Earth's Tectonic Plates

Which statement explains why tectonic plates move?

• Plates move because the asthenosphere is slowly moving because of convection currents.

• Plates move because they are slowly expanding and growing larger.

• Plates move because landforms cause them to move in different directions.

• Plates move because of the gravitational force of the moon pulling on Earth's surface.

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS2-3

Which can form when oceanic plates move toward each other? Choose 3

• deep-ocean trenches

• Volcanic mountains

• Volcanic islands

• rift valleys

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS2-2

NGSS.MS-ESS2-3

What happens when two plates move away from each other?

• They collide.

• One plate sinks and gets melted into magma.

• Mountains form

• Magma rises in the rift valley and causes eruptions.

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS2-3

What most often causes earthquakes to occur?

• Two plates moving toward each other.

• The plates moving away from each other.

• Two plates moving past each other.

• Landslides

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS3-2

Match the following

• Continental crust

• • thicker, less dense, forms landmasses, composed mostly of granite, generally older than oceanic crust

• Oceanic crust

• Boundary where two tectonic plates meet

• Plate boundary

• thinner, more dense, located under oceans and seas, composed mostly of basalt, generally younger than continental crust

​ (a)   the process by which rock material moves under Earth’s outer layer and into the mantle due to plate motion

• subduction

• uplift

• weathering

• sediment

Tags

ESS2.A

ESS2.C

ESS3.A

ESS3.C

Label the parts of the plate boundary

a

b

c

Subduction zone

Mountains

Continental crust

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS2-2

Match the following

• Subduction

• A plate boundary where two tectonic plates move apart from each other

• Transform boundary

• process in which two lithospheric plates of different densities converge and the denser one sinks into the mantle beneath the other

• Divergent boundary

• A plate boundary where two tectonic plates slide horizontally past one another

• Continental rifting

• The process by which a continent is pulled apart at a divergent plate boundary

• Convergent boundary

• A plate boundary where two tectonic plates move toward each other and collide

According to the graph, rock samples found 700 km from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge are approximately ​​ ​ (a)   . Rocks found 300 Km from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge are ​​ (b)   .

• 45 million years old

• 20 million years old

• 70 million years old

• 30 million years old

• 60 million years old

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS1-4

NGSS.MS-ESS2-2

NGSS.MS-ESS2-3

Label each plate boundary.

a

b

c

Transform

Divergent

Convergent

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS2-3