Introduction to Plate Tectonics
Elizabeth Cochran, University of California-Riverside
Uses maps created in Google Earth to explore concepts of plate tectonics including locations of plate boundaries, age of the sea floor, and distribution of earthquakes

Testing plate tectonics in the Gulf of California
Paul Umhoefer, Northern Arizona University
This is a simple exercise to use real-world data from recent large earthquakes so that students can "test" for themselves if plate tectonics "works" in the Gulf of California.

Igneous Rock Compositions and Plate Tectonics
Allen Glazner, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
In this exercise, students use whole-rock major- and trace-element compositions of igneous rocks from a variety of tectonic settings and locations to explore the importance of plate setting in determining magma ...

Plate Tectonics as Expressed in Geological Landforms and Events
Jeff Ryan
This activity seeks to have students analyze global data sets on earthquake and volcano distributions toward identifying major plate boundary types in different regions on the Earth. A secondary objective is to familiarize students with two publicly available resources for viewing and manipulating geologically-relevant geospatial data: Google Earth(TM) and GeoMapApp.

Mapping Plate Tectonic Boundaries
Michael Kerwin, University of Denver
This activity asks students to explore a National Geographic map showing Earth's plate tectonic boundaries. The exercise lets the students examine relationships between plate tectonic boundaries and geologic ...

Connecting Cross-Sectional Data from the Red Sea to Plate Tectonics
Laura Guertin, Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus
Students will use map views and cross-sectional profiles across the Red Sea to determine plate tectonic processes in the region. Google Earth is a technological tool used to facilitate the investigation.

Identifying Plate Tectonic Boundaries for a Virtual Ocean Basin
Steve Reynolds, Arizona State University - Downtown Phoenix
Students observe an ocean basin and two continental margins to identify possible plate boundaries and predict where earthquakes and volcanoes would occur. They also draw the boundaries in cross section.

Igneous Rock Compositions and Plate Tectonics
Allen Glazner, afg@unc.edu Department of Geological Sciences, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC Kent Ratajeski, kratajeski@montana.edu Department of Earth Sciences, Montana State University, Bozeman, ...

Driving forces of plate tectonics and the importance of inertia
Donald Forsyth, Brown University
Simple in class calculations showing that inertia or momentum is completely unimportant in considering the driving forces of plate tectonics

The science behind Plate Tectonics
John Weber, Grand Valley State University
Plate tectonics is a quantitative, robust and testable, geologic model describing the surface motions of Earth's outer skin. It is based on real data and assumptions, and built using the scientific method. New ...