INTERNAL EARTH PROCESSES AND PRODUCTS SECTION LEARNING OBJECTIVES

MAJOR CONCEPTS: 1. Earthquakes, 2. Internal Structure and Plate Tectonics, 3. Products of Internal Processes.

SUGGESTED GOALS

1. Students will understand the scientific method and will use the scientific method as an approach to problem solving by understanding how earthquake evidence is gathered and used to explain earthquake effects.

2. Students will have a knowledge base sufficient to identify and understand the causes and possible solutions to environmental issues by recognizing that in seismically active areas such as New England earthquakes must be planned for.

3. Student will be able to evaluate the impact of their daily life decisions and actions in the context of their environment by understanding why people in many areas of the world should expect earthquakes.

4. Students will recognize the inter-connections between components of the natural universe by understanding the relationships between earthquakes and plate tectonics, landslides and tsunamis.

5. Students will develop a lifelong interest and concern for their relationship with the natural world by being able to recognize earthquake resistant building practices.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES: To reach these Goals, students will have to understand:

1. that we study the processes that occur inside the planet because they affect the surface of the planet.

( how earthquakes are recorded, located and measured)

2. that earthquakes are a shaking of the surface of the Earth caused by a sudden movement along a fault.

3. that P waves are the vibrations from earthquakes that produce a forward and back (push-pull) motion of molecules along the direction of travel of the wave.

3.1 that P-waves travel faster than other seismic waves, so they arrive at sesmographs first, and so are refererred to as primary waves.

3.2 how the motion of molecules of a P-wave allows it to travel through liquids.

4. that S waves are the vibrations from earthquakes that produce a side to side (shearing) motion of molecules perpendicular to the direction of travel of the wave.

4.1 that S-waves travel slower than P-waves, so they arrive at sesmographs second, and so are refererred to as seconary waves.

4.2 how the motion of molecules of a S-wave prevent it from travelling through liquids.

3. that p and s wave vibrations from earthquakes are recorded by seismographs.

1.3 a seismograph works by isolating a drawing device such as a pen from vibrations of the ground, then as it draws a line, any movements of the ground are drawn.

1.4 the time lag between the arrival of the two waves indicates the distance to the epicenter of the earthquake.

1.5 the location of the epicenter is determined using distances from three seismographs.

1.6 the amount of energy released by an earthquake is measured from the amount of movement recorded on a seismograph compared to the distance from the earthquake.

1.7 the energy released by an earthquake, aka magnitude, is measured using the Richter scale, and each level represents many times the energy released in the previous step.

1.8 the amount of damage and shaking by an earthquake, aka intensity, is measured using observations on the Mercalli scale.

2. the effects of earthquakes.
2.1 earthquakes can cause buildings and other structures to collapse, killing and injuring people.

2.2 falling buildings and other structures are what kill or injure most people in earthquakes.

2.3 earthquakes cause landslides, mudslides, and avalanches.

2.4 liquifaction occurs as earthquake vibrations pass through wet soil, especially if it was filled in.

2.5 tsunami are seismic sea waves that can travel at high speeds over long distances.

2.6 tsunami can reach wave heights of 30 meters as they reach shore, causing enormous damage.

2.7 earthquakes disrupt water, power, communications and gas lines, leading to many secondary problems such as fires, starvation, crime, and disease.

3. earthquake resistant building practices.
3.1 in areas where earthquakes are expected, building codes require that new construction resist the expected movement of the ground so the building or structure remains standing.

3.21 Most foundations are made of concrete, and this is pretty safe in an earthquake because the concrete forms one large mass that holds together well.

3.22 A masonry or concrete block foundation tends to break apart in an earthquake, and really old, stone foundations are even worse.

3.31 Most houses in this part of the country are built of wood nailed together, and this is pretty safe in an earthquake because the wood bends and does not fall down when it shakes. If the frame is screwed together, it holds even better.

3.32 A masonry (brick, concrete block etc.) structure tends to fall apart on top of its occupants in an earthquake. A steel frame is intermediate in earthquake safety.

3.41 The sill is the part of the house that sits on the top of the foundation. If the sill is just sitting there, with no actual attachment, the house can vibrate off of the foundation during an earthquake.

