video: planet earth, the living machine
DESCRIPTION
Video: Planet Earth, The Living Machine. What is the Theory of Plate Tectonics? “It is a theory that describes the formation, movements, and interactions of earth’s plates.”. Video: Planet Earth, The Living Machine. How can the Grand Canyon reveal the history of the Earth? - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Video: Planet Earth, The Living Machine
1. What is the Theory of Plate Tectonics?
“It is a theory that describes the formation, movements, and interactions of earth’s plates.”
Video: Planet Earth, The Living Machine
2. How can the Grand Canyon reveal the history of the Earth?
It’s rock layers show changes in time.
The oldest rocks are on the bottom and the youngest rocks are on the top.
Video: Planet Earth, The Living Machine
3. Who was James Hutton? What was his big discovery?
The Earth is very old and the Earth is constantly changing.
James Hutton: The “Father of Geology”
Video: Planet Earth, The Living Machine
4. Who was Alfred Wegener? What was his big idea?
Alfred Wegener was a meteorologist (person who studies weather.) He proposed the idea of continental drift.
Video: Planet Earth, The Living Machine
5. Why was Alfred Wegener’s proclamation known as a hypothesis and not a theory?
Alfred Wegener did not have the experimental data to back up his findings.
Video: Planet Earth, The Living Machine
6. What was Pangaea? How many millions of years ago did it start to exist and when did it start to break apart?
Pangaea means “all lands” connected together. It was a major landmass that started to break apart about 200 million years ago.
Video: Planet Earth, The Living Machine
7. What did scientists discover in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean?
They discovered the mid-ocean ridge, a volcanic mountain chain.
Video: Planet Earth, The Living Machine
8. What is seafloor spreading?
Seafloor spreading is when the ocean floor spreads apart (diverges) at a mid-ocean ridge.
Video: Planet Earth, The Living Machine
9. How can rock samples record the magnetic field of the earth?
The magnetism (North or South orientation) of the planet is recorded in a rock when the lava hardens. It gives us insight into the past magnetic orientation of the Earth at different times.
Video: Planet Earth, The Living Machine
10. What did Vine and Matthews discover on the Sea Floor at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge?
They discovered that there are alternating patterns of north and south the farther you get away from the Ridge. They also found that rocks get older as you go away from the Ridge.
Video: Planet Earth, The Living Machine
11. How does the age of rock change the farther you go away from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge?
Rocks get older as you go away from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.
Video: Planet Earth, The Living Machine
12. What are 3 ways in which the Earth’s plates interact?
Plates can move towards each other (converge). Plates can move away from each other (diverge). Plates can slide past each other (transform).
Video: Planet Earth, The Living Machine
13. What is subduction and what are the results of subduction?
Subduction is when one plate dives under another plate. The results of subduction are volcanoes and earthquakes.
Video: Planet Earth, The Living Machine
14. How were the Himalaya mountains formed and what type of plate boundary were they formed upon?
The Himalayas were formed when the Indian Plate crashed into the Eurasian Plate. This is a convergent collision boundary.
Video: Planet Earth, The Living Machine
15. What kind of plate boundary is the San Andreas Fault? In how many years will the San Francisco Giants and the Los Angeles Dodgers be cross-town rivals as a result of motion along this fault?
The San Andreas Fault is a transform (strike-slip) type of fault. It will take around 15 million years for the two baseball teams to become cross-town rivals.
Video: Planet Earth, The Living Machine
16. What is thought to be the main driving force for plate tectonics in the asthenosphere and the lower mantle of the Earth?
The most accepted idea is mantle convection. Other ideas are ridge push and slab pull. Mantle Convection Animation #2
Video: Planet Earth, The Living Machine
17. How were the Hawaiian Islands formed in the middle of the Pacific Plate?
The Hawaiian Islands were formed by a hot spot. This is when the Pacific Plate moves Northwest over the hot spot.
Video: Planet Earth, The Living Machine
18. What happened in New Madrid, Missouri in 1812? How does this event give evidence of plate tectonics thousands of miles from the nearest plate boundary?
There was a very large earthquake. Originally, the plates were pulling apart here, forming the fault zone. Compressional forces now make this one of the most dangerous fault zones.
19. How do fossils and the finding of exotic terranes in the Marin Headlands near San Francisco support the theory of Micro-Plate Tectonics?
Fossils of animals and plants can be found many miles from their original place of origin. This means that they must have been carried along with the plates. We call these lands Exotic Terranes.
Video: Planet Earth, The Living Machine
20. How did the shapes of continents shown by Christopher Scotese give rise to Alfred Wegener’s continental drift hypothesis? Explain.
Some of the continents are like puzzle pieces. They would fit together if you joined them.
Video: Planet Earth, The Living Machine
21. How does the movement of continents influence the migration patterns of sea turtles to the Ascension Islands in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean? How is this evidence for natural selection within sea turtle species?
Sea turtles have to swim farther and farther out into the Atlantic Ocean to reach their breeding grounds on the Ascension Islands. Only the individuals strong enough to make the swim will evade jaguar predators and pass their traits off to offspring.
Ascension IslandsBrazil