westward away from the Eurasian Plate (left of fissure). The San Andreas Fault – a transform fault
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Consequences of Plate Tectonics
The Aleutian Islands, an island arc The 1980 eruption of Mount Saint Helens
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Consequences of Plate Tectonics
Helicopter view (in February 1994) of the active lava lake within the summit crater of 'Erta 'Ale (Ethiopia), one of the active volcanoes in the East African Rift Zone. The convergence of the Nazca and South American Plates has deformed and pushed up limestone strata to form towering peaks of the Andes, as seen here in the Pachapaqui mining area in Peru.
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