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Tectonic Plates Lab Report

1269 Words6 Pages

Lab Week 1
Quin Solamo Korinth
GEO101L: Geology Lab
Colorado State University - Global Campus
Dr. Michael Urban
May 15, 2016

Tectonic Plates
The Earth is composed of an outer shell called the crust and an inner core called the mantle. The crust, which currently consists of seven tectonic plates, float on top of the mantle. These plates are slowly moving and have collided and separated many times over the course of Earth’s history.
Relationships between tectonic boundaries and various features.
The tectonic plates and their boundaries help determine the appearance and form of the continental margin. This can best be exemplified by the east coast of North America where it meets the Atlantic Ocean. When the super continent Pangaea drifted …show more content…

Examples of composite volcanoes include Mount Fuji (Japan), Mount St Helens (USA) and Mount Pinatubo (Philippines).
Shield volcanoes are usually found at constructive boundaries and sometimes at volcanic hotspots. Examples of shield volcanoes include Mount Kilauea and Mauna Loa on Hawaii.

Relationships between tectonic boundaries, earthquakes, and volcanoes.
The Pacific Ocean has as its bed the Pacific (tectonic) Plate. The Pacific Plate is surrounded on all many sides by continental plates: North America plate, South America plate, Philippine plate, the Australian-Indian plate and the Eurasian plate. The movement of these plates creates subduction zones (e.g. where the Pacific and Eurasian plates meet). This leads to the formation of volcanoes and the occurrence of earthquakes. Earthquakes and volcanoes on the boundaries of the Pacific Plate are so frequent that the boundaries are collectively also known as the Ring of Fire.
Describe the relationship, if any, of the boundaries in #1 to the quakes that you labeled in #4.
The strongest earthquakes occurred along the Ring of Fire. The strongest earthquake near my personal location was caused by Does it seem logical that Kilimanjaro is a much bigger volcano than any of the …show more content…

Active margins form primarily along the boundaries of plates that are actively converging. Passive margins currently exist in the middle of plates, not at plate boundaries. the ocean floor. Tectonic activity continues along the rift, but seafloor spreading has moved the plates thousands of miles away from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Thus, the continental margins along these continents are considered tectonically quiet.
Although they are the "trailing edge" of the continents, passive continental margins currently exist in the middle of plates, not at plate boundaries. Erosion is the primary force acting on them, having continually deposited sediment from dry land since their formation. In places along passive margins in the Atlantic Ocean, the sediment measures more than 6 miles (10 kilometers) deep. Because they are built seaward by the sediment, passive margins may also be called "constructive" margins. They do not fill completely with sediment because the underlying crust subsides or sinks into the soft mantle, providing additional room for sediment to

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