Reflecting on what I have learned so far about plate tectonics leaves me with more questions than answers. Can you help me to answer the question below and better understand the effects of plate tectonics on the surface of the Earth? I learn best through pictures and short explanations so creating an informative poster would be great.

1) I heard something about the Atlantic Ocean getting larger; how is that possible? How fast is it growing? Can I see it?

2) I heard that the Atlantic Ocean is getting bigger, so it made me wonder do the continents get larger too? How could a continent grow?

3) I was looking at a map and there are lots of mountains all around the world. How do mountains form? Are any forming now? Do all mountains form the same way?

4) I saw a map that showed the location of volcanoes and I noticed there was a whole bunch of them around the edges of the Pacific Ocean. How do volcanoes form and why are there so many near the Pacific Ocean?
 
5) I heard that volcanoes form near the edges (boundaries) of tectonic plates. But I saw volcanoes in Hawaii and I know it’s not near the edge of a plate how did it form? Are there other volcanoes that aren’t near the edges of a plate?

6) We saw that earthquakes happen along plate boundaries but I don’t understand why. I also want to know how earthquakes can be used to find out about the inside of the Earth.

• 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.

It is an exciting time at the 23rd Annual Consortium of Geologists! Below is the Consortium presentation for your review.

My thanks to Jim Cronin a teacher at Sky Vista Middle School who developed this idea and published it in the NSTA magazine Science Scope.

Movement of the plates that made up the
supercontinent Pangaea could have stopped
temporarily and decreased Earth’s volcanic activity.

Credit: Nicolle Rager, National Science Foundation,
based on Pangaea map data, Paleogeographic Atlas
Project, University of Chicago

Time and tide may wait for no man, but continents occasionally do. That’s the conclusion of a study published today in Science, which finds that the inexorable drift of Earth’s tectonic plates isn’t inexorable at all. In fact, the planet could be headed for another pause in continental drift, with uncertain and possibly ominous consequences…. (more)