Are The Tectonic Plates Still Moving?

We’ve been investigating the movement of Earth’s Tectonic Plates using data from GPS. You can get a copy of the inquiry by clicking here.

  • Part A of the inquiry was to be completed on the inquiry worksheet, one per table, and turned in. Part A was worth 25 points.
  • Part B was to be completed in your notebook including the data table, map,  and questions and answers. Part B is worth 75 points.

I noticed many people having trouble locating cities on the map using latitude and longitude here’s a new map if you want to try again.

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21 thoughts on “Are The Tectonic Plates Still Moving?

  1. I wonderrrrr…
    If the plate tectonics are still moving and we know it.. when will we be able to see that they have moved?

  2. i wonderr.. if the plate tectonics are still moving and we know it..when will we be able to tell that they have moved?

  3. Like in the resent maps you have shown us (with the arrows that are pointing in the direction the plates are moving)some of the arrows are pointing in different directions that are on the same plate, does this mean that the continents are slowly spreading apart from their selfs? Is this part of what causes rivers to get wider or narrower and canyons to form?

    Answer:Yes and no. Continents were once together in one(as some scientist belive) super continent called Panga. Panga broke apart to form the smaller continents you see today. Can, let’s say North America be breaking off into smaller little continents, yes it can, but not very likely. Continets break apart from each other because a part of the crust underneath them gets too hot and thin. This creates a new
    “spreading ridge” and the plate moves slowly away from the heat creating new oceans or making mountains. I really dought it thought that that is one of the reasons rivers get wider and narrower or canyons form. What causes those things to happen is a somewhat differant kind of shift in the plates.

    Sources:
    http://www.querycat.com/faq/d1ad7870cc30044eb488ec9a7bf9f7ba

    file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/cindy%20luho/Local%20Settings/Temporary%20Internet%20Files/Content.IE5/ETM345QF/VAN%2520HUNEN%5B1%5D.ppt#297,15,Slide 15

  4. RE: Narine pd3

    I don’t think that the plates look like real plates.
    I always imaged them looking like big huge peices of metal under the Earth!

  5. “sooooooooon” i don’t know .
    Mental would be cool in/under the Earth!!!!!!
    Magma Layers Make It Right?
    I Wonder……………………………Is Mental Found Only From Rock Or Can It Be From Magma?!?!

  6. I wonder why the tectonic plates started to move in the first place. Convection currents in the mantle are moving them now but what caused them to move originaly. I reasearched it a little and some say an earthquake first broke up Pangea but I’d like to get some ideas from the class.

  7. Douglas P-7, 16

    I’d like to here ideas from other students as well. BTW can you give us a link to where you researched this?

  8. Jessica P4>>>>>18

    you don’t feel the plates move because it moves very slow
    like as slow as a fingernail grows
    about 5-7 cm a year

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