SRMP Dynamic Earth Curriculum - American Museum of Natural ...

Science Research Mentoring ProgramDynamic EarthSession Eight: Theory of Plate TectonicsACTIVITY: GeoworldAnalysis of hypothetical planet with plate tectonics. http://serc.carleton.edu/sp/library/guided_discovery/examples/geoworld.html This is a free resource; users should email the author indicatingwhere and how the lab is being used. This course divides the lab into two parts. As part of Lesson 8,students complete a modified version of Part 1, sections A,B,C,F,and G. Parts 2 and 3 are assigned ashomework.Hand out worksheet and materials (highlighters, rulers, calculators). Read through the instructionsand make sure students understand the key showing the reversals of Geoworld’s magnetic field overtime. Note that thickness in the key does not match thickness on the map; students need to considerthe relative thickness of each layer.Students work individually or in pairs. Start by working slowly though the first calculations insection A as a class. Make sure students understand how to calculate the rates, since they’ll need todo so as part of their homework. Discuss answers as a class. Students who finish early can work onsections F and G.Possible bodies to view:Body Features Dynamic ProcessesCallistoCraters, crater line, craterconcentric wrinklesNo volcanoes, or tectonicfeatures! Crust, salty ocean layer,not completely differentiated(shutdown of convection)Mercury Craters, streaks Has been geologically inactive forbillions of yearsMoon Craters, smooth areas Some shield volcanoes, volcanicdomes, presence of waterGanymedeStarburst patterns, some small craters,large slabs of darker materialEvidence of faulting / riftsEuropaMarsStreaks and scratches, some smallridgesCratered regions, large canyons,volcanoes, polar capsSmooth, young surface;tectonically active (water-icesurface) – possibly driven by warmplumes of water rising form deepinside the moonWas once tectonically active(straight line along Tharsis region);likely extinct nowIo Volcanoes See VenusVenus (Radar, then Elevation) Dendritic patterns, volcanoes Uniformly buoyant lithosphere(instead of negatively buoyant);melt-down 750 Ma (periodic),covering much of surface withvolcanism of some form© 2013 American Museum of Natural History. All Rights Reserved. 35