Plate Tectonics

1
Plate Tectonics
CW
21st September 2005

• Lesson Aims
• To understand how the Earth is structured
• To look closely at how the Crust of the Earth
  is split up

2
This lesson is the first of 5 that are about
earthquakes. In the next few weeks we will be
investigating earthquakes, focusing on their
effects in USA Japan
3
The Structure of the Earth

• The Earth is a bit like a piece of fruit
• Like an orange, it has a thin layer around the
  outside called a Crust
• Like a Peach, under the skin (crust) it has a
  softer, fleshy area, called the Mantle
• In the middle of the Earth, like an Apple, there
  is a Core

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The Structure of the Earth

• So if we took a slice out of the Earth
• this is what it would look like

Crust
Mantle
Inner Core
Outer Core
5
Task- Complete the worksheet using the picture
below, following the instructions on the
sheet. Stick it in your books, and give it the
title The structure of the Earth
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The Earths Crust

• Remember the Earths crust is the outer shell

• We live on the Earths crust
• It covers the whole of the Earths surface- we
  need to drain all the water off to see how big
  the crust is
• The crust is moving!
• Which means it isnt one solid crust- instead it
  is like a big jigsaw puzzle!

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The Earths crust is split up like this
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These are the pieces of the Jigsaw The arrows
show the way the plates are moving
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So where do the major Earthquakes occur?
Major Earthquakes
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Plate Boundaries

• The lines that you have drawn on your world map
  are called Plate Boundaries
• 3 things could be happening here-
• 2 plates could be moving away from each other
  (called Constructive Plate Margin)
• One plate might be going underneath another
  (Destructive Plate Margin)
• One plate might be moving alongside another
  (Conservative / Passive Plate Margin)

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Plate Boundaries
Constructive plate boundary
Conservative plate boundary
Destructive plate boundary
Copy these 3 pictures neatly into your books
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Homework

• Complete the worksheet for next lesson
• Do all work in exercise books, not on sheet