3.42 a sill that is attached to the foundations with bolts, or bent steel bars, or nailed, is safer in an earthquake than an unattached sill.

3.51 Most houses have a large beam running the length of the house that is held up by posts. That beam can bounce off those posts in an earthquake, letting the center of the house collapse.

3.52 A full wall holding up the center is safest, but rare. Some houses are small enough not to need any center support.

3.61 The safest area during an earthquake is land that is flat, and the soil was not filled in and then built on.

3.62 Sloping areas can allow houses to slide downhill during a quake, and filled areas tend to settle and make any structures on them move.

3.71 Wet soil can liquify when earthquake vibrations go through, and anything on them sinks.

2. that earthquakes are a shaking of the surface of the Earth.

3. that earthquakes can cause buildings and other structures to collapse, killing and injuring people.

4. that falling buildings are what kill or injure most people in earthquakes.

TIMEFRAME: SUGGESTED GOALS

1. Students will understand the scientific method and will use the scientific method as an approach to problem solving by recognizing how both indirect and direct evidence supports the theory of Earth structure and the theory of plate tectonics.

2. Students will have a knowledge base sufficient to identify and understand the causes and possible solutions to environmental issues by recognizing that the processes involved with the build up of the Earth's crust are very long term, powerful processes, and beyond human control.

3. Student will be able to evaluate the impact of their daily life decisions and actions in the context of their environment by understanding that the natural processes involved with the build up of the Earth's crust are very slow, and so cannot counteract human detrimental actions of erosion and resource depletion.

4. Students will recognize the inter-connections between components of the natural universe by understanding the relationships between the stucture of the interior of the Earth and processes occurring at the surface.

5. Students will develop a lifelong interest and concern for their relationship with the natural world by recognizing the features of Earths surface that are formed by processes deep within the planet.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES: To reach these Goals, students will have to know:

------INTERNAL STRUCTURE AND EVIDENCE-------

30. that the reasons we need to understand the structure and processes deep inside the Earth are that those stuctures and processes affect the surface by causing earthquakes, raising the crust of the planet, widening oceans, causing volcanos, and producing materials which may be valuable as resources.

31. that evidence about the interior of the Earth is indirect, because the deepest mines, drilling, have only penetrated about 12 km (7 mi), and the Earth is 6370 km (3900 mi) to the center.

32. that seismic waves provide most of the evidence about Earth's interior similarly to the way ultrasound provides a picture of the inside of the human human body.

33. that P-waves will travel through solids and liquids, s-waves only go through solids.

34. that both types of seismic body waves slow down in less dense materials, refract (bend) when they change speed, and reflect from abrupt changes in material density or composition.

35. that the timing of the arrival of seismic waves from earthquakes indicates increasing density of the rock toward the center of the planet.

36. that the solid mantle is the largest part of the planet.

37. that disappearance of s-waves indicates a liquid outer core of the Earth.

38. that the reflection, refraction and increase in speed of p-waves that travel through the center of the planet indicates a solid inner core to the planet.

39. that reflection and refraction of seismic waves indicates a distinct boundary between the crust and the mantle, called the Mohorovicic Discontinuity, aka The Moho.

40. that slowing of the waves in one part of the mantle indicates a soft, almost liquid layer called the asthenoshpere.

41. that the upper, rigid portion of the mantle together with the crust is called the lithosphere.

42. that the density of the entire planet, determined from its gravity and size, is much higher than the density of the rocks we can examine at the surface.

43. that the difference between the density of the entire planet and the density of the crust indicates the core must be as dense as iron.

44. that half of the meteorites that fall to Earth are composed of iron and nickel, and if meteorites are a sample of what the inner planets are made of, then the Earth must contain a lot more iron than is found at the surface.

45. that the presence of Earth's strong magnetic field indicates there is a lot of iron moving inside the planet, because an outer core of liquid iron counter-rotating in relation to a solid inner core of iron would generate such a magnetic field.

46. that radioactive elements are those that give off energy when they spontaneously lose particles from their nuclei and change into a different element.

47. that the heat required to keep the outer core liquid under the enormous pressures that must be present at that depth probably comes from heavy radioactive elements that settled to the cores when the entire planet was molten rock early in its formation.

48. that a convection current is a movement of material due to differences in temperature.

