How to Make a Mountain: A Lesson in Plate Tectonics

CORRECTION: AT 8:58, I stated that if there is just one Continental Plate you would have Convergent Subduction. I meant to say OCEANIC Plate. Sorry.

Ever heard someone say you're "making a mountain out of a molehill?" Well, I don't actually know what a molehill is (actually, I think I do), but in this lesson, we will examine the Earth's forces that creates its mountains--namely Continental Drift and Plate Tectonics.

This lesson begins by looking at the composition of the Earth and discover that its core, mantle, and crust make it much more like a baseball, than a blue marble that some have called it.

We then look at the outside of the Earth and find that it also has stitches, just like a baseball. Here we learn of Alfred Wegner's examination of the Earth which used records of fossils and rock formations to assert that the continents move--giving rise to the theory of Continental Drift.

While the geology community thought that Wegner was crazy, Harry Hess joined the Navy and through the use of sonar mapped the ocean floor and with carbon dating of the ocean crust, discovered Wegner was right and explained how the continents move through a process not unlike a lava lamp (interested, gotta watch the video--hint, it's through convection of the magma in the asthenosphere).

The lesson then looks at the three major ways that tectonic plates will move in relation to each other: divergence, convergence, and transform boundaries and discover that these moving plates create landforms such as mountains and volcanoes--and even rift valleys.

Because of the different densities, the lesson points out that if there is an oceanic crust involved in a collision of tectonic plates, it will cause something called Convergent Subduction which creates the subduction zone of the Ring of Fire. And if there are two continental plates, it creates Convergent Folding which is the process that continues to create the Himalaya Mountains and Mt. Everest.

All of the movement of these plates, creates a great deal of stress on the crust creates cracks, called faults which is where Earthquakes occur. And the lesson examines how tsunamis are created through underwater earthquakes.

Last, the lesson concludes discussing the Hot Spots that have created the Hawaii Islands as well has turned Yellowstone into a Supervolcano.

This lesson is designed for anyone, but is focused on meeting the Texas Education Knowledge Standards for the World Geography studies course in the State of Texas.