Ch. 2 Activity: Identifying Plate Boundaries

Answer the following questions to test your knowledge of plate boundaries and tectonic hazards.

This activity will count for up to 8 activity points.

1. The following map shows the world's key lithospheric plates. Numbers on the map refer to

key plate boundaries, where plates are moving in relation to each other. These boundaries can be

either convergent, divergent or transform.

Juan de Fuca

plate

Pacific

plate

Cocos

plate

North American

plate

Nazca

plate

Scotia

plate

Caribbean

plate

2. South

American

plate

Eurasian plate

Arabian

plate

African

plate

Antarctic plate

Philippine

plate

Australian-Indian

plate

Pacific

plate

In relation to each of the locations 1-3 listed below answer the following questions:

Location 1: Intersection between the Arabian Plate and the African Plate.

Location 2: Intersection between the Nazca Plate and the South American Plate.

Location 3: Intersection between the Australian-Indian Plate and the Eurasian Plate.

a) What type of boundary is this and how do the plates move in relation to each other?

b) What are the key landforms you would you find at this plate boundary?

c) What are the key tectonic hazards that are associated with this boundary?

2. The image on the left below is a satellite photograph looking down on a coastal area in

northern California with distinctive features on either side of the bay in the centre (see point 4 on

the map above for the approximate location). Most of the bay area consists of marine

sedimentary rocks that originated in the region. The image on the right shows an outcrop of

granite that is found to the west of the bay that matches rock formations found in mountains

more than 300 miles to the south. Drawing on your knowledge of plate boundaries and tectonics

in this region, explain why this granite outcrop is found here even though it originated elsewhere.