Plate Tectonics Webquest
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Part I: Plate Tectonics – basic ideas
Click the link to Plate Tectonics – basic ideas
1. Who was Alfred Wegener and what is he known for?
2. Why is plate tectonics referred to as the World Theory of geology?
3. Describe the basic ideas that make up the theory of plate tectonics.
4. Three types of movement occur at plate boundaries. Describe the movement at each
type:
Convergent boundary:
Divergent boundary:
Transform boundary:
Part II: Pangea
Background: Pangea is the name given to a “supercontinent” that scientists believe
existed about 200 million years ago. All the continents were connected, forming one giant
continent.
Click the link to Continental Drift Animation. To start the animation click on the Animation
button. Look carefully at the positions of all the continents 200 million years ago (mya).
Click the play arrow . Watch the time below the map (starts at 200 mya) and stop the
animation every 50 million years to answer the questions below. Note: latitude lines
increment by 20°
5. What was the latitude of Florida 200 million years ago (mya)? 100 mya? What is
Florida’s latitude today? Where is it projected to be in 50 million years?
6. At what latitude was India 100 mya? 50 mya? What is India’s latitude today?
7. What formed when India crashed into Asia?
Part III: Earthquake and Volcano Patterns:
Click the Earthquake locations link and scroll down to the blue map showing the
distribution of earthquakes that have occurred in the last 100 years.
8. Do earthquakes occur randomly all over the globe, or do they have some sort of
pattern?
9. Scroll down to the map showing the depth of earthquakes (yellow = shallow; red =
intermediate; black = deep). Are there areas where only shallow to intermediate
earthquakes occur? Describe their location.
Click on the link to Plate Boundaries.
10. Compare the location of earthquakes (yellow dots) and volcanoes (red ▲) with the
tectonic plate boundaries (blue lines). What can you say about the relationship
between earthquakes and the tectonic plates?
Part IV. Ocean Floor
Click on the World Physiographic Map link. Note that the colors represent elevations. Reds
are higher elevations. In the oceans, darker blue indicates deep ocean, while lighter blue
indicates ridges on the ocean floor.
11. Look carefully at the location of high (red) mountain ranges on the North and South
American continents. Where do they occur?
12. Describe the location of the ridge system on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean (light
blue color). Does the Pacific Ocean have a similar ridge system?
If you look carefully you will see the ridge systems are connected.
Click on the Age of Sea Floor link. Look carefully at the map. Notice the continents are
shown in gray and the sea floor is color-coded from red (youngest rock) to blue (oldest
rock).
13. Where is the ocean crust youngest in the Atlantic Ocean? Oldest?
14. Describe the pattern of sea floor age in the Atlantic Ocean. Is there a similar pattern in
the Pacific Ocean?