Materials: 2 copies of Map of the Earth’s Tectonic Plates (Interpretive Map of Plate Tectonics) (For more clarity, this map is also available online

2 copies of Map of the Earth’s Tectonic Plates (Interpretive Map of Plate

Tectonics) (For more clarity, this map is also available online

at:

http://mineralsciences.si.edu/tdpmap/pdfs/interpretive.pdf)

One sheet of red construction paper

Scissors

Directions:

1. 
   Making the Tectonic Plates
   

1. 
   One copy of the Map of Tectonic Plates will be a point of reference and the other will be cut up. In the following steps you will be instructed to cut the map up.
   
2. 
   Before actually cutting the map along the plate boundaries, notice that the South and North American plates are really one plate, which contain the two continents of North and South America.
   
3. 
   Note that there are a total of seven major plates to cut out:
   

• 
  The Eurasia plate which includes all of Asia and Europe out to the mid Atlantic ocean.
  
• 
  The North and South American plate, including the Scotia and Caribbean plates.
  
• 
  The Nazca/Cocos plate.
  
• 
  The Pacific plate, including the Philippine plate.
  
• 
  The Australia/India plate.
  
• 
  The Antarctica plate.
  
• 
  The Nubia plate, which includes all of Africa and Arabia.
  

4. 
   Once you have carefully noted and identified all the plates, cut the map along the plate boundaries.
   
5. 
   Place your plate pieces on top of the red piece of construction paper. This red paper represents the mantle, the molten magma that lies just beneath the plates.
   

2. 
   Plate Tectonics Activity
   

a. Move the North and South American plate away from the Nubia and Eurasia plate in the directions indicated by the arrows.

1. 
   What color appears in the middle after you move the plates apart?
   
2. 
   What does this represent, and why does it appear?
   
3. 
   When you move the North/South American plate to the left, what happens to the Pacific plate?
   
4. 
   When you move the Eurasia plate to the right, what happens to the Pacific plate?
   

2. 
   Move the Nazca/Cocos plate in the direction of its arrows, and the North/South American plate in the direction of its arrows.
   

2. What do you see at the boundaries of the Nazca/Cocos plate and the Pacific plate, and why?

2. 
   Move the Australia/India plate in the direction of its arrows, and the Eurasia plate in the direction of its arrows.
   

2. 
   Six of the eleven largest hot spots in the world are located near what kind of plate boundaries?
   

1. 
   What kind of plate boundaries are the other two hot spots found on?
   

5. 
   On which boundaries would most earthquakes happen, and why?
   
6. 
   On which boundaries would most volcanoes happen, and why?
   

1. 
   In a million years, will the Atlantic Ocean be bigger or smaller?
   
2. 
   In a million years, will the North Pacific Ocean be bigger or smaller?
   
3. 
   In a million years, where will Australia be relative to Asia, and what may happen to the island nations between the two?
   
4. 
   In a million years, what will happen to Alaska and Siberia (Russia)?