Tectonics

Unit Concepts

• Describe that the Earth is comprised of layers including a core, mantle, lithosphere,hydrosphere, and atmosphere.
• Know that the Earth's crust is divided into plates that move at extremely slow rates in response to movements in the mantle.
• Know that vibrations (earthquakes) move at different speeds in different materials, have different wavelengths, and set up wave-like disturbances that spread away from the source.
• Recognize that waves (seismic) have energy and can transfer energy when they interact with matter.
• Understand how land forms are created through a combination of constructive and destructive forces ( constructive forces such as crustal deformation, volcanic eruptions, and deposition of sediment; destructive forces such as weathering and erosion)
• Understand the concept of plate tectonics (the outward transfer of the Earth's internal heat and the action of gravitational forces on regions of different density drive convection circulation in the mantle; these convection currents propel the Earth's crustal plates, which move very slowly, pressing against one another in some places and pulling apart in other places)
• Identify effects of the movement crustal plates (earthquakes occur along the boundaries between colliding plates; sea floor spreading occurs where plates are moving apart; mountain building occurs where plates are moving together; volcanic eruptions release pressure created by molten rock beneath the earth's surface)

• Plate Tectonics
  http://www.cotf.edu/ete/modules/msese/earthsysflr/plates1.html
• This Dynamic Earth: the Story of Plate Tectonics
  http://pubs.usgs.gov/publications/text/dynamic.html

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last updated: 12/5/00
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