Name _____________
Exploring Plate Tectonics by Using Graham Crackers
Background Information - Plate boundaries are found at the edge of the plates. There
are three types:
1. Convergent
 Places where plates crash or push together;
Mountains, earthquakes, and volcanoes form
where plates collide.
 When oceanic plates collide with continental
plates, the less dense oceanic moves under the
continental plate in a process called subduction.
 When two continental plates collide, mountains
form.
2. Divergent
 Places where plates are moving apart, forming rift valleys.
3. Transform
 Places where plates slide past each other; the sliding motion causes
earthquakes
Procedure & Questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Spread a thick layer of frosting on the paper plate. The frosting will represent magma.
Break your cracker into 4 sections.
Wet the end of one section with water.
Gently put the wet cracker section and a dry cracker section (this represents a on the
layer of frosting. The wet cracker represents an oceanic plate and the dry cracker
represents a continental plate.
5. Push the wet cracker and a dry cracker together. Record your observations in a
diagram.
Diagram:
1
What tectonic process(s) does this model?
What do you think happens as a continental and oceanic plate push together?
What is a limitation of this model?
6. Place two pieces of dry cracker side by side on the frosting. Slide them past each
other. The dry crackers represent continental plates. Record your observations in
a diagram.
Diagram:
What tectonic process(s) does this model?
What do you think happens when two continental plates slide past one another?
What is a limitation of this model?
7. Place two pieces of dry crackers end to end with one another. Push
them together. Record your observations in a diagram.
Diagram:
2
What tectonic process(s) does this model?
What do you think happens when two plates push together?
What is a limitation of this model?
8. Pull the two pieces of dry crackers away from each other. Record your observations in
a diagram.
Diagram:
What tectonic process(s) does this model?
What do you think happens when two plates move away from each other?
What is a limitation of this model?
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