Understanding Plate Tectonics

What is a plate?

• A section of the Earth's surface that is rigid and cold.

• A type of rock found in the mantle.

• A layer of the Earth's atmosphere.

Why do the plates move?

• Because of the heat produced by radioactivity.

• Due to the gravitational pull of the moon.

• Because they are pushed by ocean currents.

Name a plate which includes both part of a continent and part of an ocean.

Name a plate which contains just ocean floor and no part of a continent.

Name a place where two plates are moving towards each other.

Name a place where two plates are moving away from each other.

Name a place where two plates are moving along side each other.

What happens at destructive plate margins?

• Plates move towards each other and collide.

• Plates move away from each other.

• Plates slide past each other.

Explain the meaning of the term subduction

Explain the meaning of the term magma.