Earth Science
Name_____________________________
Chapter 4
Period_____________________________
Lab
Date______________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
Virtual Plate Tectonics
This computer program will take you through the major concepts involved in the Theory of Plate Tectonics. Be sure to follow
the directions carefully and answer all the questions on the answer sheet.
A.
As the program begins, you should see the screen shown at the right (figure 1). Be sure to start the
program (after reading the screen) by pressing the Main Menu button. This will take you to the
table of contents screen (figure 2)
B.
From this Table of Contents screen, please click number 2 (The Earths Interior) as your first
choice.
C.
You should now use the buttons in the lower right corner of the screen to advance the program as
you answer the questions below. REMEMBER - you can go back to any page at any time.
QUESTIONS:
1. What is the name of the first topic you have selected?
2. How many different parts make up the interior of the Earth?
3. Name them and give their size (in miles) and indicate their composition (what they are mad of).
4. Which is thicker, the Oceanic Crust of the Continental Crust?
5. What name is giving to the upper Mantle Zone ?
6. What name is given to the area above this zone? Of what does it consist?
Use this material to answer the questions during the computer review. Then continue with the
program, selecting CONTINENTAL DRIFT as the next topic.
CONTINENTAL DRIFT
7. What idea is suggested by the theory of Continental Drift and who first proposed it?
8. What did he name this land mass and when did it begin to “break up”?
FIT OF THE CONTINETS
9. What is the first piece of evidence that led Wegner to begin thinking about the Theory of
Continental Drift?
FOSSIL EVIDENCE
10. According to the fossil record, on what two land masses did the reptile Cynognathus live?
Click the small clock in the lower left corner of the screen in order to answer the following
questions:
11. Click on the MESOZOIC ERA and explain why this era is known as the “Age of the
Dinosaurs”.
12. Click on each period within the Mesozoic and explain the meaning of each term used to name
the time period.
After answering these questions, click on the return button to continue the program.
13. Why is it considered impossible for the Mesosaurus to have traveled from South America to
Africa by swimming?
14. On what land masses does one find fossils of a Lystrosaurus?
15. What land masses contain fossils of the Glossopteris?
16. How does the theory of continental drift attempt to explain these fossil finds appear across
such wide oceans, all at the same time?
EVIDENCE FROM THE ROCKS
18. Explain the climate evidence to support the theory of continental drift.
Use this material to complete the next REVIEW portion of the program. Then continue with the
plate tectonics portion of the program.
PLATE TECTONICS
19. How is the theory of plate tectonics characterized in the opening screen?
20. When did this new theory first appear?
21. What is the main premise of this new theory?
Watch the sample and try to match the major plates on the globe with the images on the map. Be
sure to sketch in the names of the plates on your answer sheet for later reference.
22. Which plates are composed mostly of OCEANANIC CRUST?
23. Which plates contain both continents and oceans?
24. According to the theory, what is happening to the distance between New York, and
London? Between Denver, and New York?
25. Where does all the interactions between plates take place?
PLATE BOUNDARIES
26. What three forms do these interactions take? (How does the interaction of plates show up in
Geology?
27. Name and diagram the three types of plate boundaries.
DIVERGENT BOUNDARIES
28. Where do most divergent boundaries exist?
29. How is new sea floor (new crust) formed at an OCEANANIC RIDGE?
30. How much new crust is created at one of these sites on a yearly basis?
Answer the questions in the program review at this time. When you complete the review,
continue on with CONVERGENT BOUNDARIES.
CONVERGENT BOUNDARIES
31. What is happening to the crust at a CONVERGENT boundary?
32. Explain how this is happening.
33. Where is an OCEANIC TRENCH formed?
34. What often happens when an oceanic plate collides with a continental plate?
What often forms on the surface above this boundary?
35. Click on the NEW FLASH button. What is the name and date of the famous
volcanic eruption?
Where is this volcano located?
36. Click on the GLOBE in the lower left corner. In what state is this volcano located?
Name two nearby states that share some of the effects of the eruption.
37. What often happens when two OCEANIC PLATES collide?
38. What volcano erupted in the Philippines in June of 1991?
39. Where are the Philippines?
40. What often happens when two continental plates collide?
41. Give two examples of this result.
42. What is the third highest mountain in the world? Where is it located? (hint: click on the globe)
43. What mountain range formed as a super-continent PANGAEA began to break apart?
44. What two land masses collided to form these mountains?
Answer the Questions in the program review at this point. When you are finished, continue on
with the program.
TRANSFORM FAULT BOUNDARIES
45. How are transform fault boundaries different from divergent boundaries?
46. What famous fault is actually a transform fault boundary?
47. What NEWS FLASH occurred on October 17, 1989?
Answer the Questions in the program review at this point. When you are finished, continue on
with the program.
TESTING THE PLATE MODEL
48. What is the name of the ship that began drilling the ocean floor in 1968?
49. After clicking on 5 red markers where did you find the youngest sea floor?
50. Does this data support or refute (contradict) the plate tectonic theory?
PLATE TECTONICS AND EARTHQUAKES
Shallow focus earthquakes are quakes that occur close to the surface of the earth. Deep-focus quakes take place deep within
the asthenosphere (portion of the mantle)
51. Which type of earthquake accounts for the majority –shallow focus, medium focus
or deep-focus?
52. How deep have the deepest known earthquakes occurred (in miles)?
53. What geologic feature is associated with deep-focus earthquakes?
This next section of the program requires that you place earthquake icons (small coloured spheres) on the graph according to
their Distance and Depth. Click on the top blue sphere and drag is to the location on the graph that corresponds to 450 km
in distance and 25 km in depth (see figure 4). Do this for each of the icons in the box on the left side of the screen. When you
are finished, click on “Is This Right?” to see if all the icons were placed correctly. You can then make any corrections.
Take your time and place the icons as close as possible to the correct locations. When you are
finished, continue with the Review portions of the program.
54. How are shallow-focus earthquakes produced? What two things must interact?
55. Where do medium-focus earthquakes originate?
56. On a map of the earth’s surface, where do most of the shallow-focus earthquakes seem to
occur?
57. Where should deep-focus earthquakes occur (on the map)?
Answer the Questions in the program review at this point. When you are finished, continue on
with the program.
HOT SPOTS AND PLATE TECTONICS
58. How old Is the island of Hawaii?
59. What is believed to be located beneath the island of Hawaii?
60. What is the name of the volcanic zone in which these plumes occur?
61. Since HOT SPOTS remain stationary, how were the Hawaiian Islands formed?
62. The islands of the Hawaiian chain are not floating land masses, but rather, they are actually
the tips of __________ sticking out of the Pacific Ocean.
63. How long ago was the island of Kauai positioned over a hot spot?
64. What is in the middle of the lava flow shown in the NEWS FLASH?
Answer the Questions in the program review at this point. When you are finished, continue on
with the program.
THE DRIVING MECHANISM
65. What is the driving mechanism for plate motion? (What causes the plates to move?)
66. What other force seems to be involved in plate motion?
67. What is the most probable cause of plate motion according to the theory of Plate Tectonics?
PLATE TECTONICS IN THE FUTURE
68. How long has plate tectonics been operating?
69. How far into the future have the motion of the plates been predicted?
PHOTO CREDITS
70. In the Photo Credits section, where did the photo of the San Andreas fault come from?