1. Why are mountains like the Canadian Rockies and the Himalayas so tall and jagged?
In your book: Write down anything you know about the formation of mountain ranges like the ones pictured to the side.

2. Tectonic Plates and Mountain Formation

3. Learning Intentions
To explore the concepts of continental drift and the formation of mountains.
To discover the link between the two concepts.
To understand how these two concepts have and will affect the world we live in.

4. Super Continents – Let’s Start 300 Million Years Ago!
Pangea was a supercontinent that lasted about 100 million years
The theory is there were other super continents before pangea

5. Two Super-Continents Let’s Identify: North America South America
Africa
India
Asia

6. Continental Drift – Pangea didn’t last forever…

7. How Does Continental Drift Occur?
Earth’s crust (lithosphere) is separated into many “tectonic plates” along weaknesses in the crust.
Plates move around because magma moves below the Earth’s crust moving the crust above it.
The theory is movement direction of the plates changes over time.

8. Contact Between Tectonic Plates
Divergent Boundary – Where the plates are spreading apart. Convergent Boundary – Where two plates collide. Transform Boundary – Where plates slide in opposite directions past each other.

9. Tectonic Plates of the World

10. Continental Drift - Himalayas

11. When Plates Collide…
Why are these mountains so jagged?

12. When Plates Stop Colliding…
Why would these mountains be rounded off?

13. How the Himalayas Were Formed
Further reading at: formed/ Videos about plate tectonics: