Lab 1
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Lab 1: Introduction to Geology and Plate Tectonics
Name: Aster Shull
Answer the following questions according to the reading and lab lecture:
1.
List the parts of the scientific method: problem, hypothesis, experiment, data, results
2.
What is geology and why does it matter? Study of the earth. It matters to know what is happening to our planet we live on and understand why these things happen
3.
What are the three rock types? sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic
Figure 1: https://www.sciencelearn.org.nz/resources/339-plate-tectonics
Use this figure of plate tectonics to answer questions 4-8:
4.
Which plate is almost entirely surrounded by divergent boundaries
? African plate
a.
Is the plate growing or shrinking due to these boundaries? It will be growing
5.
Which plate is entirely surrounded by convergent plate boundaries and is this plate growing or shrinking? Philippine plate, shrinking
6.
Which plates contain significant areas of continental landmass? Eurasian plate
7.
What direction is the Pacific Plate moving? Northwest
a.
What direction is the Australian Plate moving? North
b.
What direction is the South American Plate moving? West
8.
What are the three types of plate boundaries present in the figure above? Divergent, Convergent, Transform
Lab 1: Introduction to Geology and Plate Tectonics
a.
What is the movement of plates at each of the boundaries? Divergent: move apart, Convergent: move into one another, Transform: move side by side another
Figure 2: (a) divergent plate boundary [though not noted, divergent plate boundaries do have earthquakes, though they are very
shallow]; (b) convergent plate boundary; (c) transform plate boundary. https://www.geologyin.com/2016/05/12-facts-you-
should-know-about-plate.html
For questions 9-? Use the figure above.
9.
Which plate boundary(ies) produce volcanoes? Divergent, Convergent
10.
Which plate boundary has the deepest earthquakes? Convergent
a.
In what direction do the earthquakes get deeper with respect to the trench? Where the plate that gets sucked under is where the earthquakes happen
11.
What type of plate boundary has the shallowest earthquakes? Divergent
12.
Which boundary does not produce or consume crust? Transform
Lab 1: Introduction to Geology and Plate Tectonics
Figure 3: from https://volcano.si.edu/showreport.cfm?doi=10.5479/si.GVP.BGVN200810-221060
Use the figure above to answer questions 13-16
13.
What type of boundary is beneath the Red Sea? Divergent
14.
What emerging plate boundary is present at the East African Rift Zone? Divergent
15.
Why are there volcanoes in this region? There are volcanoes because the plates are being ripped
apart allowing magma to travel through in these areas.
16.
What will happen to the lakes in the East African Rift zone with continued subsidence? The lakes
will eventually become flooded and expand to connect and one day be a part of the ocean
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Lab 1: Introduction to Geology and Plate Tectonics
Figure 4: Collision of Indian plate with Eurasian plate. From http://geophile.net/Lessons/PlateTectonics/PlateTectonics2_06.html
Please answer questions 17-19 with the above figure.
17.
What kind of plate boundary is present between the Indian plate and Eurasian plate? Convergent
18.
Are there currently volcanoes in the Himilayas? No
a.
Why? The two plates had collided with one another creating the mountain range 19.
Why were there volcanoes in Tibet before the collision of India and Tibet? It was because of the subduction happening then when India collided with Tibet it changed
Lab 1: Introduction to Geology and Plate Tectonics
Figure 5: from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cascade_Range-related_plate_tectonics.png
Use the figure above to answer questions 20-23.
20.
What plate boundary offsets the Juan de Fuca ridge? Convergent 21.
What process has created the Cascade volcanoes like Mount St. Helens and Mount Adams? subduction
a.
What type of plate boundary is associated with this process? Convergent
22.
Would you expect to see volcanoes at the Juan de Fuca ridge? Why? Yes because the boundary is divergent meaning that the magma is able to reach the crust.
a.
What type of plate boundary is the ridge? Divergent
23.
Does the Juan de Fuca Plate have all three types of plate boundaries? Yes
Lab 1: Introduction to Geology and Plate Tectonics
Figure 6: from Physical Geology Exercises 3rd edition by Jennifer Hinds.
