Today we are going use an Oreo to learn about tectonic plates. The TOP cookie represents the tectonic plates (which are found on the top of the earth) and the icing/filling represents magma/lava (found under the plates).
Which of the following is true?
Choose a cookie. Don’t eat it… yet!
· First, carefully remove the top cookie (you must twist it!)
· Next, break the top cookie in half. As you do so, listen to the sound it makes.
What natural disaster would cause a crack in the earth and would make a sound similar to that?
Let’s look at divergent plate boundaries. Divergent boundaries are where the two plates MOVE AWAY from each other - like shown above.
What does divergent mean?
Put one pointer finger on each broken half. Now push down (lightly) on the two broken cookie halves and pull them apart. What happens to the icing/filling?
When tectonic plates move away from each other at divergent boundaries, the magma is pushed up to the surface, hardens and creates new "ground" called sea floor. This is called sea floor spreading - beause the sea floor is literally "spreading out" and becoming larger
What landform is created at divergent boundaries?
When tectonic plates move away from each other at divergent boundaries, the magma is pushed up to the surface, hardens and creates new "ground" called sea floor. This is called sea floor spreading - beause the sea floor is literally "spreading out" and becoming larger
What causes the new sea floor at divergent boundaries?
Now let’s look at convergent plate boundaries. Convergent means that two tectonic plates move TOWARDS each other.
Take the two cookie halves and slowly push them toward each other. Push one half of the broken cookie under the other half of broken cookie. What happens to the filling as the plates slide together?
What happens to the cookies as they push against each other?
What landforms do you think the cookies represent at this point?
What type of plate boundary created mountains and volcanoes?
Now let’s look at a transform plate boundary. Try sliding the two cookie pieces laterally past one another, over the creamy filling. What do you notice about the cookie edges?
You can feel and hear that the “plates” do not slide smoothly past one another, but rather stick and then let go. This phenomenon in the real world is described as
What type of plate boundary creates earthquakes?
What causes tectonic plate movement?
Describe what happens to the plates at a divergent plate boundary and draw the movement with ARROWS in the box.
Describe what happens to the plates at a convergent plate boundary and draw the movement with ARROWS in the box.
Match the three types of CONVERGENT plate boundaries with their land formations
| Draggable item | arrow_right_alt | Corresponding Item |
|---|---|---|
Oceanic - Continental | arrow_right_alt | Mountains |
Oceanic - Oceanic | arrow_right_alt | Mountains, volcanoes |
Continental - Continental | arrow_right_alt | Trench, island arcs, volcanoes |
Describe what happens to the plates at a transform plate boundary and draw the movement with ARROWS in the box.
A zone of active volcanoes that encircles the Pacific Ocean
Why do hotspots occur?
At the boundaries between tectonic plates, sudden movements that are created when the plates slide past each other are called
What happens to magma at divergent boundaries?
What is the subduction zone?
At this site a 9.0 magnitude earthquake, which occurred at a nearby subduction zone, triggered one of the largest nuclear reactor disasters in history.
Some of Earth’s landforms are created by hotspots where a plate rides over a fixed “plume” of hot mantle, creating a line of volcanoes. Imagine if a piece of hot, glowing coal were imbedded in the creamy filling – a chain of volcanoes would be burned into the overriding cookie. Name a location on Earth where this occurs.
What type of plate boundary is this an example of?
What type of plate boundary is this an example of?
What type of plate boundary is this an example of?
What type of plate boundary is this an example of?
What type of plate boundary is this an example of?
What would likely occur at this boundary?
