Tectonic Rocks!

Earth & Environmental Sciences
Earth & Environmental Sciences
Created by
Let's Talk Science National Office
Activity Language
English
Grade
Grades 7-8,  Grades 9-10
Time Needed for Activity
1-2 hours
Subjects
Earth and Environmental Sciences
National Office Lending Library Kit

Participants explore the results of plate movement and how landforms are created through simulations and models.

This workshop takes your class from magma to mountains. Drifting back in time, participants will use scientific evidence to put together a puzzle of ‘Pangaea’. Participants gain an understanding of plate tectonics by demonstrations of convergent, divergent and conservative (transform) plate movements. After creating model mountains, they become cartographers by designing and drawing their own topographic map.

What You Need

Physical Requirements

  • Optional: a computer and projector is required for the PowerPoint presentation.

Introduction

Activity 1: Pangaea

  • Fun foam continents (16, 1 for every pair of participants)
  • Bag of fun foam continents with magnets on the back
  • Pangaea PowerPoint images
  • Beach ball globe 
  • Pangaea creatures (16 sets)
  • Pangaea Puzzle task cards

Activity 2: Plate Tectonics 

Activity 3: Topographic Map

  • Sample topographic maps 
  • Picture of mountains 
  • Optional: placemats, for making mountains
  • Sample Styrofoam model of mountain 
  • Fun foam model of a mountain 
  • Map worksheet (1 per student)
  • Bags (16) containing:
    • Block of modelling clay
    • Toothpicks (10)
    • Heavy fishing line (30cm)
    • 2 craft sticks 
    • Ruler 
    • Coloured markers
  • Topographical Map task card

Guide:

Presentation:

What To Do

Introduction

  • Begin by asking questions about what they know about Earth and why Earth Sciences are important. 
  • Compare the Earth to a Ferrero Rocher chocolate:
    • Gold wrapping- protective atmosphere
    • Outer hard and bumpy layer- crust
    • Soft chocolate- molten lava/liquid core
    • Nut – hard solid core
  • Using the map of the cross section of the Earth, explain the layers of the earth: crust, mantle, liquid core and solid core.

Pangaea

Activity 1a: Put Pangaea Together

  • Discuss Pangaea and the continental drift theory. 
  • Separate the participants into groups of two and give each group a bag of fun foam continents (labelled).
  • They will put the continents together into one giant land mass based on how they think the pieces fit together. 

Activity 1b: Put Pangaea Together Using Clues

  • Explain that Alfred Wegner used geological and meteorological clues to prove his theory of continental drift. 
    • Provide examples of geological clues. 
    • Provide examples of meteorological clues. 
  • Using the clues provided, participants will check to see if their Pangaea Puzzle to see if the clues provide evidence for their original puzzle solution and will adjust their puzzle as needed. 
  • As a group, discuss using the large fun foam magnetic continent pieces at the front of the class. You can also use the beach balls to display the 3-D view of the Earth. 
    • Refer to the layout found on page 13 of the Tectonics Rocks! manual. 

Plate Tectonics

  • Explain that the Earth’s crust is broken up into plates that are moving (plate tectonics) using the following resources:
    • Cross section of the Earth 
    • Diagram of the Earth’s plates
    • Earth’s Tectonic Plates (PowerPoint or printed diagram)
    • Cross section of the Earth’s composition. 
  • Refer to the plates that are relevant to where you are. 

Demonstration: Plate Boundaries

  • Use the fun foam model or pictures on the board to demonstrate the three types of plate boundaries
    • Convergent boundary
    • Divergent boundary
    • Conservative/transform boundary

Activity 2: Geological Times

  • Hand out "The Geological Times" Data Sheet (1 per participant) and laminated "The Geological Times" articles (1 per participant or pair). 
  • They will answer the questions on their data sheet after reading each article and use the erasable markers to mark their laminated map. 

Topographical Maps 

  • Review convergent boundaries and mountain formation, mentioning the location of mountain ranges and the tallest mountains in the world. 
  • Describe the ways to illustrate a tall mountain on a map. 
  • Compare the 3-D model of a mountain made of layers of Styrofoam to a 2-D model of a topographical map.
  • Explain how contour lines work by splitting apart the 3-D mountain into its 6 segments. 
  • Each contour line represents a height of 100m. Using both the 3-D model and the laminated hand-made map, have participants determine the height of the mountain. 
    • Further explain by tracing the segments from the 3-D map onto the laminated hand-made map (should be taped to the board). 
  • Explain why this sort of map is useful. Discuss the information that is missing from the map (hint: north point, scale, title, date, contour interval and legend).

