Page 54 - Laboratory Manual in Physical Geology

BIG IDEAS PRE-LAB VIDEO

Tectonics is the study of global processes that create and
deform lithosphere. Plate tectonics is the theory that
Earth’s lithosphere is broken into dozens of plates (thin
curved pieces). The plates are created and destroyed,
move about, and interact in ways that cause earthquakes
and create major features of the continents and ocean
basins (like volcanoes, mountain belts, ocean ridges,
and trenches).

FOCUS YOUR INQUIRY

|
THINK Is the lithosphere beneath your feet really
About It moving?
ACTIVITY 2.1 Plate Motion Inquiry Using GPS Time
Series (p. 43 )

THINK | What causes plate tectonics?
About It

ACTIVITY 2.2 Is Plate Tectonics Caused by a Change in
Earth’s Size? (p. 45 )

ACTIVITY 2.3 Lava Lamp Model of Earth (p. 46 )

THINK How are plate boundaries identified? How and
About It | at what rates does plate tectonics affect Earth’s
surface?
ACTIVITY 2.4 Paleomagnetic Stripes and Seafloor
Spreading (p. 47 )
2 ACTIVITY 2.5 Atlantic Seafloor Spreading (p. 49 )

ACTIVITY 2.6 Using Earthquakes to Identify Plate
Boundaries (p. 50 )

Motions (p. 50 )
L A B O R A T O R Y ACTIVITY 2.7 San Andreas Transform-Boundary Plate
|
THINK What are hot spots, and how do they help us
Plate Tectonics About It explain plate tectonics?
ACTIVITY 2.8 Hot Spots and Plate Motions (p. 50 )

and the Origin of THINK

About It | How and where does magma form?
Magma ACTIVITY 2.9 The Origin of Magma (p. 51 )

C ONTRIBUTING A UTHORS
Edward A. Hay • De Anza College
Cherukupalli E. Nehru • Brooklyn College (CUNY)

C. Gil Wiswall • West Chester University of Pennsylvania
View of a rift valley, looking north across Thingvelir National Park,
Iceland. Cliffs in the foreground (west side of rift) are part of the
North American Plate. Hills in the background are across the rift
valley, on the Eurasian Plate. The plates are diverging (moving
apart). (Photo by Ragnar Sigurdsson/Arctic/Alamy)
39