This lab activity could be used for an introductory earth science/physical geology/earthquakes course for non-majors. Designed for an introductory geology course

Lectures prior to the lab should have covered the basics of plate tectonics, including the different types of plate boundaries.

This is a stand-alone exercise typically given near the beginning of the course in either discussion or lab section.

Students synthesize several datasets to determine the characteristics and locations of plate boundaries Students will be able to predict the type of tectonic plate boundary using bathymetry, earthquake, volcano, and sea floor age data. Students will be able to predict plate rates and plate directions by examining an unfamiliar plate setting.

The students must interpret several sets of data to determine where the plate boundaries are located. Requires the students to draw several diagrams and graphs to reinforce the data presented in figures. Students are also asked to think critically about plate rates and what happens at the different plate boundaries

Students can pursue more information and interact with the data by downloading (free) Google Earth and various data sets. This lab could be transferred into a computer based lab quite easily if computer lab facilities are available for discussion/lab sections.

In this lab students interpret bathymetric, topography, sea floor ages, and earthquake distributions to reinforce concepts about the different types of plate boundaries. Each student must interpret several sets of data to determine the location and type of plate boundary. To develop a set of basic analytical skills, the students draw several diagrams and graphs to reinforce the data presented in figures. Students are also asked to think critically about plate rates and what happens to the crust at the different plate boundaries. This activity uses online and/or real-time data and has minimal/no quantitative component.

Based on the answers students give to the questions it will be clear what remaining misconceptions student have about the concepts of plate tectonics.

http://earth.google.com/
Most data is downloaded from the Google Earth Community pages, including sea floor ages, topo/bath, plate boundaries
Topo and Bathymetery data originally from:
http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/mgg/image/2minrelief.html
Earthquake data created from M4.5 and greater earthquakes for the first 6 months of 2006 using catalogs from the USGS.

View a complete set of data for this lab in Google Earth format (unavailable).

This activity is a variation on an original activity, Discovering Plate Boundaries developed by Dale Sawyer at Rice University.