Sort out the cards to create a square by matching processes of the rock cycle to their description.

Sort out the cards to create a square by matching processes of

the rock cycle to their description.

Learning goals:

• Knowledge:• Be able to explain why tectonic

plates move and describe some evidence for this.

• Skill:• Problem solving and fact-finding!

Tectonic plates are large pieces of the Earth’s crust that

move a few cms every year

Why do tectonic plates move?

Plates have boundaries with other plates

• Correctly fill in the table below each picture of a plate boundary to describe the properties of each boundary.

It was once thought that mountains formed because

the Earth was shrinking

We now know differently!

Alfred Wegener

was a German scientist who proposed the theory of continental drift in 1912. He hypothesized that the continents were slowly drifting around the Earth. However, Wegener was unable to explain why , which meant that his hypothesis was not accepted until the 1950s, when numerous discoveries provided evidence of continental drift.

What was the evidence?

Pangaea – a supercontinent

Similar fossils have been found in South America & South

Africa

Similar rock layers been found in South America & South

Africa

• Create Pangaea from your tectonic plate jigsaw. Around your completed jigsaw describe the evidence that continents were once joined.

Wegener’s theory wasn’t accepted for many years!

Bad times!

You are a fellow scientist who thinks Wegener is a numpty. Write a letter to a friend outlining why

you think Wegener theory of continental drift is complete

hogwash.