Activity 3: Topographical Maps 

  • Split participants into groups of two. 
  • Hand out Topographical Map task cards, blank photocopied maps and supplies to each group. 
  • Participants will make a steep and flat mountain out of modelling clay.
  • They will make a topographical map for each mountain. To make their map, each participant will: 
    • Place a toothpick (horizontally) 2cm from the base of the mountain, on all four sides of the mountain. 
    • Use a wire to cut the mountain at 2cm in height.
    • Place the 2cm slice of their mountain on the blank map and trace it. 
    • Repeat the process until they cannot cut any more 2cm slices.
    • Add the remaining information to their map: author, title, date, contour interval and scale.
  • Discuss the difference in the contour lines of the steep mountain vs the flat mountain/hill, using one of the participant’s maps as an example.

Wrap-up

  • Discuss possible careers related to the topics covered and what they would need to do (schooling, experience, etc…) to get into those careers. 

Discovery

Pangaea

The outermost layer around the Earth is called the crust. The crust is thickest under continents and thinnest beneath oceans. Beneath the crust is a layer of hot rock called the mantle. The top part of the mantle is solid and this part in combination with the crust is called the lithosphere. Below the mantle is the Earth’s core, which is primarily made of iron and nickel. The core is solid in the centre with liquid on the outside. 

In 1915, a meteorologist named Alfred Wegener published his theory of Continental Drift. He suggested that about 200 million years ago there existed a supercontinent called Pangaea (meaning all-land). The supercontinent broke into smaller pieces (continents), which eventually drifted to its present locations. He used the fit of Africa and South America, climatic data (meteorological clues), rock structures and fossil evidence (geological clues) to prove his theory.

Plate Tectonics

Scientists discovered that the continents are connected to the land underneath the ocean (the sea floor). They concluded that if the continents were moving, the sea floor must also be moving. This led to the development of the Plates Tectonics Theory, which states that the Earth’s outer rigid lithosphere consists of individual segments or plates.

The demonstration for this activity explains the different types of plate boundaries. 

  • Convergent Plate Boundary: occurs where two plates are moving towards each other.
    • When two continental plates meet or collide (continental convergent boundary), the plate material gets buckled and folded upwards, resulting in the formation of mountains. Earthquakes may occur.
    • When a continental plate collides with an oceanic plate (subduction zone), the oceanic plate is pushed under the continental plate due to density. The oceanic plate reheats as it reaches the mantle. As the continental plate moves, it peels the top layer off the oceanic plate. This led to the formation of the Rocky Mountains on the west coast of North America. 
    • When two oceanic plates collide, one is usually pushed under the other one (subduction zone). The sinking plate will melt and form a volcano (and island arcs) when there is high pressure.
  • Divergent Plate Boundary: occurs when plates move away from each other.
    • Underwater: hot magma instantly comes to the surface and creates a new ocean floor. The island Surtsey was created from lava build-up from a volcano that erupted for over a year in the Mid-Atlantic range. 
    • On land: the crust splits open to allow magma out. This may occur slowly (hot springs) or violently (new volcano erupts along with earthquakes). 
  • Conservative/Transform Plate Boundary: Occurs when plates slide alongside each other, resulting in earthquakes and/or the pulverization of the rocks at the edges (faults). Two of the largest earthquakes occurred in Canada due to the transform boundary between the Pacific and North American Plates.
    • Canadian scientist John Tuzo Wilson (a leading contributor in the field of Plate Tectonics) proposed the conservative/transform plate boundary.

Topographical Map

The distinctive characteristic of a topographic map is that the shape of the Earth’s surface is shown by contour lines. Contour lines are imaginary lines that show the height of land. In a topographic map, 0 metres is sea level. If a contour is labelled 100 metres we know that every place along the line is 100 metres above sea level. Topographic maps are important because they represent the Earth’s features accurately and to scale on a two dimensional surface. Contours that are very close together represent steep slopes. Widely spaced contours means that the mountain or hill has a very gentle slope.

Topographic maps are used at all levels of government and industry for food control, forest fire control, real estate planning, development of natural resources, environmental issues, right-of-way, highway planning and depiction of crop areas.

The Processes that Shape Landforms (STEM in Context) includes information on how weathering, erosion and deposition shape landforms. 

Continental Drift and Plate Tectonics (Backgrounders) provides more information on the Theories of Continental Drift and Plate Tectonics and what happens when plates collide. 