Please use the above figure to answer questions 24-27
A-A’ is 7,000 km
B-B’ is 6,000 km
24.
Are the ages symmetric on both sides of the East Pacific rise? Yes
a.
Are the ages symmetric on both sides of the Mid-Atlantic ridge? Yes
25.
Without doing any calculations, which ocean has a higher rate of spreading? East Pacific
26.
Use the equation Distancealong A
−
A
'
Ageof oldest rocks
∗
2
=
km
/
Ma
to calculate the rate of spreading for both oceans. Pay attention to the units
a.
Pacific: 350 mm/yr
b.
Atlantic: 120 mm/yr
27.
Was you answer to question 25 correct? Yes
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Lab 1: Introduction to Geology and Plate Tectonics
Figure 7: Left from Hinds 2012 and right from Brown et al. 2015.
Use the above figures to answer questions 28-30
28.
What kind of plate boundary is shown off the Western coast of South America? Convergent
a.
How do you know? There are many volcanoes that lie on the coast and that shows that it is most likely a convergent boundary.
29.
Which direction are the earthquakes descending? Why? These earthquakes descend down the plate boundary which is on the west coast
30.
Which types of earthquakes (shallow, intermediate, deep) would you expect to see magma originating to feed the volcanoes? Shallow
Lab 1: Introduction to Geology and Plate Tectonics
Figure 8: from Hinds 2012
Please answer questions 31- 38 using the figure above.
31.
What are seamounts? an extinct underwater mountain
32.
Given that Loihi to Kauai is 560 km, what is the average rate of plate motion in km/Ma? 560km/5.1ma =109.8 km/ma
33.
Using the rate above, please convert it to cm/yr. 10.98cm
a.
How far will the Pacific Plate move in 50 years? 549cm
b.
What is the direction the Pacific Plate traveling? How do you know? Northwest, because
the hotspot stays and the plate is moving in that direction
34.
Given that the distance between the Daikakuji Seamount and Suiko Seamount is 1390 km, what was the average rate of plate motion in km/Ma? 17.2 35.
Has the Pacific Plate been moving slower or faster within the last 5 million years than it had in the past? faster
36.
How is the Emperor Seamount Chain and Hawaiian Island Chain related? They are related because as the tectonic plate moves the islands that were formed there are connected to one another ( the Emperor Seamount and Hawaiian Island Chain)
37.
From the above figure, about when did the Pacific Plate change its direction? Roughly 40 million years ago
Lab 1: Introduction to Geology and Plate Tectonics
Figure 9: from https://www.internetgeography.net/igcse-geography/the-natural-environment-igcse-geography/distribution-of-
earthquakes-and-volcanoes/
Using the above figure please answer questions 38-40.
38.
From what you have learned so far, what do the distribution of volcanoes and earthquakes tell you about plate tectonics? When earthquakes and volcanoes are showing in pattern like the picture above it shows how they interact with one another when it comes to plate boundaries.
39.
What can you infer about the recent volcanic eruptions that do not occur along a plate boundary, such as Hawaii? Hawaii is a hotspt that occurs in the middle of the ocean like some other locations.
40.
Look back at the first figure of the lab for the type of plate boudary that Iceland is sitting atop. What do you think makes Iceland so unique? Remember that both plates are oceanic. Iceland has two major tectonic plates through it (divergent boundary) making it grow over time.
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Lab 1: Introduction to Geology and Plate Tectonics
References:
Brown, S.K., Sparks, R.S.J., Mee, K., Vye-Brown, C., Ilyinskaya, E., Jenkins, S.F., and Loughlin, S.C. (2015) Country and regional profiles of volcanic hazard and risk. In: S.C. Loughlin, R.S.J. Sparks, S.K. Brown, S.F. Jenkins & C. Vye-Brown (eds) Global Volcanic Hazards and Risk, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hinds, J. J., Bush, J. H., McFaddan, M. D., Reynolds, R. W., & Matthews, S. (2012). Physical geology exercises
. Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company.