Plates move due to sea floor spreading as new crust is formed at mid-ocean ridges. There are three types of plate boundaries: 1) Divergent boundaries where plates move apart and new crust is formed, like at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. 2) Convergent boundaries where plates move toward each other, potentially causing earthquakes and volcanoes. 3) Transform boundaries where plates slide past each other horizontally. Plates generally move a few centimeters per year, with the Nazca and Pacific plates diverging at around 18 cm per year.

1. What causes plates to move
and what happens there?

2. Today you will learn …
• Why plates move
• What happens where the plates meet!

3. How is the earths crust divided up?

4. HOW DO PLATES MOVE ?
1) AWAY FROM EACH OTHER
(constructive)

5. Sea Floor
Spreading!
Did you know that
the ocean floor in
the Atlantic is
growing by 3cm per
year?
Which of the following pairs of continents are
moving further away from each other?
1) Europe and Africa
2) Europe and North America
3) South America and North America
Mid-Atlantic ridge

6. 6 metres 36 metres 928 metres200 metres
The plates move at different rates.
The Nazca and Pacific plates are moving apart at a rate
of 18cm per year while the Eurasian and North
American plates are moving apart at a rate of 3cm per
year.
To the nearest metre, how far will the Nazca and Pacific
plates have moved over the next 200 years?
How fast do plates move?

7. Eurasian Plate
North American Plate
Video here

8. HOW DO PLATES MOVE ?
2) TOWARDS EACH OTHER
(destructive)
The plates move towards each other and an
earthquake and volcano can occur. If an oceanic plate
meets a continental plate, then the oceanic plate sinks
below the continental plate and creates a volcano.

9. HOW DO PLATES MOVE ?
• 3) ALONGSIDE EACH OTHER
(conservative)

10. HOW DO PLATES MOVE ?
• 3) ALONGSIDE EACH OTHER
(conservative)
Add these labels to your diagram:
•Plates move in opposite directions or same direction but
different speeds
•Plates gets ‘stuck’ and eventually this leads to an
eathquake

11. Animation

12. BINGO!