Motion Slow Motion on Planet Earth Chapter 1 Section 2

Tectonic Plates • Pieces of Earth’s Crust • 12+ major plates

Pangaea • “Super-Continent” – ~250 million years ago

Theory of Plate Tectonics • Earth’s plates move slowly in different directions • Divergent – Move away • Convergent – Move into • Transverse – Move along

How Fast Do Plates Move???

• Slow plates… – 1-2 mm’s per year • Fast plates… – 5-6 cm’s per year • About as fast as your finger nails grow 

San Andreas Fault, CA • L.A. is on the Pacific Plate – Moving NNW at 3 cm’s per year • San Francisco is on the N. American Plate – Moving SSE at 2 cm’s per year • Now… – 544 km apart • In 10 million years – Side by side