Name: ___________________________________
Plate Tectonic Webquest
Use this Link to answer questions 1-3 Alfred Wegener
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/databank/entries/do12we.html
1. What evidence did Alfred Wegener use to support his theory of continental drift?
2. Why do you think people didn’t believe the theory when Wegener first explained it?
3. Who were the two scientists that brought forth supporting evidence to Wegener’s theory and what was their
evidence?
Go here and watch Plate Tectonic Animation: Continental Drift
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/geology/anim1.html
Link for questions 4-7 : Plate boundaries http://pubs.usgs.gov/publications/text/understanding.html
4. What are the three different types of plate boundaries? Describe each type.
5. Name a place on Earth where two plates are converging. Name a place where two plates are diverging. Name a
place where two plates are sliding along each other.
6 .What are the three different types of convergent plate boundaries?
7. Explain what plate tectonics and ocean trenches have in common.
I can relate the features and processes (sea-floor spreading, mid-ocean ridges, subduction zones, earthquakes and
volcanoes, mountain ranges) that occur on or near the Earth’s surface to the plate tectonic theory.
Name: ___________________________________
Plate Tectonic Webquest
Link for question 8 : Sea-floor spreading
http://www.uwsp.edu/geo/faculty/ritter/glossary/s_u/sea_flr_spread.html
8. When comparing the age of the rocks on the east coast of North America to the rocks along the Mid Atlantic
ridge, which do you think are older? Why do you think this is the case?
Link for questions 9-10 : Convection http://pubs.usgs.gov/publications/text/unanswered.html
9. What is a convection current or cell? Describe how it works. (draw a picture if you choose)
10. What are the two main sources of heat inside the Earth?
11. What type of tectonic forces create mountains?
12. How were the Rocky Mountains formed? Support your answer using information you have learned in this web
Quest.
I can relate the features and processes (sea-floor spreading, mid-ocean ridges, subduction zones, earthquakes and
volcanoes, mountain ranges) that occur on or near the Earth’s surface to the plate tectonic theory.