Earth Science
Plate Tectonics and How
Oceans/Mountains Affect Climate
• Review and game! 
Plate Tectonics
• Crustal plates move causing certain geological features
to form such as volcanoes, mountains, earthquakes, etc
• There are 4 main types of boundaries that we discussed:
– Divergent- pull apart creating volcanoes,
– Convergent- two crustal plates come together
creating fold mountains
– Transform- two plates slide past each other creating
earthquakes
– Subduction- two ocean plates or an ocean and crustal
plate collide creating trenches and volcanoes.
Let’s quickly review how mountains
and oceans can affect climate.
• Mountains:
• Can block rain and wind causing a different climate
– Can cause a drier area/desert on one side of the
mountain due to a rain shadow
• Have breezes that flow at night and day in different
directions depending on where the high pressure
(cool air) is.
What is climate?
1
Rain Shadows
• On the windward side of a mountain range,
air rises, cools, and drops its moisture.
• On the leeward side of a mountain range air
descends, heats up, and dries the land.
Windward Vs. Leeward
• Rainfall occurs on the windward side of the
mountain where the air is rising.
• Cool & Wet
• It is dry on the leeward side of
the mountain where the air is sinking.
• Warm & Dry
Rain Shadows
Mountains greatly affect the climate. They act
as barriers blocking rain and wind.
What do you think a rain shadow is?
One side of the mountain may have a very
different climate from the other side. In
some cases mountains create a shadow.
This is where rain does not fall. Deserts
can form in the rain shadow regions.
During the day
the surface of
the mountain
heats the air
high up in the
atmosphere
quicker than
the valley floor
can. Wind
moves from
the valley
where the air
pressure is
high toward
the mountains
creating a
Valley Breeze
During the night
the surface of
the mountain
cools the air
high up in the
atmosphere
quicker than
the valley floor
can. Wind
moves from the
mountain where
the air pressure
is high
& cool toward
the valley
creating a
Mountain
Breeze
Oceans
• Oceans
• Create breezes during the day and night that affect
the climate of the shore
• Ocean currents such as the Gulf Stream can make
an area much Warmer than an area not near the
ocean at the same latitude. (example: part of inner
Canada and England—England’s climate is
warmer due to the warm Gulf Stream ocean
current).
Land BREEZE…
Land Breezes
At night the lands cools off faster than the
sea. Wind blows from the land to the sea.
SEa BREEZE…
Sea Breezes
• The land cools and heats faster than the ocean. Water
holds heat longer than land, and takes longer to heat or
cool.
During the day, the land
gets hotter faster than the
water. The heated air
rises; wind from the cooler
sea blows in to take the
place of that warmer air.
These happen during the
day!
Hawaii is in the center of the “ring of fire”
and is caused by ____ .
A. trench
B. Hot spots; underwater volcanoes
C. earthquake
D. All of these
B. Hot spots; underwater volcanoes
Underwater ______ occur
where plates move apart.
A. cities
B. mountains
C. trenches
earthquakes
D. ridges
volcanoes
• B. mountains
Continental crust is __________ than oceanic
crust.
A. less dense
B. More dense
C. thinner
D. All of these
B. More dense
A deep area in the ocean where one plate
sinks beneath another.
A. Divergent Boundary- creating a volcano
B. Subductive boundary—creating a trench
C. Volcano
Transform Boundary– creating an earthquake
D. None of these
B. Subductive boundary—creating a
trench
What is a sudden release of energy in the Earth’s
crust, causing the ground to shake called?
A. Volcanoes
B. Earthquakes
C. Both A and B
D. None of these
• B. Earthquakes
A break in the Earth’s crust is
called a _______ .
A. fault line
B. crack
C. compound fracture
D. coffee break
A. fault line
This picture
illustrates a ___
boundary.
A. Divergent
B. Transform
C. Convergent
D. Subductive
B. Transform
A mountain formed by lava and
ash.
A. Volcano
B. Earthquake
C. Hurricane
D. Folded mountains
A. Volcano
What is a good effect that a
volcano can have?
A. clears land of trees
B. creates islands in the ocean
C. reduces the population
D. None of these
B. Creates islands in the ocean
Why is Hawaii made of
volcanoes?
A. Plates are moving apart
B. Earthquakes
C. A hot spot exists
D. To attract tourists
C. A hot spot exists
What causes volcanoes?
A. Oceanic plates colliding with continental plates
and subducting under them.
B. Plates pulling apart from one another
(diverging)
C. Hot spots
D. All of these
D. All of these
What can happen when a
transform fault suddenly releases
its energy?
A. A hurricane
B. A volcano
C. A Storm
D. An earthquake
D. An earthquake
When continental plates
collide, ______ is formed.
A. Folded Mountains
B. Dome Mountains
C. Volcanoes
D. All of these
A. Folded Mountains
The Earth as one large land
mass was called ____ .
A. Tsunamis
B. Pangorld
C. Pangea
D. Seismograph
C. Pangea
The theory that plates move
upon the Earth.
A. Mass movement
B. Crust movement
C. Plate Tectonics
D. Newton’s Laws of Gravity
C. Plate Tectonics
Where magma pushes two
plates apart are called ____ .
A. divergent boundaries
B. Convergent boundaries
C. trenches
D. tug-of-wars
A. divergent boundaries
The layer on the Earth in which
the crust floats.
A. Mantle
B. Crust
C. Inner Core
D. Turtle
A. Mantle
The outer layer of the Earth is
called the _____ .
A. mountain range
B. core
C. crust
D. mantle
C. crust
What is the inner most part of
the Earth?
A. Trench
B. mantle
C. Crust
D. Core
D. Core
Beginning with the outer most layer, Earth’s
layers are the ____ .
A. crust, magma, and core
B. crust, mantle, core
C. core, mantle, and crust
D. core, magma, and crust
B. crust, mantle, core