Chapter 1 - Lesson 1 Earth’s Landforms How Landforms Came to Be

Turn to textbook page 14 Voices: Poetry and Art from Around the World Berlin, Germany Tokyo, Japan Juarez, Mexico

How Landforms Came to Be Textbook page 20 Earth is mostly covered in water There are landforms on the remaining parts of the Earth Landforms are natural features on the Earth’s surface Examples: mountains, hills, plains

How Landforms Came to Be Earth’s landforms and continents were formed through the theory of plate tectonics Plate tectonics says that the Earth is made up of several large, slow moving slabs or plates The continents and ocean floors form the tops of the plates which move and carry the continents and ocean floors with them

How Landforms Came to Be 13 Major Tectonic Plates of the World

How Landforms Came to Be Scientists believe that long ago the Earth’s landmasses made up one giant super continent called Pangaea

How Landforms Came to Be

Scientists believe that forces inside the Earth caused Pangaea to break apart Continental drift is a theory that explained how continents shift position on Earth's surface. Set forth in 1912 by Alfred Wegener, a geophysicist and meteorologist, continental drift also explained why look-alike animal and plant fossils, and similar rock formations, are found on different continents.

How Landforms Came to Be Alfred Wegener

How Landforms Came to Be

Who came up with the theory of Continental Drift? What brought him to the conclusion of a super continent?

How Landforms Came to Be Earth is made up of layers similar to an apple Earth has a crust, mantle, core just as an apple has skin, meat, and a core Earth’s crust is 10 to 25 miles thick Earth’s mantle lies just below the crust and is 1,800 miles thick The mantle is made of hot, rocklike materials Earth’s center or core is very hot, temperatures can be 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit The core is broken into two parts the inner core and the outer core The inner core is solid and the outer core is molten or melted rock

How Landforms Came to Be The liquid outer core surrounds the inner core and is believed to be composed of iron mixed with nickel and trace amounts of lighter elements Recent studies suggests that the innermost part of the core is enriched in gold and platinum while also containing nickel and primarily iron Extreme heat from the core causes the mantle to create pressure on the crust, forcing the crust in some places to rise As the crust rises it pushes large blocks or rock upwards and forms mountains or plateaus A portion of the Rocky Mountains formed this way

How Landforms Came to Be Mg – Magnesium, Fe – Iron, Al – Aluminum, Si – Silicate, O – Oxygen, Ni – Nickel, Au – Gold, Pt - Platinum

How Landforms Came to Be

Mountains can also be formed when one plate over another plate The Earth’s plates are constantly moving even today The movement of plates sometimes shakes the Earth’s surface causing an earthquake Earthquakes are common around faults Fault – is a break in the Earth’s crust where movement occurs between the plates

How Landforms Came to Be The San Andreas Fault in California is one of the most well known faults in the world Most faults are not visible, but the San Andreas Fault is visible

How Landforms Came to Be The 1906 Earthquake in San Francisco, California was caused by the movement of the plates that meet at the San Andreas Fault The San Andreas Fault shifted 21 ft

What are the 4 layers of the Earth called and what do they consist of?

Terms to Know Plate Tectonics Continental Drift Fault How do moving tectonic plates create landforms such as mountains?