Name: ______________________________________ Date: ________________________
Student Exploration: Plate Tectonics
Vocabulary: collisional boundary, convergent boundary, crust, divergent boundary, earthquake,
lithosphere, mantle, plate, plate tectonics, subduction zone, transform boundary, volcano
Prior Knowledge Questions (Do these BEFORE using the Gizmo
.)
1. Volcanoes are openings in Earth’s crust where lava, gas, and ash can erupt. Where are
active volcanoes located? ____________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
2. An earthquake is a violent shaking of Earth’s surface. Where are earthquakes common?
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
Gizmo Warm-up
Volcanoes, earthquakes, mountains, and other features of Earth’s surface owe their origin to the
movements of plates: enormous, slowly-moving sections of Earth’s crust. At plate boundaries,
plates collide, move apart, move under or over each other, or slide past one another. The theory
of plate tectonics describes how the plates move, interact, and change the physical landscape.
The Plate Tectonics Gizmo™ shows a cross-section, or side view, of Earth. (Not to scale.)
Above the cross section is a bird’s-eye view of the same location.
1. Turn on Show labels. What are the layers of Earth that you can see? _________________
_________________________________________________________________________
2. Turn on Boundary name, and click on each boundary. What four boundaries do you see?
_________________________________________________________________________
They are located at the edges of the tectonic plates.
They are commonly found also on the edges of the tectonic plates and occur when
the plates move or rub up against each other.
the crust, lithosphere and mantle
transform boundary, convergent boundary: collisional, convergent boundary: subduction, divergent boundary,
