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How Plates Affect Our Planet

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How Plates Affect Our Planet: Mountains

172 words

How Plates Affect Our Planet: Pangaea

212 words

How Plates Affect Our Planet: Structure of the Earth

256 words

How Plates Affect Our Planet: Earthquakes

222 words

How Plates Affect Our Planet: Hot Spots

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How Plates Affect Our Planet: Plates on the Move

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How Plates Affect Our Planet: Volcanoes

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 How Plates Affect Our Planet: Mountains

How Plates Affect Our Planet: Mountains

T his article is pro vided co urtesy o f the American Museum o f Natural Histo ry.

It may se e m like the Rocky Mountains have be e n the re fore ve r, but the se mountains are ve ry
young compare d to the ag e of the Earth. In the history of the Earth, mountain chains like the
Rockie s have rise n and worn away many time s.

Mountains form whe re two contine ntal plate s collide . Since both plate s have a similar thickne ss
and we ig ht, ne ithe r one will sink unde r the othe r. Inste ad, the y crumple and fold until the rocks
are force d up to form a mountain rang e . As the plate s continue to collide , mountains will g e t
talle r and talle r.

The youngest mountains on Earth,

like the Himalayas in Asia, are high.
They started forming 60 million years
ago and are still rising. Mount
Everest in the Himalayas is the
tallest mountain in the world.

Old mountain ranges, like the Appalachians in the eastern U.S. are
not as high. They stopped forming long ago, and have been worn
down over millions of years by the erosive power of water and wind.
The Appalachians formed about 400 million years ago.

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 How Plates Affect Our Planet: Pangaea

How Plates Affect Our Planet: Pangaea

T his article is pro vided co urtesy o f the American Museum o f Natural Histo ry.

About 200 million ye ars ag o, all the contine nts on the Earth we re actually one hug e
"supe rcontine nt" surrounde d by one e normous oce an. This g ig antic contine nt, calle d Pang ae a,
slowly broke apart and spre ad out to form the contine nts we know today.

Sound amazing ? Be lie ve it or not, the contine nts have come tog e the r and spre ad apart at le ast
thre e time s be fore . Afte r all, our plane t is 4.5 billion ye ars old. On that time scale , 200 million
ye ars ag o isn't such a long time !

What can make the contine nts move ? Plate Te ctonics!

Scie ntists have found many kinds of e vide nce that support this ide a. He re are just a fe w:

The shape s of contine nts fit tog e the r like a puzzle . Just look at the e ast coast of South Ame rica
and the we st coast of Africait's almost a pe rfe ct fit!

Ide ntical rocks have be e n found on diffe re nt contine nts. The se rocks forme d millions of ye ars
ag o, be fore the contine nts se parate d. The y forme d from the same mine rals and unde r the same
conditions.

Fossils of the same kinds of dinosaurs, Me sosaurus, have be e n found in South Ame rica and
Africa. The se dinosaurs roame d the Earth be fore the two contine nts broke apart.

All the Earths continents were once Over millions of years, the continents
combined in one supercontinent, drifted apart.
Pangaea.

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 How Plates Affect Our Planet: Structure of the Earth

How Plates Affect Our Planet: Structure of the

Earth
T his article is pro vided co urtesy o f the American Museum o f Natural Histo ry.

Imag ine you could trave l from one point on Earth straig ht throug h the ce nte r of the plane t and
out the othe r side . Your journe y would be ne arly 12,870 kilome te rs (8,000 mile s).

Along the way, you d pass throug h all of Earth s laye rs:

Crust

The rocky surface of the Earth is a thin oute r she ll, much thinne r than the othe r laye rs.
The land that we se e , or contine ntal crust, is about 30 kilome te rs (19 mile s) thick. Unde r the
se a, oce anic crust is much thinne r (8 to 10 kilome te rs, or 5 to 6 mile s thick), but it's also much
he avie r.

The Earth's crust and the top part of the mantle are broke n into te n
larg e plate s and many smalle r one s.
Most plate s are made of both contine ntal and oce anic crust.

Mantle

The crust floats on a thick laye r of rock, almost 100 time s thicke r than contine ntal crust.
The solid rock isn't like the rock we know. Extre me he at make s it move in circle s.
It flows ve ry, ve ry slowly, but it's e noug h to cause the plate s above it to move ove r long
pe riods of time .
The plate s move about 8 ce ntime te rs (3 inche s) pe r ye ar.

Core

The core is e ve n thicke r than the mantle .

It's made of a liquid me tal oute r core that flows around a solid me tal inne r core .
The motion in the oute r core cre ate s a mag ne tic fie ld around the Earth. It's the same fie ld that
make s a compass work!
The core g ive s off incre dible he at, which is one of the driving force s that cause s the mantle to
flow.

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 How Plates Affect Our Planet: Earthquakes

How Plates Affect Our Planet: Earthquakes

T his text is pro vided co urtesy o f O Lo g y, the American Museum o f Natural Histo rys website fo r kids.

Earthquake s can cause the g round to shake and crack apart. Earthquake s can be ve ry powe rful,
and if the y occur in or ne ar are as whe re pe ople live , the y can make building s collapse , bridg e s
sway, and roads buckle .

But not all e arthquake s are powe rful e noug h to cause damag e . In fact, e arthquake s are happe ning
all the time , on land and in the oce an. Most are so small that pe ople don't e ve n fe e l the m.

