FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT US AT connect@space.rice.edu Funded by NASA as part of the Earth Science Information Partners   Activity 13: Moving Continents Level: Grade 7-8, but easily adaptable for older (Algebra 1 or Science) students Learning Objective: Students will measure the distance between South America and Africa at two points in the Earth's history. They will then calculate the average speed at which these two continents have been drifting apart. Specific Science Content Standards Motions and forces Structure of the Earth system's history Geography: The physical processes that shape the Earth's surface Specific Mathematics Content Standards Variables and data Proportions Velocities Units of measure Earth Update: Geosphere Introducing the activity: Tell students that we can measure the motion of the Earth's continental "plates" by using sensitive GPS receivers from space. If we follow that motion backwards in time, we can predict where the plates came from. The fact that the Eastern "corner" of South America appears to fit exactly into the "corner" of Africa led Wegener to suggest that the continents drifted. Mineral deposits which are very similar at corresponding places on the two continents lend credence to that view. In this exercise we take a map of the Earth as it might have looked 94 million years ago and measure the average speed of separation of these two continents over time. For one scientist's prediction of what the Earth's continents might look like in the future and the past, see the plate tectonic movies in the Geosphere/Sphere Topics library. Activity 13: Moving Continents You will need to have Adobe Acrobat Reader to view this activity. To download, click on the link below. http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep.html

Last Update: December 12, 2001