Activity 1 - Taking a Ride on a Lithospheric Plate

Use the resources listed below to help you complete this activity.

State-Based Resources
General Resources

State-Based Resources: Investigate - Part A: Data from the Global Positioning System

Obtain a GPS time series for a station nearest Kentucky. Record the directions and rates of motion in cm/yr for the station nearest your community.

There are currently no resources listed for this state.

Investigate - Part B: Data from a Computer Model

You will need to know the latitude and longitude of your school in decimal format. Find your school (or another familiar place) on your local topographic map. Use the map to identify the latitude and longitude of your school.

Courtesy of the Microsoft Corporation, 57,000 U.S. Geological Survey topographic maps were digitized and are now available on the Web.

Find topographic maps by place name, latitude and longitude, or UTM coordinates under the Get A Map section. Allows you to download topographic maps (including USGS maps) for free, at various scales (from 1:100,000 to 1:24,000).

Visit the Relative Plate Motion Calculator.

 

Understanding and Applying What You Have Learned

Examine the scale of the USGS topographic map of your community.

Courtesy of the Microsoft Corporation, 57,000 U.S. Geological Survey topographic maps were digitized and are now available on the Web.

Find topographic maps by place name, latitude and longitude, or UTM coordinates under the Get A Map section. Allows you to download topographic maps (including USGS maps) for free, at various scales (from 1:100,000 to 1:24,000).

 

Inquiring Further

1. Excellent web sites that describe how GPS works can be found on the EarthComm web site.

   Very comprehensive site explores scientific methods before and after the advent of GPS, as well as a review of how GPS works and what are its applications. A good introductory site.
   
   This site reviews the basics of plate motions and introduces the science of geodesy and using GPS to track current plate movements. Includes an image of a GPS satellite.

3. Vist the EarthComm web site for the address of animated images of the motions of lithospheric plates.

   Allows you to view plate motions from the past 200 million years, as well as predicted motions 25 million years into the future.
   
   Information on plate tectonics, including animations of plate motions for the past 750 million years.
   

General information related to this activity:

The Interior Structure of the Earth

"The Interior of the Earth" by E.C. Roberston, USGS
Information about the make up of the crust, the mantle, and the core, and how each was "discovered" and studied.

Measuring Plate Motions with GPS

"GPS: A New Constellation" - Smithsonian Institution National Air and Space Museum exhibition
Very comprehensive site explores scientific methods before and after the advent of GPS, as well as a review of how GPS works and what are its applications. A good introductory site.

"Understanding Plate Motions" - from This Dynamic Planet, USGS
This site reviews the basics of plate motions and introduces the science of geodesy and using GPS to track current plate movements. Includes an image of a GPS satellite.

"Tectonic Plate Motion" - Space Geodesy, NASA

UNAVCO - Visit the Relative Plate Motion Calculator

Sea-floor Spreading

"Plate Tectonics and Sea Floor Spreading, Subduction Zones, "Hot Spot", and the "Ring of Fire" - USGS Cascades Volcano Observatory
Reviews the basics of plate tectonics including taking a look at sea-floor spreading. Includes several maps which highlight the "ring."

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Last updated: May 11, 2010

This project is supported, in part, by the National Science Foundation and the AGI Foundation. Opinions expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the Foundation.