49. that the movement seen in an unstirred cup of coffee is due to convection currents caused by the cooler coffee along the sides descending, and the warmer coffee in the middle rising.

50. that the heat of the cores moves upward through the planet, and that in some places, this flow of heat produces plumes of slowing moving convection currents of solid rock in the asthenosphere.

----PLATE TECTONICS INTRO-----

50 that the rigid lithosphere of upper mantle and crust is broken into large sheets, or plates of rock.

51. that the upward moving asthenosphere convection currents push up the lithosphere above them, creating the midocean ridges.

52. that the convection currents flow under the rigid lithosphere plates away from the midocean ridges, causing the plates to pull apart at the midocean ridges.

53. that the movement of the plates on the currents of rock in the asthenosphere causes the continents of the plates to move.

-----EVIDENCE FOR CONTINENTAL "DRIFT"-----

54. that there is a lot of evidence that the continents and ocean floor have moved in the past.

55. that fossils of organisms are found that could not have lived in the climate of their present location, indicating the continent carrying the fossils moved to its present location.

56. that fossils of the same animals and plants have been found on different continents, and because organisms cannot evolve identically in radically different environments, this indicates that the continents carrying the fossils separated and moved to their present locations.

57. that rocks are found that could not have formed in the climate of their present location, indicating the continent carrying the rocks moved to its present location.

58. that ocean floor rocks near the continents are much younger than ocean floor rocks near the midocean ridges, indicating that the ocean floor formed at the ridges, then moved away.

59. that magnetic patterns in the rocks on one side of the mid ocean ridges matches the patterns in the rocks on the opposite side of the midocean ridges, indicating the rocks formed at the ridge, then split apart and moved away.

60. that the match of rock formations and types and shapes at the edges of the continental shelves across the Atlantic Ocean indicates the continents were once joined into one large continent.

61. that magnetic fragments in rocks pointing north-south as the rocks formed indicates that the continents were in different positions than they are now.

62. that geologists have named the ancient super continent Pangea.

63. that based on the evidence, Pangea began breaking up around 250-125 million years ago.

----PLATE BOUNDARIES----

64. that divergent plate boundaries are where lithospere plates are pulling apart, such as at the mid ocean ridges and the Great Rift Valley of Africa.

65. that the features of divergent boundaries include a rift valley, volcanic activity, earthquakes, and a midocean ridge.

66. that magma is molten rock beneath the surface of the crust, and lava is molten rock at the surface of the crust.

67. that at divergent boundaries, new thin oceanic type basaltic crust is formed from molten rock that fills in the gap between plates.

68. that convergent plate boundaries are where the plates are pushed together.

69. that transform fault or transverse plate boundaries occur where the plates grind past each other but are not converging or diverging.

70. that there are three types of convergent plate boundaries: ocean/ocean, ocean/continental, and continent/continent.

71. that at ocean to ocean converging boundaries, one plate descends under the other, causing earthquakes, a deep sea trench, a subduction zone, rising plumes of magma, and an arc of volcanic islands where the plumes break through the crust.

72. that at ocean to continent converging boundaries, the thin ocean crust is pushed under the thicker continental crust, causing causing earthquakes, a deep sea trench, a subduction zone, rising plumes of magma, and volcanos where the plumes break through the crust, and folding of the continental crust into large mountain ranges.

73. that at continent to continent converging boundaries, earthquakes occur and large mountain ranges with magma cores form, but little or no volcanic activity occurs.

74. that at transform fault boundaries, earthquakes and sometimes relatively small ridges occur, but little or no volcanic activity or mountain building.

75. examples of each type of feature at each of the five types of plate boundaries.

76. that Connecticut rocks indicate that at different times in the past, this area was part of three types of diverging and converging plate boundaries.

1. Students will understand the scientific method and will use the scientific method as an approach to problem solving by understanding how lab experiments and field observations lead to knowledge of the formation of Earth materials and other products of internal Earth processes.

2. Students will have a knowledge base sufficient to identify and understand the causes and possible solutions to environmental issues by understanding the nonrenewable nature of most products of internal Earth processes.

3. Student will be able to evaluate the impact of their daily life decisions and actions in the context of their environment by recognizing their role in the conservation of nonrenewable resources produced by internal Earth processes.

4. Students will recognize the inter-connections between components of the natural universe by understanding how processes inside the planet produce materials and features at the surface of the planet.

