 1.

Layers of the Earth

 Layers of the Earth – Smart Learning for All
The Earth’s crust is divided
into two:
 ContinentalCrust
 Oceanic Crust
A tectonic plate is a massive,
irregularly shaped piece of solid
rock.
It is commonly made up of both
continental and oceanic crust
(lithosphere).
The tectonic plates are moving
in different directions
Crustal Plate- a rigid (hard)
layer of the Earth’s crust.

Plate Boundaries- areas

where two plates meet,
separate, or slide past each
other.
Tectonic Plate- a big solid
rock composed of continental
and oceanic lithospehere.

Subduct- a process in which

one edge of the plate is
forced below another plate.
About 200 million years ago,
there were no crustal plates.
There is a one giant
supercontinent called
Pangaea and one giant super-
ocean called Panthalasa.
The idea suggested by Alfred
Wegener, a German scientist,
according to him: Pangaea
broke into pieces that
formed the crustal plates and
slowly moved until they
reached their present
position.
The crustal plates are
moving slowly.
1. Eurasian Plate
2. African Plate
3. Pacific Plate
4. Indian Plate
5. Australian Plate
6. Antarctic Plate
7. American Plate (North and
South)
1.Convergent Plate Boundary
2. Divergent Plate Boundary
3. Transform Plate Boundary
This occur where tectonic
plates collide.
It can be of three types:
Ocenic – Oceanic
Oceanic – Continental
Continental - Continental
When Tectonic Plates collide,
the heavier Crustal Plate is
pushed below, its is called
Subduction Zone.
Convergent plate boundaries
create earthquakes, ridges,
deep trenches and chains of
active volcanoes.
Divergent Plate Boundary
occurs when two plates move
away from each other.
When plates break apart, the
lithosphere thins and
ruptures forming fractures on
the crust.
The fractures formed become
filled with magma upwelling .
As the magma cools off, a new
crust is formed between the
diverging plates.
In the oceanic crust, it is called
Seafloor Spreading.
Earthquakes, faults and
underwater volcanic eruptions
occur in a divergent plate
boundary.

Ex: Mid-oceanic Ridge in the

Atlantic Ocean
Known also as Transform Fault
Boundary.
Occurs when two plates slide
past each other.
As the two plates glide each
other in different directions,
earthquakes occur.
Ex: San Andreas Fault in
California
 1. Plates
 2. Plate Boundaries
 Tectonic Plate Boundaries
 Tectonics of the Planet Earth