A. How do the above surface deformation experiments verify or re-enforce what you have learned about tectonics. Fully explain your response.
B. What kind of fracture patterns did you observe in the simulations of: tension, shear, and compression stress?
C. Give geographic examples for each type of force simulated. Include locations in the world where your examples might occur.
Map exercises: Divergent Boundaries: East African Rift Valley
A. Plate boundaries do not always follow coastal boundaries. How can you tell where plate boundaries have extended into continents as in East Africa?
B. What is the relationship between east Africa, the Indian Ocean, and the Red Sea?
C. What clues tell that a divergent boundary exists in east Africa?
D. How is the Red Sea related to the Atlantic Ocean?
Divergent Boundaries: the Mid-Atlantic Ridge
A. Does the Mid-Atlantic ridge act as a mirror for the South American and African shoreline? Why?
B. Why would the color of the ocean depicted on the map change as distance increases from the mid-ocean ridge?
C. How did the long lines perpendicular to the mid-ocean ridge form?
Transform Boundaries: New Zealand
A. Study the boundary that runs through New Zealand. What two boundaries does it lie adjacent to?
B. Could New Zealand expect earthquakes, volcanoes, or both?
Transform Boundaries: Caribbean Sea
A. What types of plate boundaries are expressed in the Caribbean Sea? What features do you base your answer upon?
B. Do the islands lie parallel to the plate boundaries? How can you tell?
Convergent Boundaries: South America
A. What is the relationship between the Pacific Ocean and the western coast of South America? Draw a cross-section of how this boundary would look.
B. Would you expect a pattern to the earthquakes that occur on the western side of South America, given the motion of the oceanic plate as it subducts, or sinks, beneath the continent? Describe the pattern in location and depth of the earthquakes.
C. In a paragraph compare and contrast the tectonics of the Andes and the Himalayas.
D. Considering their location, would the Rocky Mountains have likely been formed by a plate boundary process? You may conduct additional research to expand upon your answer.
E. Would the Appalachian Mountains have likely been formed by a plate boundary process, given their location? You may conduct additional research to expand upon your answer.
Convergent Boundaries: Alpine-Himalaya Belt
A. What is the reason behind the low areas right in front of the Alps, Iraq, and the Himalayas? Could it be related to the type of plate boundary occurring there, and if so, how?
B. Could an argument be made that the mountain chain is continuous from the Alps to the Himalayas? On what basis?
C. How could the Mediterranean have formed? Did the plate boundary types change over time? Could a reversal of plate tectonics have occurred, as in the plate margin switching from convergent to divergent?