This week we dug deeper into the idea of Our Earth, kind of literally. First we used a book to see illustrations of the Earth and interior layers. We learned new vocabulary like "crust," "tectonic plates," and "magma" (melted rocks that the tectonic plates float on).
Next we used play-doh to form tectonic plates and discover three ways the Earth makes mountains.
1. Fold mountains- a real world example of tectonic collision is the Himalayan mountains, and these types of mountains are identifiable by their jagged peaks
2. Volcanic eruptions- when a tectonic plate moves over a hot spot and magma pushes up onto the land, we call it a volcanic eruption (like the Hawaiian islands)
3. Dome mountains- sometimes the magma pushes up but does not find an outlet, and it cools forming a rounded mountain
Lastly, we observed how when tectonic plates fold, collide, go under one another (subduction), the Earth makes layers. When lots of heavy mountains are on top, and really hot magma is underneath, the layers in the middle are changed through pressure and heat. This is how we get different kinds of rocks. In summary, geology rocks! Especially when reenacted with play-doh. ;)