Structure of the Earth (Backgrounders) provides more information on the layers of the Earth and how people explore the Earth’s crust. 

What's Happening?

Pangaea

The outermost layer around the Earth is called the crust. The crust is thickest under continents and thinnest beneath oceans. Beneath the crust is a layer of hot rock called the mantle. The top part of the mantle is solid and this part in combination with the crust is called the lithosphere. Below the mantle is the Earth’s core, which is primarily made of iron and nickel. The core is solid in the centre with liquid on the outside. 

In 1915, a meteorologist named Alfred Wegener published his theory of Continental Drift. He suggested that about 200 million years ago there existed a supercontinent called Pangaea (meaning all-land). The supercontinent broke into smaller pieces (continents), which eventually drifted to its present locations. He used the fit of Africa and South America, climatic data (meteorological clues), rock structures and fossil evidence (geological clues) to prove his theory.

Plate Tectonics

Scientists discovered that the continents are connected to the land underneath the ocean (the sea floor). They concluded that if the continents were moving, the sea floor must also be moving. This led to the development of the Plates Tectonics Theory, which states that the Earth’s outer rigid lithosphere consists of individual segments or plates.

The demonstration for this activity explains the different types of plate boundaries. 

  • Convergent Plate Boundary: occurs where two plates are moving towards each other.
    • When two continental plates meet or collide (continental convergent boundary), the plate material gets buckled and folded upwards, resulting in the formation of mountains. Earthquakes may occur.
    • When a continental plate collides with an oceanic plate (subduction zone), the oceanic plate is pushed under the continental plate due to density. The oceanic plate reheats as it reaches the mantle. As the continental plate moves, it peels the top layer off the oceanic plate. This led to the formation of the Rocky Mountains on the west coast of North America. 
    • When two oceanic plates collide, one is usually pushed under the other one (subduction zone). The sinking plate will melt and form a volcano (and island arcs) when there is high pressure.
  • Divergent Plate Boundary: occurs when plates move away from each other.
    • Underwater: hot magma instantly comes to the surface and creates a new ocean floor. The island Surtsey was created from lava build-up from a volcano that erupted for over a year in the Mid-Atlantic range. 
    • On land: the crust splits open to allow magma out. This may occur slowly (hot springs) or violently (new volcano erupts along with earthquakes). 
  • Conservative/Transform Plate Boundary: Occurs when plates slide alongside each other, resulting in earthquakes and/or the pulverization of the rocks at the edges (faults). Two of the largest earthquakes occurred in Canada due to the transform boundary between the Pacific and North American Plates.
    • Canadian scientist John Tuzo Wilson (a leading contributor in the field of Plate Tectonics) proposed the conservative/transform plate boundary.

Topographical Map

The distinctive characteristic of a topographic map is that the shape of the Earth’s surface is shown by contour lines. Contour lines are imaginary lines that show the height of land. In a topographic map, 0 metres is sea level. If a contour is labelled 100 metres we know that every place along the line is 100 metres above sea level. Topographic maps are important because they represent the Earth’s features accurately and to scale on a two dimensional surface. Contours that are very close together represent steep slopes. Widely spaced contours means that the mountain or hill has a very gentle slope.

Why Does it Matter?

Topographic maps are used at all levels of government and industry for food control, forest fire control, real estate planning, development of natural resources, environmental issues, right-of-way, highway planning and depiction of crop areas.

Investigate Further

The Processes that Shape Landforms (STEM in Context) includes information on how weathering, erosion and deposition shape landforms. 

Continental Drift and Plate Tectonics (Backgrounders) provides more information on the Theories of Continental Drift and Plate Tectonics and what happens when plates collide. 

Structure of the Earth (Backgrounders) provides more information on the layers of the Earth and how people explore the Earth’s crust. 

Resources

Web

Alden, A. What is subduction? - ThoughtCo.

BBC. The big question: Why do volcanoes erupt? 

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica - Continental drift 

National Geographic - Continental drift 

United States Geological Survey - How do volcanoes erupt? 

Van Andel, T. H. Plate tectonics - Encyclopaedia Britannica.

Print

Kendra, M. and Williams, P. (1992). Science Wizardry for Kids. New York: Barron’s Educational Series, Inc. ISBN: 0-8120-4766-4

Alvens, C. (1994) Meteorology Today: An Introduction to Weather, Climate and the Environment – 5th edition. Minneapolis: West Publishing Company. ISBN: 0-314-02779-3

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