7. Mountains and Volcanoes

Success Criteria

Your learning has been successful if you can do the following:

Describe the things we find on and below the Earth's surface.
Describe how Earth is heated.
Explain how the movement of Earth's surface affects us.

Vocabulary

Learn these so you can communicate this concept well.

Beaker: Holds larger volumes of liquids/mixtures.
Boiling tube: Safely holds small amounts of liquids/mixtures that need to be heated.
Bunsen burner: Burns natural gas to make a flame used for heating and burning.
Conical flask: Holds larger volumes of liquids/mixtures, especially good for swirling (mixing).
Funnel: Makes it easier to put liquids into narrow containers.
Gauze mat: Sits on a tripod and spreads the heat from a Bunsen burner out evenly.
Heat proof mat: Protects the bench from hot and burning objects.
Measuring cylinder: Measures volumes of liquids accurately.
Stirring rod: Mixes liquids / mixtures safely.
Test tube: Holds small amounts of liquids/mixtures that do not need to be heated.
Thermometer: Measures the temperature of liquids.
Tongs: Holds objects that are to be burnt or heated.
Tripod: Holds equipment, like beakers, above a Bunsen burner.

Lesson 3: Hei Mahi (Do Now)

Do Now on page 28 of your Knowledge Book:

1. The crust of Papatūānuku is broken up into pieces called:

2. What causes these pieces to move?

3. What are the names of the pieces of crust Aotearoa sit on?

Lesson 3: Exit Task

In your Knowledge Book page 31

How do mountains form?

How do volcanoes form?

How are mountains and volcanoes created?

Mountains and volcanoes are created at convergent plate boundaries, where two tectonic plates are coming together.

If the two plates are carrying continental crust, the two crusts fold and squish together. This makes the material clump and pile up on top of each other, creating mountains.

If one of the plates is denser than the other (such as one is oceanic crust vs continental crust), the denser plate will sink into the mantle.

The heat from the mantle then melts the crust, forcing it to become warmer and less dense and therefore rise up to the surface. This process is called subduction and it creates volcanoes.

The reason Aotearoa has so many volcanoes is because we sit on a plate boundary.

In Te Ika-a-Maui (North Island), the Pacific plate has oceanic crust and is therefore sinking underneath continental crust on the Australian plate.

The Pacific plate then melts from the heat in the mantle and rises to the surface through weaknesses in the Australian plate. This molten rock then erupt onto the surface, creating most of the large volcanoes, warm spring, and calderas that we see in throughout Te Ika-a-Maui.

In Waipounamou, the two plates are jammed together and both have continental crust, creating the range of mountains known as the Southern Alps.