IMAGES ABOUT THE SPEED OF THE PLATES IN PLATE TECTONICS THEORY
1. The simplest and easiest image for the movement of the plates (cm per year) is at this site, as well as being copied below: http://plcmets.pbworks.com/f/Tectonics+rate+map.jpg
2. Below is a map of plate movements – note the length of the 5 cm/year reference line that can be used to determine the speeds of any of the plates by using the other lines on the map
3. This site has several maps that are like the one in the picture in #2 on the previous page of this doc. http://www.iris.edu/hq/files/programs/education_and_outreach/aotm/14/1.GPS_Background.pdf
4. You know how I like science info! Here’s a recent scientific article that is titled “Earth's tectonic plates have doubled their speed” and it talks about a lot of water in the mantle causing the plates to speed up when cooling of the earth should cause them to slow down. http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22329843.000-earths-tectonic-plates-have-doubled-their-speed.html#.VFbXjfnF98F
5. Scroll down to the second graph at this site and you will see the motion of the Eurasian plate and the North American plate and that their speeds add up to 2cm/year (you have to use another map to know which way they are moving relative to each other before you know what sort of math to do with the speeds (add, subtract, etc.) http://hypertextbook.com/facts/ZhenHuang.shtml
REVIEW MATERIALS ABOUT PLATE TECTONICS:
6. Plate Tectonics Quizzes: http://wps.prenhall.com/esm_tarbuck_escience_11/32/8321/2130413.cw/index.html (take quiz 1 and 2 for sure, the others are also informative – by the way, it grades them for you)
7. Another great and very complete plate tectonics page, with very good quizzes about plates and layers of the earth. Look about 2/3 of the way through the page for the section that is called “ACTIVITIES ABOUT EARTH'S CONTINENTAL PLATES AND CRUST” http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/astronomy/planets/earth/Continents.shtml
8. Yet another good quiz with great pictures that I would use if I could print quizzes in color. http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/geology/grocha/plates/platequiz.htm Here is the top page for that site, and it has even more quizzes that are well-written: http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/geology/grocha/plates/index.htm
VARIOUS VIDEOS AND EXCELLENT REFERENCE SITES ABOUT PLATE TECTONICS
9. Watch the short video animation of how the convection currents work – it’s near the top of this page. Be sure to note that it’s very exaggerated, especially due to the speed of the materials in the mantle. http://pnsn.org/outreach/about-earthquakes/plate-tectonics Another video shows both subduction and sea floor spreading in relation to our Pacific coast and the formation of the Atlantic Ocean.
10. Great website that has nearly everything anybody would like to know about plate tectonics: http://www.platetectonics.com/book/page_5.asp
11. This site has so many excellent plate tectonics resources; just keep scrolling down the page for one good thing after another. http://www.crystalinks.com/platetectonics.html
12. The best site I have seen for evidence to support the theory of plate tectonics, categorized by type of evidence by a college professor: http://facstaff.gpc.edu/~pgore/Earth&Space/GPS/platetect.html
My “Favorite” image from the professor’s site is located below, and it is one of our objectives completely described in just one picture:
EARTHQUAKES HELP US UNDERSTAND WHERE THE PLATE’S EDGES ARE LOCATED
13. Map of earthquakes from the past 24 hours: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/map/
14.