Plate Tectonics
E.SE.06.51 - Explain plate tectonic movement and how the lithospheric plates move centimeters each year.
Plates: What the lithosphere is broken into. A plate can cover a continent, the ocean floor, or both.
Scientific Theory: A well-tested concept that explains a wide reange of observations.
Plate Tectonics: The geological theory that states that pieces of Earth’s lithosphere are in constane, slow motion, driven by convection currents in the mantle.
The theory of plate tectonics explains the formation, movement, and subduction of Earth’s plates.
Faults: Breaks in the Earth’s crust where rocks have slipped past eachother
Boundaries:
Transform Boundaries: A place where two plates slip past each other, moving in oppisite directions.
Divergent Boundaries: A place where two plates move apart.
Rift Valley: Where the Earth’s surface is being pulled apart by a divergent boundary.
Convergent Boundary: Where two plates meet and collide.
There are two types of crust: oceanic crust (has ocean on it) and continental crust (has continent on it). Oceanic crust is denser than continental crust. - oceanic crust will go under
When two continental plates meet you get mountain ranges!
Scientific Theory: A well-tested concept that explains a wide reange of observations.
Plate Tectonics: The geological theory that states that pieces of Earth’s lithosphere are in constane, slow motion, driven by convection currents in the mantle.
The theory of plate tectonics explains the formation, movement, and subduction of Earth’s plates.
Faults: Breaks in the Earth’s crust where rocks have slipped past eachother
Boundaries:
Transform Boundaries: A place where two plates slip past each other, moving in oppisite directions.
Divergent Boundaries: A place where two plates move apart.
Rift Valley: Where the Earth’s surface is being pulled apart by a divergent boundary.
Convergent Boundary: Where two plates meet and collide.
There are two types of crust: oceanic crust (has ocean on it) and continental crust (has continent on it). Oceanic crust is denser than continental crust. - oceanic crust will go under
When two continental plates meet you get mountain ranges!