Boundaries on a Plate
Background Information:
There are 3 primary types of Tectonic Plate boundaries: Divergent
boundaries, Convergent boundaries, and Transform boundaries. As the giant
plates move, diverging [pulling apart] or converging [coming together] along their
borders, tremendous energies are unleashed resulting in tremors that transform
Earth’s surface. While all the plates appear to be moving at different relative
speeds and independently of each other, the whole jigsaw puzzle of plates is
interconnected. No single plate can move without affecting others, and the
activity of one can influence another thousands of miles away. For example, as
the Atlantic Ocean grows wider with the spreading of the African Plate away from
the South American Plate, the Pacific sea floor is being consumed in deep
subduction trenches over ten thousand miles away. Today, we are going to play
with these ideas in a fun and yummy way - living on earth never tasted so good!
Materials:
 3 graham crackers
 Cake frosting
 2 pieces of wax paper
 3 slices of bread
 Water in Tupperware
 Toaster
 Plastic Knife
Methods:
1. This is a four part experiment-be sure to read carefully and answer the
questions as you go!
Part One-Graham Crackers and Frosting
2. Break one graham cracker into two square pieces.
3. Pub a blob on cake frosting on a piece of wax paper.
4. Lay the two pieces of graham cracker against each other (so the sides
touch) on top of the frosting.
5. Press down as you slowly pull the crackers in opposite directions.
Questions:
A) Make a drawing to illustrate the movement of your crackers and label all
parts. Add arrows to show the direction and movement.
B) What happened to the frosting as the crackers moved apart?
C) What do the crackers and the frosting represent? How can you tell?
D) What type of boundary, stress and fault does this represent?
E) Where on Earth does it occur?
Part Two-Graham Cracker and Bread
1. Lay a graham cracker and a slice of bread next to each other on a piece of
waxed paper.
2. Slowly push the bread and cracker together.
Questions:
A) Make a drawing to illustrate the movement of your cracker and bread and
label all parts. Add arrows to show the direction and movement.
B) What happened when the cracker and bread are pushed together?
C) What do the cracker and the bread represent? How can you tell?
D) What type of boundary, stress and fault does this represent?
E) What process is this called?
F) Where on Earth does it occur?
Part Three-Soggy Toast
1. Toast two pieces of bread and place on a sheet of wax paper.
2. Dip one end of each piece of toast into the water (about 2 cm) and then
immediately lay them next to each other on the wax paper with the wet
ends nearly touching.
3. Slowly push the two pieces of toast together.
Questions:
A. Make a drawing to illustrate the movement of your cracker and bread and
label all parts. Add arrows to show the direction and movement.
B. What happened when the pieces of bread were pushed together?
C. What type of crust does the toast represent? How can you tell?
D. What type of boundary, stress and fault does this represent?
E. What type of landform did we create? How can you tell?
F. Where on Earth does it occur?
Part Four-Graham Cracker
1. Break a graham cracker in half so that you have two squares.
2. Fit the pieces back together and place on a piece of wax paper.
3. Put on hand on each cracker and apply steady, moderate pressure
pushing them together and also pushing them past each other (one
towards you, the other away).
4. Increase the pressure and observe what happens.
Questions:
1. Make a drawing to illustrate the movement of your cracker and bread and
label all parts. Add arrows to show the direction and movement.
2. What happened when you first applied pressure to the crackers?
3. What happened as you continued to move them?
4. What type of boundary, stress and fault does this represent?
5. Where on Earth does it occur?
Cupcake Core Sampling
Background:
Trying to see what is beneath the surface of the earth is one of the jobs of a geologist.
Rather than digging up vast tracts of land to expose an oil field, or to find coal bearing
strata, core samples can be taken and analyzed to determine the likely composition of the
earth’s interior. In this activity, you will use core sampling techniques to find out what
sort of layers are in a cake.
Materials:
 Cake
 Toothpick
 Straw
Methods:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Gather materials
In the data table, draw what you think the inside the cake looks like
Push the straw into the cupcake and pull out a core sample
Draw what the cross section of the cake looks like and label the sections.
Do two more core samples and record observations
Cut the cake and record observations
Data Table: Core Samples
Prediction
Core Sample #1
Core Sample #2
Core Sample #3
After Cutting
Cake
Conclusion:
1. What challenges did you encounter when taking a cross section?
2. Compare the 3 cross sections.
3. Explain how taking a cross section is helpful for geologists.
Muffin Mining
Background:
Fossil fuels are valuable energy resources, but they are also laden with problems.
Coal, the most abundant fossil fuel in North America, is also difficult to obtain.
Underground coal mining is dangerous and costly. It is safer to strip mine shallow
deposits. However, strip mining destroys the natural surface environment. Government
regulations have been designed to improve mining safety and to reclaim or repair
environmental damage. Supplying our energy needs and preserving the environment
pose great challenges for mining companies and our government. Today, you will be
exploring two different land areas (muffin and cookie) and will be searching for coal
deposits (blueberries and chocolate chips). You will be paid $100,000 for each
successful coal deposit mined. You will have to pay $100,000 or each abandoned
attempt. You will be required to restore the land to the original condition and will be
fined if you are unable to do this successfully. Good luck!
Materials:
 Blueberry muffin
 Chocolate Chip cookie
 Paper towel


Toothpicks
Plastic knife
Methods:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Inspect land area for surface deposits.
Make predictions about underground deposits.
Carefully mine the coal deposits without destroying the surrounding land.
Record the number of coal deposits successfully removed.
Restore land to original condition.
Data Table: Coal Deposits
Surface
Predicted
Deposits
underground
deposits
Blueberry
muffin
Chocolate
Chip
cookie
Number of
deposits
successfully
removed
Abandoned
attempts
Money
Earned (make
sure to
subtract any
fines)
Conclusions:
1. Compare and contrast the difference in the two types of land that were mined.
2. How did the land areas change as a result of your mining?
3. What problems did you encounter trying to reclaim you land?
4. Relate these problems to the problems that mining companies face.
5. Consider whether mining should be permitted in areas that cannot be successfully
reclaimed.