Name ____________________________ Date ___________________ Class____________

Plate Tectonics ■
Guided Reading and Study

The Theory of Plate Tectonics

This section explains how the lithosphere is broken into separate sections that move.

Plate Tectonics
Use Target Reading Skills
Before reading the section, write simple definitions for the words diverge,
converge, and transform. You may use a dictionary. After reading the passages
that contain the key terms divergent boundary, convergent boundary, and
transform boundary, explain how your definitions relate to these terms.
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
Write a definition of each Key Term in your own words below:
plate: ______________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
scientific theory: ____________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
plate tectonics: _____________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
fault: ______________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
divergent boundary: ________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
rift valley: _________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
convergent boundary: _______________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
transform boundary: ________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________

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Name ____________________________ Date ___________________ Class____________

Plate Tectonics ■
Guided Reading and Study

The Theory of Plate Tectonics (continued)

Introduction
1. The lithosphere is broken into separate sections called
_________________.
2. Is the following sentence true or false? Plates can carry continents or parts
of the ocean floor but not both. _________________

How Plates Move

3. What is a scientific theory? _______________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
4. State the theory of plate tectonics. _________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
5. Is the following sentence true or false? The theory of plate tectonics
explains the formation, movement, and subduction of Earth’s plates.
_________________

Plate Boundaries
Match the term with its definition.
Layer Description
____ 6. plate boundary a. Deep valley that forms where
two plates pull apart
____ 7. fault
____ 8. rift valley b. Line where the edges of Earth’s
plates meet
c. Break in Earth’s crust where
rocks have slipped past each
other
9. Complete the compare/contrast table to show how plates move at the
different types of plate boundaries.

Plate Movement

Type of Plate Boundary How Plates Move

Divergent boundary a.

Convergent boundary b.

Transform boundary c.

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Name ____________________________ Date ___________________ Class____________

Plate Tectonics ■
Guided Reading and Study

d. How are the movement of plates at divergent boundaries and at

transform boundaries similar?
_____________________________________________________________________

Plate Tectonics
10. Is the following sentence true or false? Crust is neither created nor
destroyed along a transform boundary. _________________
11. Most divergent boundaries occur along ___________________________.
12. When two plates converge, the result is called a(n) _________________.
13. When two plates collide, what determines which plate comes out on
top? ___________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
14. Circle the letter of each sentence that is true about convergent
boundaries.
a. Where two plates carrying oceanic crust meet, subduction does not
take place.
b. An oceanic plate sinks beneath a continental plate when the two
plates collide.
c. Where two plates meet, the one that is more dense sinks under the
other.
d. Mountain ranges form where two plates carrying continental crust
collide.
15. Was Pangaea the only supercontinent to have existed? Explain your
answer.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
16. Is the following sentence true or false? The pieces of the supercontinent
Pangaea began to drift apart about 225 million years ago.
_________________

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Name ____________________________ Date ___________________ Class____________

Plate Tectonics ■
Section Summary

The Theory of Plate Tectonics

Key Concepts
■ What is the theory of plate tectonics?

■ What are the three types of plate boundaries?

Earth’s lithosphere is broken into separate sections called plates. The plates fit
closely together along cracks in the crust. They carry the continents, or parts of
the ocean floor, or both. Plate tectonics is the geological theory that states that
pieces of Earth’s lithosphere are in constant, slow motion, driven by
convection currents in the mantle. A scientific theory is a well-tested concept
that explains a wide range of observations. The theory of plate tectonics
explains the formation, movement, and subduction of Earth’s plates.
The plates float on top of the asthenosphere. Convection currents rise in
the asthenosphere and spread out beneath the lithosphere, causing the
movement of Earth’s plates. As the plates move, they produce changes in
Earth’s surface, including volcanoes, mountain ranges, and deep-ocean
trenches. The edges of different pieces of the lithosphere meet at lines called
plate boundaries. Faults—breaks in Earth’s crust where rocks have slipped
past each other—form along these boundaries.
There are three types of plate boundaries: transform boundaries,
divergent boundaries, and convergent boundaries. The plates move at
amazingly slow rates, from about 1 to 24 centimeters per year. They have
been moving for tens of millions of years. A transform boundary is a place
where two plates slip past each other, moving in opposite directions.
Earthquakes occur frequently along these boundaries. The place where two
plates move apart, or diverge, is called a divergent boundary. Most
divergent boundaries occur at the mid-ocean ridge. When a divergent
boundary develops on land, two slabs of Earth’s crust slide apart. A deep
valley called a rift valley forms along the divergent boundary. The place
where two plates come together, or converge, is a convergent boundary.
When two plates converge, the result is called a collision. When two plates
collide, the density of the plates determines which one comes out on top.
Oceanic crust is more dense than continental crust.
When two plates carrying oceanic crust meet at a trench, the plate that is
less dense dives under the other plate and returns to the mantle. This is the
process of subduction. When a plate carrying oceanic crust collides with a
plate carrying continental crust, the more dense oceanic plate plunges beneath
the continental plate through the process of subduction. When two plates
carrying continental crust collide, subduction does not take place because both
plates are mostly low-density granite rock. Instead, the plates crash head-on.
The collision squeezes the crust into mighty mountain ranges.
About 260 million years ago, the continents were joined together in the
supercontinent Pangaea. About 225 million years ago, Pangaea began to
break apart. Since then, the continents have moved to their present locations.

