Transcript Activity 44: Mapping Plates

Activity 44
Challenge: How can you use earthquake and volcano data to
map the earth’s plates?
Key Vocabulary:
• Lithosphere – The upper part of the Earth consisting of the
crust and top hard portion of the mantle.
• Plates – large sections of the Earth’s lithosphere.
Glue in SS 44.1
Read the Introduction on page D-35!
• Remember that Continental Drift only
referred to the movement of the
continents.
• Plate Tectonics refers to the movement of
lithospheric plates
• These plates include the earth’s crust
and extend down into the uppermost
part of the upper mantle.
• They represented continents!
• Glue in SS 44.1 “Anticipation Guide: Mapping Plates”
• Record if you agree or disagree with each
statement by placing a “+” or a “-” in the BEFORE
column.
• Glue in SS 44.2 “Plate Boundaries” and follow steps
#1-10
1. Most continents and plates have different sizes and shapes.
• Several plates contain entire continents and the adjacent
ocean floor, such as the African plate, and are much
larger than the continent itself
• Eurasia is made up of several plates, including the Indian,
Arabian, and part of the North American plate
• Several (oceanic) plates are smaller than continents (such
as the Caribbean and Philippine plates)
• The Australian continent appears to be about one-third
of the sixe of the plate that it is a part of and the
boundary edges are very different
3. Earthquakes and volcanoes occur more frequently along plate
boundaries than on other parts of the earth’s surface. In this
activity, you used earthquake and volcano data to plot plate
boundaries.
4. You would predict that Washington would be at a greater risk
of earthquakes because is it closer to a plate boundary than
Texas
5. India is a part of the Indian plate, while most of
Eurasia is part of the Eurasian plate.
Since these continents are a part of two different
plates, they moved separately over the surface of
the earth.
Having a separate puzzle piece for India meant that
the individual movement of both of these plates could
be modeled in Activity 40.