Tectonic Plates

The crust around the surface of the Earth is not smooth. It is broken into lots of different sections. We call these sections plates.

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The plates range in size and each one is moving in a different direction (about 5-10cm per year).

Earth's Structure

Tectonic Plates: Tectonic plates are large, solid pieces of the Earth's crust. There are 15 plates and are 125km thick on average.

How do the plates move?

• The lower mantle is hotter than the upper mantle.

• Hot magma rises and forces cooler magma down. The cycle moves in a circle and causes the plates to move together or apart.
  
  

• Pangea was a supercontinent that existed around 300 million years ago.

• It included almost all of Earth's landmasses.

• The break-up of Pangea was caused by tectonic plate movement.

• The rest of the planet's surface was covered by a vast ocean called Panthalassa.

Pangea

Tectonic Plate Puzzle

1. Cut out each piece of the puzzle

2. Arrange them and check before gluing the completed puzzle into your books

3. Remember, the Earth is a sphere, so the map is continuous and any plate could be the centre!