5. Students will develop a lifelong interest and concern for their relationship with the natural world by recognizing the products of internal Earth processes all around them.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES: To reach these Goals, students will have to know:

--------- UPLIFT FEATURES ---------

77. that in most cases, tectonic processes cause the Earth's surface to increase in elevation through the formation of mountains and plateaus.

78. that a mountain is any area that is significantly higher than its surroundings and the rock of mountains is usually deformed in some way.

79. that a plateau is an area that is lifted without significant deformation of the rock.

80. examples of mountain ranges and plateaus.

81. that igneous rocks are those that form from molten rock.

82. that the core of most mountain ranges consists of igneous rock that that cooled from molten magma that entered the mountain range while it was forming.

85. that the tops of large masses of granite are now exposed at the surface as outcrops of granite in Harwinton and Burlington.

86. volcanoes at diverging boundary rift zones produce basaltic lava that is very hot and contains little water and low levels of silica.

86. the temperature and composition of midocean rift zone volcanoes produce relatively fluid, quiet flows.

87. lower temperature lava, higher water content, and higher silica (granitic) content produce more violent, explosive eruptions.

88. the continent to oceanic plate colliding boundary volcanoes produce the most violent eruptions.

89. volcanoes affect people by causing destruction and death during eruptions, by altering weather, and by producing fertile soil. ----------- ROCK CYCLE ---------

90. what atoms, elements, molecules, compounds, mixtures, solids, liquids and gasses are.

91. that 98% of the Earths crust by mass is composed of the 8 elements oxygen, silicon, aluminum, iron, magnesium, sodium, calcium, and potassium.

92. that 99% of the volume of the crust is taken up by oxygen.

93. that all the vast number of different kinds of Earth materials are simply rearrangements of those ten elements.

94. that a mineral is a naturally occurring, inorganic crystalline solid with a definite chemical composition.

95. that there are around 2000-3000 different minerals.

96. examples of minerals.

97. that the characteristics of minerals are due primarily to the crystal structure of the mineral, and secondarily to its composition.

98. how to determine the hardness of a mineral.

99. how to identify a common mineral, given a guide and list of characteristics.

100. that rocks are Earth materials containing one or more minerals.

101. that igneous rocks are the most abundant rocks of the Earths crust.

102. that we study igneous rocks because many nonrenewable resources come from igneous rocks.

103. that fine grained igneous rocks form from lava that cools quickly at the surface, so they have small crystals.

104. that coarse grained igneous rocks form from magma that cools slowly beneath the surface, so they have large crystals.

105. that as a magma plume rises from a subduction zone, the minerals crytallize out in a specific order, based on thier freezing (melting) points.

106. that if the magma plume reaches the surface or finds a fracture and then reaches the surface, the remaining magma will cool quickly to form a fine grain rock.

107. that the composition of an igneous rock indicates how long the magma plume rose through the crust before it formed that rock.

108. that most heavier, dark, high iron and magnesium igneous rocks such as Peridotite formed at the base of the magma plume.

109. that basalt forms when the magma reaches the surface after few if any rocks had time to form.

110. that granite forms last in the sequence, so it contains mostly light weight and color minerals low in iron and magnesium.

111. that igneous rocks are found in Connecticut in the central valley, formed from lava flows during rifting when this area started to become a diverging plate boundary as Pangea started to break up 225 million years ago.

112. that metamorphic rocks are rocks changed by heat and pressure.

113. that most of the rocks in Connecticut are metamorphic rocks because the present surface of Connecticut was deep under the ancient Appalacian Mountains that formed as Pangea came together half a billion to 250 million years ago.

114. that crystal realignment causes the crystals in rocks to align due the pressure and minor heating of burial metamorphism.

115. that crystal enlargement occurs due to the higher heating and pressure associated with regional metamorphism.

116. that fluid invasion causes new minerals to form in the very hot and high pressure solid rock due to gasses and liquids entering the rock from magma during contact metamorphism.

117. examples of local rocks formed from burial, regional, and contact metamorphism.

----------- RESOURCE MANAGEMENT ----------

118. that an ore is a deposit of Earth material that can be mined at a profit.

119. that the definition of an ore depends on economic conditions as well as its quality and quantity.