An e arthquake is the sudde n move me nt of the Earth's crust. Earthquake s occur along fault line s,
cracks in the Earth's crust whe re te ctonic plate s me e t. The y occur whe re plate s are subducting ,
spre ading , slipping , or colliding . As the plate s g rind tog e the r, the y g e t stuck and pre ssure builds
up. Finally, the pre ssure be twe e n the plate s is so g re at that the y bre ak loose . De pe nding on how
much pre ssure has built up, the g round may tre mble slig htly or shake force fully.

Scie ntists de scribe the inte nsity of an e arthquake using the Richte r Scale . It me asure s
e arthquake s on a scale of 1 to 10. Pe ople bare ly fe e l a mag nitude 3 e arthquake , and windows
mig ht rattle at mag nitude 4. A mag nitude 6 e arthquake is conside re d major, causing house s to
move and chimne ys to fall. The larg e st e arthquake on re cord had a mag nitude of 9.5.

An Alaskan earthquake caused the

ground to crack apart. This highway in California collapsed
during an earthquake.

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 How Plates Affect Our Planet: Hot Spots

How Plates Affect Our Planet: Hot Spots

T his text is pro vided co urtesy o f O Lo g y, the American Museum o f Natural Histo rys website fo r kids.

Some volcanoe s pop up in random place s, ofte n far from the e dg e of a te ctonic plate . The se
volcanoe s are found ove r "hot spots."

A hot spot is an inte nse ly hot are a in the mantle be low the Earth's crust. The he at that fue ls the
hot spot come s from ve ry de e p in the Earth. This he at cause s the mantle in that re g ion to me lt.
The molte n mag ma rise s up and bre aks throug h the crust to form a volcano.

While the hot spot stays in one place , roote d to its de e p source of he at, the te ctonic plate is
slowly moving above it. As the plate move s, so doe s the volcano, and anothe r one forms in its
place . The volcano that move d is no long e r active . This is why a chain of e xtinct volcanoe s is ofte n
found e xte nding from a hot spot.

Hot spots are found around the g lobe , on land and in the oce an. The Hawaiian Islands are the
young e st volcanic mountains in a long chain of volcanoe s that forme r ove r a hotspot. The y are
still forming today. Anothe r hot spot is unde r Ye llowstone National Park, whe re the he at cause s
boiling mud pools and g e yse rs like Old Faithful.

The Hawaiian Islands are still forming Old Faithful geyser in Yellowstone
above a hotspot. National Park.

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 How Plates Affect Our Planet: Plates on the Move

How Plates Affect Our Planet: Plates on the

Move
T his text is pro vided co urtesy o f O Lo g y, the American Museum o f Natural Histo rys website fo r kids.

Look around you. It may se e m that the e arth is pe rfe ctly still. But the e arth's oute r she ll, or
surface , is actually moving all the time .

The e arth's thin oute r she ll is broke n into big pie ce s calle d te ctonic plate s. The se plate s fit
tog e the r like a puzzle , but the y're not stuck in one place . The y are floating on the e arth's
mantle , a re ally thick laye r of hot flowing rock. The flow of the mantle cause s the plate s to move
in diffe re nt dire ctions. Whe n the e dg e s of plate s me e t, four thing s can happe n:

Eve n thoug h plate s move ve ry slowly, the ir motion, calle d plate te ctonics, has a hug e impact on
the e arth. Plate te ctonics form the oce ans, contine nts, and mountains. It also he lps us
unde rstand why and whe re e ve nts like e arthquake s occur and volcanoe s e rupt.

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 How Plates Affect Our Planet: Volcanoes

How Plates Affect Our Planet: Volcanoes

T his text is pro vided co urtesy o f O Lo g y, the American Museum o f Natural Histo rys website fo r kids.

Some mountains are made of solid rock, like the Rocky Mountains or
the Swiss Alps. But some mountains are actually volcanoe s.

Volcanoe s are ve nts, or ope ning s in the e arth's crust, that re le ase ash,
g ase s and ste am, and hot liquid rock calle d lava. Whe n the lava cools
and harde ns, it forms into the cone -shape d mountain we think of as a
The Ring of Fire is a large circle of
volcano. Most of the world's volcanoe s are found around the e dg e s of explosive volcanoes around the
Pacific Ocean. The circle is formed
by the subduction of the Pacific Plate
te ctonic plate s, both on land and in the oce ans. and some smaller plates under
surrounding plates.

On land, volcanoe s form whe n one te ctonic plate move s unde r

anothe r. Usually a thin, he avy oce anic plate subducts, or move s unde r, a thicke r contine ntal plate .
Whe n this happe ns, the oce an plate sinks into the mantle .

Wate r trappe d in the rocks in this plate g e ts sque e ze d out. This cause s
some of the rocks to me lt. The me lte d rock, or mag ma, is lig hte r than
the surrounding rock and rise s up. This mag ma colle cts in mag ma
chambe rs, but it is still mile s be low the surface .

Whe n e noug h mag ma builds up in the mag ma chambe rs, it force s its
The Mount Rainier volcano in
way up to the surface and e rupts, ofte n causing volcanic e ruptions. Washington is considered dormant.
Volcanoes are classified as active
(erupted recently), dormant
In the oce an, volcanoe s e rupt along cracks that are ope ne d in the (expected to erupt in the future), or
extinct (not expected to erupt again).
oce an floor by the spre ading of two plate s calle d a mid-oce an ridg e .
Mag ma from the e arth's uppe r mantle rise s up to fill the se cracks. As the lava cools, it forms ne w
crust on the e dg e s of the cracks. The se mid-oce an ridg e s are actually long chains of unde rwate r
volcanoe s that circle the e arth like the se ams on a base ball.

About 80 to 90 pe rce nt of all volcanic e ruptions occur whe re the plate s spre ad apart.

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