GEOG 1301 – Physical Geography
Overview and Instructions
This assignment consists of 4 parts. The first part involves responding to a video on tectonics from the Crash Course Geography series. The second part involves analyzing a set of tectonic maps and answering some questions about what you observe on them. The third part involves reviewing a Story Map featuring tectonics and answering a few questions from it. Lastly, there will be a short detour to visit hotspots around the world and conduct a web-based search in order to learn more about them. The goal of this assignment is for you to gain a greater understanding and spatial perspective of the movements and impacts these elements of the lithosphere have on our planet.
Part 1. Watch this video entitled “The Plate Tectonics Revolution” and produced by the Crash Course Geography Series, and answer the following questions.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CPv0NSIG2MLinks to an external site.
- In the development of his continental drift theory, what did Alfred Wegener use as evidence in support of his notion that there was once a supercontinent known as Pangaea? Approximately how long ago was Pangaea around?
- What percentage of the world’s volcanoes and earthquakes occur along the Pacific Ring of Fire, and why is so there so much tectonic activity in this specific area of the world?
- What is something new you learned from the information in this video, or what is something you found particularly interesting from it and why? How has it influenced your views of plate tectonics?
Part 2. Take a close look at the following maps and answer the corresponding questions about them.
Map 1 (above) – Plate Boundary Movements, Source: opentextbc.ca
Map 2 (above) – Plate Boundary Types around the World, Source: nps.gov
- What direction is the Pacific plate moving?
- What types of plate boundaries does the North American plate have?
- Identify 3 different sets of converging plates around the world. Make sure to mention both plates that are converging with one another for all three sets.
- Where are most of the divergent plate boundaries located: in the oceans or on continents?
- Focusing on map 2, identify 2 different sets of transform plate boundaries outside of North America around the world. Once again, make sure to mention both plates (that are either sliding past each other or advancing at different rates from one another) for each set that you identify.
Part 3. Check out this ArcGIS Story Map on Tectonic PlatesLinks to an external site. and answer the following questions. These questions appear within the Story Map itself, but I am only asking that you answer a few of those that are listed within the Story Map. Also, please keep in mind that you can zoom in and out of the maps to better determine where in the world these areas are located, and you are also encouraged to utilize maps 1 and 2 from Part 2 of this exercise to help you in determining the boundary types associated with these specific areas.
- Read through the Story Map and continue to scroll through it until you arrive in the section featuring the Himalayas under where it says “Tectonic Plates Map”. Answer the following questions, remembering that purple dots on the maps indicate earthquake locations, triangles indicate volcanoes, green lines indicate ocean ridges, and red lines indicate ocean trenches. You’ll also see here that questions 9a. and 9b. correspond with questions 1 and 2 on the Story Map. Hint: Remember that scrolling back up the Story Map can be helpful in finding the answers for questions 9-13.
9a. This region is the Himalayan mountains. What type of tectonic plate boundary formed this mountain range? (answer needs to include both crust types – oceanic or continental – and the boundary type – converging, diverging, or transform).
9b. What plate boundary features and events happen on that type of plate boundary?
10. Now continue to scroll down the Story Map, arriving at our next stop, the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Here, I encourage you to use the zoom out button (the minus sign in the bottom right corner of the map to give you a better sense of the extent of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge). Please answer 10a. and 10b., which are displayed as questions 3 and 4 within the Story Map.
10a. What type of tectonic plate boundary formed the Mid-Atlantic Ridge? (answer needs to include both crust types and boundary type).
10b. What plate boundary features and events happen on that type of plate boundary?
- After visiting the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, scroll on down and skip past the Aleutian Trench and stop over to the west coast of South America to answer questions 11a. and 11b., which correspond with questions 7 and 8 on the Story Map.
11a. What type of tectonic plate boundary formed the Peru-Chile Trench and Andes Mountains ? (answer needs to include both crust types and boundary type).
11b. What plate boundary features and events happen on that type of plate boundary?
- Your next stop as you continue to scroll is over to East Africa, where you will answer questions 12a. and 12b., which are displayed as questions 9 and 10 on the Story Map.
12a. What type of tectonic plate boundary formed the East African Rift Zone? (answer needs to include both crust types and boundary type).
12b. What plate boundary features and events happen on that type of plate boundary?
- Our final stop on this Story Map brings us back to the U.S., specifically to California. This is where you can answer questions 13a. and 13b., which appear as questions 11 and 12 on the Story Map.
13a. What type of tectonic plate boundary is Active at the San Andreas Fault? (answer needs to include boundary type).
13b. What plate boundary features and events happen on that type of plate boundary?
Part 4. The last segment of our tectonic voyage takes us to hotspots around the world. First, read this short piece by National Geographic about hotspotsLinks to an external site. before answering the various parts of question 14.
- From the National Geographic article, answer these questions.
14a. Building upon T. Tuzo Wilson’s 1963 dominant theory about how hotspots are created, what do more recent studies suggest in terms of where they are found and how they move?
14b. Roughly how many hotspots do most scientists think exist around the world?
14c. In North America’s Yellowstone hotspot, when did the Yellowstone caldera last erupt?
Next take a look at this map before answering question 15.
15. Using this map, identify three prominent hotspots (other than Hawaii) that are found on the map. Then, doing a Google search, identify a good online resource (outside of Wikipedia or encyclopedia-based sources) on one of the hotspots you identified from the map that describes that specific hotspot. After identifying and providing the website, provide a brief summary of the article (two or three sentences should suffice) and why you selected the hotspot that you did for your search.