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Plate Tectonics
The Earth is made up of 3 main layers:

Where do we live?
How do we know what the Earth is made of?

Geophysical surveys:

Acquisition:

Geological surveys:

If you look at a map of the world, you may notice that some of the
could fit together like
pieces of a
. When it was all together as one landmass it was known as
.
Alfred Wegner proposed
.

which is how the continents

and

Some other proof of continental drift

Plate Tectonics: The Earths crust is divided into

This plate motion causes them to
,
other. Each type of interaction causes a
features. The word,
, refers to the
plate interaction.

major plates which are moved in various directions.

, or
against each
of Earth structures or

of the crust as a
of

How do plates move? Accoriding to one theroy,

tectonic plates.

in Earths mantle drag along

What are tectonic plates made of? Plates are made of rigid
made up of the
and the

. The lithosphere is
of the mantle.

What lies beneath the tectonic plates? Below the lithosphere (which makes up the
) is the
.
Plate Movement
Plates of lithosphere are moved around by the
in the
.

convection cells which occur

What happens at tectonic plate boundaries? Draw arrows to show.

Three types of plate boundary:

Divergent Boundaries: Spreading

fill the gap

. As plates move apart

is erupted to

Iceland: An example of
running through its middle

. Iceland has a

plate boundary

Convergent Boundaries: There are three styles of convergent plate boundaries.

1. Continent-

collision forms

, e.g. European Alps, Himalayas

2. Continentcollision called SUBDUCTION. Oceanic

subducts underneath the
lithosphere. Oceanic lithosphere heats and
as it subsides. The melt rises forming
. E.g. The
.
3. Oceancollision when two
collide, one
the
other which causes it to
into the mantle forming a
. The
subducting plate is bent
to form a very
in the ocean
floor called a
. The worlds
of the ocean are found along trenches.
Transform Boundaries: Where plates

past each other.

Volcanoes and Plate Tectonicswhats the connection?

Volcanoes are formed by:

What are Hotspot Volcanoes? Hot

tectonic plate. The tectonic plate moves over a
volcanoes get
from one end to the other.

breaching the surface in the middle of a

forming a chain of volcanoes. The

Earthquakes and Plate Tectonicswhats the connection?

Earthquakes are not
plates,
earthquakes occur.

causes them to

over the globe. At the

together. When

between
causes them to break,

Where do earthquakes form?

and
along each of these types of
boundaries can form an earthquake. Depending on the type of
, the earthquakes occur in
either a
or
in the crust. Earthquakes may also occur in
regions and are caused there both by
and by the movement of
(hot molten rock) within the volcano. Such earthquakes can be an
of volcanic
eruptions.
IN REVIEW:
1. What are the three types of plate boundaries called?

2. What is the motion of each of the three plate boundaries?

3. What is the correlation between plate tectonics and events like earthquakes and volcanoes?