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G7 Unit 5 Topic 4 Notes

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24 views

G7 Unit 5 Topic 4 Notes

Uploaded by

Mark Wickmen
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Science 7 Name: ____________________

Unit 5: Topic 4
The Moving Crust

Did you know that Earth’s crust moves?


Scientists have been trying to solve the
mystery of the moving crust for thousands
of years.

We are going to learn about the layers of the


Earth.

1. __________________

This is the part of Earth that you walk on! It is


home to humans, animals, plants, and soil. It also
has deep areas where minerals are mined and oil
and gas are formed.

The crust is very thin under the ocean.

It can range from being 5 km thick to over 60 km.

2. Mantle
The mantle is found underneath the crust. It is made of rock material.

There are two mantles:


a)

This mantle is made out of solid material. This mantle combines

with the Earth’s crust to form the __________________________.

b)

This mantle is partially melted. Rock material in the mantle can


flow very slowly.

3. __________________________

It is made out of iron and nickel. The temperature in this section is over 5500° C.
It is so hot that the iron and nickel are in liquid state!
4. _____________________

This layer has such an intense pressure due to all the other layers of the Earth.
This pressure forces the inner core to form a solid ball. The temperature of the
inner core is over 6000° C.
Science 7 Name: ____________________

Continental Drift

Take a look at the map below. If the continents are fixed in place, why do they look like
they could fit together?

There was a scientist named Alfred Wegener


who wondered if the continents really did fit
together at one time.

He researched all over the world and found


that there were certain fossils of similar plants
and animals that could be found on different
continents.

Some of these fossils indicated that the species


could not swim so how did the Lystrosaurus
be in Africa AND South America?

Some explanations are:

 There was a bridge of land that connected the continents that had existed and maybe
it had disappeared over time
 Trees might have fallen into the water and created a bridge for the animals to walk
over

Wegener studied his results and concluded that the continents had once been joined

together. Over millions of years, the continents had gradually moved to their present

locations. He called this ______________________________.

Advances in Technology

Due to the advancement of technology, a lot of information has been collected about
Earth’s crust from the sea floor by using sonar.

Sonar (Sound wave Technology):

This technology showed us that there were mountains on the sea floor.

Plate Tectonics
Science 7 Name: ____________________

The _____________________________ helps to explain how the crust moves!

The theory states that Earth’s crust is broken up into pieces called ____________.
These plates are always moving on Earth’s mantle.

If the plates are pushing together, they are called ______________________________.

If the plates are pulling apart, they are called ___________________________________.

A Canadian scientist named


J. Tuzo Wilson made an important discovery however! He developed the concept of a
third kind of movement of the plates.
Instead of pushing or pulling apart, he said that the plates were sliding past each
other.

Convection Currents:

Many scientists believe that convection currents are moving Earth’s plates.

When a plate touches another plate, this is called _______________________________.


Although these plates move very slowly, each movement affects another plate.

 If converging plates are both continental, their edges may crumble and form
mountains
 If oceanic plate slides under a continental plate, melting occurs and volcanoes
form
 If two converging plates are oceanic, either plate might subduct, causing island
arcs and volcanoes

Subduction Zones:

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