Earth SciencePlate Tectonics and How

Oceans/Mountains Affect Climate

• Review and game!

Plate Tectonics

• Crustal plates move causing certain geological features to form such as volcanoes, mountains, earthquakes, etc

• There are 4 main types of boundaries that we discussed: – Divergent- pull apart creating volcanoes, – Convergent- two crustal plates come together

creating fold mountains– Transform- two plates slide past each other creating

earthquakes– Subduction- two ocean plates or an ocean and crustal

plate collide creating trenches and volcanoes.

Let’s quickly review how mountains and oceans can affect climate.

• Mountains: • Can block rain and wind causing a different climate

– Can cause a drier area/desert on one side of the mountain due to a rain shadow

• Have breezes that flow at night and day in different directions depending on where the high pressure (cool air) is.

• On the windward side of a mountain range, air rises, cools, and drops its moisture.

Rain Shadows

What is climate?What is climate?

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• On the leeward side of a mountain range air descends, heats up, and dries the land.

Windward Vs. Leeward

• Rainfall occurs on the windward side of the mountain where the air is rising.

• Cool & Wet

• It is dry on the leeward side of the mountain where the air is sinking.

• Warm & Dry

Rain Shadows

Mountains greatly affect the climate. They act as barriers blocking rain and wind.

What do you think a rain shadow is?

One side of the mountain may have a very different climate from the other side. In some cases mountains create a shadow. This is where rain does not fall. Deserts can form in the rain shadow regions.

During the day During the day the surface of the surface of the mountain the mountain heats the air heats the air high up in the high up in the atmosphere atmosphere quicker than quicker than the valley floor the valley floor can. Wind can. Wind moves from moves from the valley the valley where the air where the air pressure is pressure is high toward high toward the mountains the mountains creating a creating a Valley BreezeValley Breeze

During the During the night the night the surface of the surface of the mountain cools mountain cools the air high up the air high up in the in the atmosphere atmosphere quicker than quicker than

the valley floor the valley floor can. Wind can. Wind moves from the moves from the mountain where mountain where the air pressure the air pressure is high is high

& cool toward & cool toward

the valley the valley creating a creating a Mountain Mountain BreezeBreeze

Oceans

• Oceans • Create breezes during the day and night that affect

the climate of the shore• Ocean currents such as the Gulf Stream can make

an area much Warmer than an area not near the ocean at the same latitude. (example: part of inner Canada and England—England’s climate is warmer due to the warm Gulf Stream ocean current).

Land BREEZE…

Land Breezes At night the lands cools off faster than the

sea. Wind blows from the land to the sea.

SEA BREEZE…

Sea Breezes• The land cools and heats faster than the ocean. Water

holds heat longer than land, and takes longer to heat or cool.

During the day, the land gets hotter faster than the water. The heated air rises; wind from the cooler sea blows in to take the place of that warmer air. These happen during the day!

A. trench

Hawaii is in the center of the “ring of fire” and is caused by ____ .

B. Hot spots; underwater volcanoes

C. earthquake

D. All of these

B. Hot spots; underwater volcanoes

A. cities

Underwater ______ occur where plates move apart.

C. trenches

D. ridgesvolcanoes

earthquakes

B. mountains

• B. mountains

A. less dense

Continental crust is __________ than oceanic crust.

B. More dense

C. thinner

D. All of these

B. More dense

A.

A deep area in the ocean where one plate sinks beneath another.

C. Volcano

D. None of these

B. Subductive boundary—creating a trench

Divergent Boundary- creating a volcano

Transform Boundary– creating an earthquake

B. Subductive boundary—creating a trench

A. Volcanoes

What is a sudden release of energy in the Earth’s crust, causing the ground to shake called?

C. Both A and B

D. None of these

B. Earthquakes

• B. Earthquakes

A. fault line

A break in the Earth’s crust is called a _______ .

B. crack

C. compound fracture

D. coffee break

A. fault line

A. Divergent

This picture illustrates a ___

boundary.

B. Transform

C. Convergent

D. Subductive

B. Transform

A. Volcano

A mountain formed by lava and ash.

B. Earthquake

C. Hurricane

D. Folded mountains

A. Volcano

A. clears land of trees

What is a good effect that a volcano can have?

B. creates islands in the ocean

C. reduces the population

D. None of these

B. Creates islands in the ocean

A. Plates are moving apart

Why is Hawaii made of volcanoes?

B. Earthquakes

C. A hot spot exists

D. To attract tourists

C. A hot spot exists

A. Oceanic plates colliding with continental plates and subducting under them.

What causes volcanoes?

B. Plates pulling apart from one another (diverging)

C. Hot spots

D. All of these

D. All of these

A. A hurricane

What can happen when a transform fault suddenly releases

its energy?

B. A volcano

C. A Storm

D. An earthquake

D. An earthquake

A. Folded Mountains

When continental plates collide, ______ is formed.

B. Dome Mountains

C. Volcanoes

D. All of these

A. Folded Mountains

A. Tsunamis

The Earth as one large land mass was called ____ .

B. Pangorld

C. Pangea

D. Seismograph

C. Pangea

A. Mass movement

The theory that plates move upon the Earth.

B. Crust movement

C. Plate Tectonics

D. Newton’s Laws of Gravity

C. Plate Tectonics

A. divergent boundaries

Where magma pushes two plates apart are called ____ .

B. Convergent boundaries

C. trenches

D. tug-of-wars

A. divergent boundaries

A. Mantle

The layer on the Earth in which the crust floats.

B. Crust

C. Inner Core

D. Turtle

A. Mantle

A. mountain range

The outer layer of the Earth is called the _____ .

B. core

C. crust

D. mantle

C. crust

A. Trench

What is the inner most part of the Earth?

B. mantle

C. Crust

D. Core

D. Core

A. crust, magma, and core

Beginning with the outer most layer, Earth’s layers are the ____ .

B. crust, mantle, core

C. core, mantle, and crust

D. core, magma, and crust

C. core, mantle, and crust

D. core, magma, and crust

A. crust, magma, and core

C. core, mantle, and crust

D. core, magma, and crust

C. core, mantle, and crust

D. core, magma, and crust

B. crust, mantle, core