Plate Tectonics

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• crust Structure of Earth

• mantle

• outer core

• inner core

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 Map of Pangaea
Pangaea was the massive supercontinent that existed
when all the continents were together 300,000,000 years
ago

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From Pangea to Today’s World, The Continents
Have Drifted Apart

Today’s World

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The moving apart of the continents is called…

Continental Drift

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 How did the continents drift apart?
The answer is: Moving Tectonic Plates

Tectonic plates can also be called:

• Crustal Plates
• Lithospheric Plates

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Tectonic plates are massive pieces of
crust that are like pieces of a puzzle. The
plates move in the direction of the arrows.

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 Convection Currents in the Mantle

corteza

manto

A convection current is moving magma. Hot magma

rises and cool magma falls, creating a circular current.
This current moves the tectonic plates above it.

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Type of boundaries between plates.

Each type of boundary has its own type

of movement

• divergent boundary -
• convergent boundary

Earthquakes occur at both types of boundaries

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The Continents of Pangea drifted
apart
Because the plates they are
on diverged.

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 new crust
Divergent boundary
This is
Why the continents old crust

are drifting apart

ocean ridge
An ocean ridge is when 2 plates under the ocean
pull apart. Then magma comes up into the water
and cools down to form a ridge made of
mountains and volcanoes under the sea. There
are earthquakes. There may also be eruptions of
ash, smoke or magma.
Ex: Mid-atlantic Ridge, which is where the
continents are separating!!!
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 Convergent boundary type 1
Subduction zone: a place where ocean crust and land
crust collide. The ocean crust bends and goes under the
land crust right at a deep part of the ocean called a
trench. Chains of large active volcanoes and mountains
are formed, and there are frequent earthquakes.

trench volcanoes
and
mountains

Subduction Zone
ex: Coast of Mexico and South America

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 Convergent boundary 2
The second type of convergence takes place when 2
land plates with continental crust collide. Large
mountains are formed.It is called a collision zone.
There are many earthquakes.

ex: The Alps, the Himalayas

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