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Name ____________________________ Date ___________________ Class____________

Plate Tectonics ■
Review and Reinforce

The Theory of Plate Tectonics

Understanding Main Ideas
Label each figure by writing the type of plate boundary it shows.

1. _________________ 2. _________________ 3. _________________

Answer the following questions on a separate sheet of paper.
4. Describe what happens when a. two plates carrying oceanic crust collide,
b. two plates carrying continental crust collide, and c. a plate carrying
oceanic crust collides with a plate carrying continental crust.
5. Explain what force caused the movement of the continents from one
supercontinent to their present positions.

Building Vocabulary
Fill in the blank to complete each statement.
6. A scientific _________________ is a well-tested concept that explains a
wide range of observations.
7. Breaks in Earth’s crust where rocks have slipped past each other are
called _________________.
8. The lithosphere is broken into separate sections called
_________________.
9. A(n) _________________ is a deep valley on land that forms along a
divergent boundary.
10. The geological theory that states that pieces of Earth’s crust are in
constant, slow motion is called _________________.

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Name ____________________________ Date ___________________ Class____________

Plate Tectonics ■
Enrich

The Birth of the Himalayas

100 Million Years Ago 50 Million Years Ago

Plate Tectonics
North
North Asia Europe
Europe America
America Asia

Africa
Africa Australia
South India South
Australia India
America America

Antarctica Antarctica

The greatest challenge for mountain climbers is Mt. Everest, whose peak
rises 8,872 meters above sea level. This is the highest mountain in the world,
though many mountains around it are almost as high. Mt. Everest is in the
Himalayas, a series of massive ranges that extends 2,500 kilometers across
South Asia north of India. The Himalayas cover all or part of the countries of
Tibet, Nepal, and Bhutan.
A climber on the high slopes of Mt. Everest would probably be surprised
to learn that the region was relatively flat about 40 million years ago. It was
then that two continental plates collided. The plate carrying India had been
moving northward for millions of years. The oceanic crust in front of it was
slowly subducted under the Eurasian plate. But when the two continents
collided, subduction stopped because India could not sink into the mantle.
Instead, it pushed crust upward and downward. The Himalayas were one
result. Thus, the Himalayas are actually pieces of plates broken and lifted up
because of the collision. Another result of this collision was the movement of
China eastward, as the movement of India northward pushed the Eurasian
plate in front of it. The collision is still occurring today. In fact, the Himalayas
are growing in elevation at a rate of about 1 centimeter per year.
Answer the following questions on a separate sheet of paper.
1. Where are the Himalayas?
2. What was the area of the Himalayas like 40 million years ago?
3. How did the movement of plates create the Himalayas?
4. What else resulted from the collision of those plates?
5. What type of plate boundary exists today along the Himalayas?
6. If the Himalayas continue to grow in elevation at their present rate, how
tall will Mt. Everest be in one million years?

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Name ____________________________ Date ___________________ Class____________

Plate Tectonics ■
Skills Lab

Modeling Mantle Convection Currents

Problem
How might convection in Earth’s mantle affect tectonic plates?

Materials
■ large plastic bottle
■ food coloring
■ small glass jar
■ aluminum foil
■ rubber band
■ several pieces of paper about 0.5 cm square
■ tap water

Procedure
1. Fill the large bottle about half full with cold tap water.
2. Partly fill the small jar with hot tap water and stir in 6 drops of food
coloring. Carefully add enough hot water to fill the jar to the brim.
3. Cover the top of the jar with aluminum foil and secure with a rubber
band.
4. Carefully lower the jar into the bottle of ice water.
5. Place the pieces of paper on the surface of the water.
6. Without disturbing the water, use the tip of the pencil to make two small
holes about 2 mm in diameter in the aluminum foil covering the jar.
7. Predict what will happen to the colored water and to the pieces of paper
floating on the surface.
8. Observe the contents of the jar as well a the paper pieces on the surface of
the water.

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Name ____________________________ Date ___________________ Class____________

Plate Tectonics ■
Skills Lab

Analyze and Conclude

Write your answers in the spaces provided.
1. Describe what happened to the colored water and to the pieces of paper

Plate Tectonics
after the holes were punched in the material covering the jar.
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
2. How did your prediction compare with what actually happened to the
colored water and pieces of paper?
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
3. What type of heat transfer took place in the bottle? Describe how the
transfer occurred.
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
4. Which part of your model represents a tectonic plate? Which part
represents Earth’s mantle?
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
5. How well do you think this lab modeled the movement of Earth’s plates?
What similarities exist between this model and actual plate movement?
What factors weren’t you able to model in this lab?
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________

Designing Experiments
Repeat this activity, but develop a plan to measure the temperature of the
water inside the large bottle. Is there a difference in temperature between the
water’s surface and the water near the top of the small jar? Do you observe
any change in the convection currents as the water temperature changes?
With your teacher’s approval, carry out your plan.

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