Block 1: Inside Earth + Boundary Types
A world map of one year of earthquake epicenters shows the quakes forming sharp lines and arcs, not scattered randomly. Whole regions have none at all.
Task: Why lines? What could make earthquakes queue up like that? Stem: "Earthquakes cluster where ___."
Answer in your Field Notebook, dated.
I can identify the four plate boundary types (convergent, divergent, transform, hotspot) and name the dominant hazards each produces.
I can explain how Earth's surface features are built and reshaped by processes working at very different speeds and sizes.
"Develop a model to illustrate how Earth's internal and surface processes operate at different spatial and temporal scales to form continental and ocean-floor features."
Where this runs:
- U2 B1: Weathering: How Rocks Break Down
- U2 B2: Erosion: How Earth Moves Itself Around
- U2 B6: Field Photo / Map Analysis Work Day
- U2 B7: Reading the Landscape: Worked Example + OPVL
- U3 B1: Inside Earth + Boundary Types ← you are here
- U3 B2: Subduction & Transform Deep Dive + Sim Demo
Assessed:
Landscape Reading: biography past + current processes (K/U strand, Components 1–2 lock U2 Block 6)
On track looks like:
Your location's biography names specific processes at specific timescales ('monsoon pulses move the beach yearly; the harbour changed it in decades'), not just 'erosion happened.'
The Field Geologist · Pallikaranai worked example (in Google Classroom)
I can use evidence (seafloor ages, GPS motion, fossil matches) to explain how plates move.
"Evaluate evidence of the past and current movements of continental and oceanic crust and the theory of plate tectonics to explain the ages of crustal rocks."
Where this runs:
- U3 B1: Inside Earth + Boundary Types ← you are here
Assessed:
City Hazard Profile (K/U)
On track looks like:
Your hazard profile explains WHY your city's boundary behaves as it does, with evidence.
What today is about
The unit's anchor question: How do you build for a planet that occasionally tries to destroy what you've built?
Earth's surface tells a story 4.5 billion years in the making, and most of it is written in the language of moving plates. Before you can engineer a city against tectonic hazards, you have to know what's actually moving and why. Today we set the foundation: Earth's interior, what drives plate motion, and the four boundary types that produce every major hazard family you'll meet in this unit. You'll also meet your first Unit 3 AI partner: The Plate Tectonics Tutor, a coach for boundary mechanics that asks questions before it hands you answers.
By the end of class you should be able to look at a world map and explain why earthquakes cluster where they do, and why some coasts get tsunamis while others don't.
Before you start the work
Pick one. They cover the same ground: how the boundary types produce different hazards.
Everyone does this
Today's work: choose one path
Paired plotting activity. All four paths end the same way: a world map with the major boundaries marked and identified.
Sketch first, no words (5 min, alone): why do the plates move? Draw what you think is happening under your feet. Compare in pairs (3 min). Note it in your Field Notebook, dated. By the end of this unit your answer will have a mechanism. Keep this sketch to measure the distance.
Open your Class Notebook and type today's entry header as Heading 2:
A: Nov 16 | U3 B1 | Inside Earth + Boundary TypesB: Nov 17 | U3 B1 | Inside Earth + Boundary Types
What you're submitting today
Formative: building K/U vocabulary the rest of the unit will use.
At least 5 boundaries correctly identified and labeled by type. If you went with Choice D, your hazard-to-boundary list with 5 examples.
Submit via Google Classroom (link posted in August)One question before you leave
Three to five minutes. Your answer is saved to your reflection journal, where you can read back everything you have written this year.
No grade. Save it for Block 2.
Today's reflection is in Google Classroom, under Reflection Journal.
Link posted in AugustSign in with your school account. Your teacher can see what you write here.