• The interior of the earth is hot. Heat flow and movement of material within the earth cause earthquakes and volcanic eruptions and create mountains and ocean basins. Gas and dust from large volcanoes can change the atmosphere.
• Some changes in the earth's surface are abrupt (such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions) while other changes happen very slowly (such as uplift and wearing down of mountains).
• Matching coastlines and similarities in rock types and life forms suggest that today's continents are separated parts of what was long ago a single continent.
• The earth first formed in a molten state and then the surface cooled into solid rock.
• The outer layer of the earth—including both the continents and the ocean basins—consists of separate plates.
• The earth's plates sit on a dense, hot, somewhat melted layer of the earth. The plates move very slowly, pressing against one another in some places and pulling apart in other places, sometimes scraping alongside each other as they do. Mountains form as two continental plates, or an ocean plate and a continental plate, press together.
• There are worldwide patterns to major geological events (such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and mountain building) that coincide with plate boundaries.

What are the compositional layers of Earth from the outside to the inside?

What are the mechanical layers of Earth from the outside to the inside?

What are some unique properties of each structural layer of Earth?

How are each of the layers of the Earth similar and different?

What is the crust?

What is the mantle?

What is the core?

What is the lithosphere?

What is the asthenosphere?

What is the mesosphere?

What is the inner core and outer core? How are they similar and different?

What are the major elements that comprise the largest portion of solid Earth?

What is the theory that explains tectonic plate movement?

What is a tectonic plate?

What are the six major tectonic plates?

Given a world map partially labeled with continents and/or oceans, what are the locations of each major tectonic plate?

Why do tectonic plates move?

How is plate movement related to the structure of the Earth?

What are the two types of plates?

What is oceanic crust?

What is continental crust?

What is a plate boundary?

What are the three types of plate movement or plate boundaries?

What is "divergent" plate movement?

What is "convergent" plate movement?

What is "transform" plate movement?

Why does plate movement occur at plate boundaries?

How does plate tectonics cause major geological events?

What are some major geological events that can occur as a result of plate movement?

What is the relationship between plate movement and ocean basin formation?

What is the relationship between plate movement and an earthquake?

What is the relationship between plate movement and a volcanic eruption?

What is the relationship between plate movement and mountain building?

What type of geological events commonly occur as a result of divergent plate movement?

What type of geological events commonly occur as a result of convergent plate movement?

What type of geological events commonly occur as a result of transform plate movement?

Key Content Vocabulary:

• Asthenosphere – the somewhat fluid portion of the mantle upon which the lithosphere is located
• Cementation – process of binding and hardening sediments into hard rock
• Compaction – process by which overlying pressure from rocks and soil reduces the size or volume of sediments
• Compositional layers – structural layers of Earth defined by the materials from which they are made
• Core – the central region of the Earth; primarily made of nickel and iron
• Igneous – a type of rock formed when crystallized through melting and cooling rock
• Lithosphere – the solid and rigid outer layer of the Earth consisting of the crust and the solid portion of the upper mantle; positioned between the atmosphere and the asthenosphere
• Mantle – the region inside the Earth between the core and the crust
• Mechanical layers – structural layers of Earth defined on the basis of how materials act
• Mesosphere – the region of the mantle beneath the lithosphere and asthenosphere, but above the outer core
• Metamorphic – a type of rock formed when igneous or sedimentary rocks are put under intense heat and / or pressure in the Earth’s crust
• Plasticity – the quality of being easily shaped or molded
• Rock cycle – the continual process by which rocks can be changed into different types of rock
• Sedimentary – a type of rock formed through the accumulation, compaction, and cementation of sediment
• Sedimentation – the deposition of solid material from being suspended in a fluid (water)
• Semi-solid – having the qualities of both a solid and a liquid; exceptionally thick substance

Related Vocabulary:

• Advantage
• Crust
• Crystals
• Density
• Deposition
• Erosion

• Inner core
• Limitation
• Lower mantle
• Malleable
• Minerals
• Model

• Outer core
• Pressure
• Rocks
• Sediment
• Upper mantle
• Weathering

Key Content Vocabulary:

• Continental crust – thicker part of Earth’s crust that forms the large land masses
• Convergent boundary – two plates coming together
• Divergent boundary – two plates moving apart
• Geologic event – a change to the structure of the Earth by tectonic activities
• Mid-ocean ridge – undersea mountain range formed where two parts of the Earth’s crust are moving apart
• Ocean basin – large bowl shaped depression that holds ocean water; regions of crust below sea level
• Oceanic crust – thinner part of Earth’s crust that lies underneath the ocean basins
• Plate – distinct sections of the lithosphere which make up the outermost layer of the Earth
• Plate boundary – a region where two lithospheric plates meet
• Sea-floor spreading – formation of new oceanic crust due to the upwelling of magma at mid-ocean ridges
• Subduction – process where one plate slides under another
• Tectonics – study of the movement of large masses of rock, known as plates, on the Earth’s surface; includes folds, faults, and plate movement
• Theory – an explanation of a set of related observations or events based upon proven hypotheses and verified multiple times by groups of detached researchers; can be used to explain and predict natural phenomena
• Theory of plate tectonics – theory that describes plate movement and how it affects Earth’s geologic features
• Transform boundary – two plates sliding past each other in opposite directions

Related Vocabulary:

• Convection current
• Crust
• Earthquake

• Lithosphere
• Mantle
• Mountain building

• Ocean basin formation
• Volcanic eruptions

We will be sending notes home to explain the specific requirements of the project and the travel brochure. There are some example pictures below or the 3D Layers of Earth Project. There is also a YouTube video showing how make a Layers of the Earth Play-Doh project.

Convergent, Divergent, and Transform Plate Boundaries