Name _____________________________

Plate Tectonics
In the 1960s, scientists combined Alfred Wegener’s theory of continental drift
and Harry Hess’s theory of seafloor spreading into a unified theory. Plate
tectonics is now the accepted idea that the Earth’s crust and upper mantle,
together referred to as the lithosphere, are broken into sections, or plates. These
plates are moving on the asthenosphere, or the upper part of the mantle just
below the lithosphere.

Why are they moving? Convection currents. The Earth is extremely hot in the
mantle. The heat within the Earth is trying to escape. The surface of the Earth
has cooled, so the cooled pieces just get moved around as more heat escapes.
Some plates are composed of continental crust, some are oceanic crust, and
some have a little of both. Depending on the type of plate at the edge, and the
direction the plates are moving, a few different things can happen.

Moving apart: When an oceanic plate is being split, you have a mid-ocean ridge.
This is one of the clues that led to the discovery of plate tectonics. When a
continental plate is being pulled apart, you get a rift valley. An example of this is
the East African Rift, where Africa is literally being pulled apart. Whenever two
plates are being pulled away from one another, it is called a divergent plate
boundary.

Moving together: When an oceanic plate and continental plate collide, the oceanic
plate is always subducted (or pushed under) the continental plate. This is because
the oceanic plate is more dense. This is called a subduction zone. When this
happens, volcanoes and earthquakes result. When two continental plates collide,
nothing is subducted because neither plate is dense enough. When this happens,
both plates are uplifted, creating mountains. The Himalayas are a great example
of this. India smashed into Asia and was uplifted to create those mountains.
They continue to grow to this day. When two oceanic plates collide, one is
subducted. This creates both an oceanic trench, and a chain of volcanoes. All of
these examples are converging plate boundaries. To converge is to come together.

The third type of plate boundary is called a transform plate boundary, and
occurs where two plates are sliding past one another. An example of this is the
San Andreas Fault. Transform plate boundaries are the cause of many
destructive earthquakes.
 Color the diagram
Label the following
Lithosphere Asthenosphere Subduction
Diverging Plates Converging Plates
Oceanic Plate Continental Plate

Questions:
1. What two theories did plate tectonics unify? ______________________ and
________________________
2. Which is more dense, oceanic or continental crust? _____________________
3. What do we call a plate boundary where the plates are moving apart from one
another? ___________________________
4. What do you get if oceanic plates are moving away from one another?
______________________________________
5. What do we get if two continental plates are moving away from one another?
___________________________________
6. Where on a continent would you expect to find volcanoes?
______________________________________________