Objective

Describe the
distribution of active
volcanoes, earthquake
epicenters, and major
mountain belts.

Lithosphere
Crust made up of solid
rocks
Continental crust thicker
but less dense
Oceanic crust thinner but
denser
Density of 2.8 g/cm3
Thickness 5 to 50 km

Plate Tectonics
Theory that the outer shell of
the earth is made up of thin,
rigid plates that move relative
to each other.
Hypothetical movement of
earths crust plates.
The entire lithosphere of the
earth is broken into different

Plate Boundaries

Earthquake
Seismic waves primary (P),
secondary(S),
long surface
waves
- This waves travel at different
velocities
- The farther from the focus, the
greater the difference in arrival
time of P compared to S

1. Find the Center

Where is the epicenter of
hypothetical earthquake?
What difficulty will you
encounter if you only have
one data from two stations?
What do you think is the
importance of determining
the epicenter of an

2 Lets Mark The Boundaries

Materials
Figure 5 Map of Earthquake distribution
Figure 6 Map of Active Volcanoes of the
world.
Figure 7 Mountain ranges of the world
transparent plastic sheet used for book
cover, same size as a book page (2
sheets)
marking pens (two different colors).

1. Trace the locations of the

earthquake epicenters on a plastic
sheet using a marking pen.
2. On another plastic sheet, trace
the locations of volcanoes using
the other marking pen.
3. Place the earthquake plastic
sheet on top of the volcano plastic
sheet.
4. Place the two plastic sheets on
top of the map of mountain

5. Study the map of plate

boundaries. What do you think
is the basis of scientists in
dividing the Earths lithosphere
into several plates?

Distribution of quakes
equal or greater than M5 (1980-1990)

Location of some of
Earths major volcanoes

Earths major mountain chains

Geologic activities such

as seismicity, volcanism
and mountain formation
are the basis of scientists
in dividing the earths
atmosphere.