大象传媒

What is tectonic movement?

The Earth's surface is made up of different pieces called tectonic plates. The movement of these plates can change landscapes.

In this article you can learn about:

  • What tectonic plates and fault lines are
  • How a fold mountain is formed where tectonic plates meet
  • How tectonic movement causes earthquakes
  • Wildlife in Scotland's Great Glen

This article is suitable for Landscapes topics for primary school learners.

Back to top

Video - Tectonic plate movement

Join Isla and Connor as they explore features of tectonic movement along the Great Glen Way.

Watch this short video to find out about tectonic movement.

Back to top

What are tectonic plates?

  • Our planet, Earth, is made up of different layers. The hard outer layer is called the .
  • The Earth's crust is made up of large slabs called .
  • These plates fit together like jigsaw puzzle pieces.
  • Tectonic plates move around very slowly and this movement changes the landscape around us.
Map of the tectonic plates that make up Earth's crust
Back to top

Continents and Pangaea

How many continents are there?

  • Land on Earth is made up of different pieces called . These large areas of land are surrounded by sea and contain lots of different countries.
  • The seven continents are Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe and Australia.
  • All these continents used to be joined together in one supercontinent called Pangaea.

What is Pangaea?

  • Over time, the movement of broke Pangaea up into different parts, creating the continents we know today.
  • The breaking up of different continents means that some of the same features of landscape, like mountain ranges, can be found on different continents.
  • For example, the mountains and hills along the Great Glen Way in Scotland were originally part of the same mountain range as the Appalachian Mountains in Canada.
Map of the super-continent Pangaea
Back to top

How are fold mountains formed?

  • Fold mountains are created where two or more of Earth's are pushed together.
  • Where the plates meet, rocks and debris are warped and folded into hills, mountains, and entire .
  • The movement is so slow that it takes thousands of years for fold mountains to form.
  • Examples of fold mountains include the Andes in South America, the Alps in Europe and the Himalayas in Asia.

Slideshow - Fold mountains around the world

This slideshow shows examples of fold mountains around the world.

Image gallerySkip image gallerySlide 1 of 3, View of Meall na Teanga munro, Meall na Teanga, Scotland Meall na Teanga is one of the two fold mountains at Loch Lochy, alongside Sr貌n a' Choire Ghairbh. They were created when tectonic plates were pushed together on the Great Glen fault. (Andy Sutton / Alamy Stock Photo)
Back to top

What causes earthquakes?

When two tectonic plates move against each other, this can cause an earthquake along the .

In this video, Isla and Connor finish their journey along the Great Glen Way in Inverness, where they find out about earthquakes.

Watch this short video to find out what causes earthquakes.

Back to top

Wildlife of the Great Glen

Learn more about some of the wildlife Isla and Connor spotted along the Great Glen Way.

Image gallerySkip image gallerySlide 1 of 4, Red deer stag, Red deer The red deer is Scotland's largest deer. Wild red deer can be found on moorland and mountainsides. (Rob Carter / Alamy Stock Photo)
Back to top
Key words sticker

Key words about tectonic movement

  • continents - A large piece of land of the Earth's surface surrounded by sea. In the UK, we are on the continent, Europe.
  • Pangaea - A supercontinent made up of all the world's land masses before they were broken up into the different continents we recognise today.
  • crust - The outer layer of the Earth. The crust is the solid rock layer upon which we live.
  • mantle - The layer beneath the Earth's crust. In the upper parts of the mantle the rock is hard, but lower down the rock is soft and beginning to melt.
  • tectonic plates - Large slabs that fit together to make up the Earth's crust.
  • fault - Where two or more tectonic plates meet. This could also be called a plate boundary or fault line.
  • fold mountain - A mountain that has formed where two or more of Earth's tectonic plates have been pushed together.
  • mountain range - A series of hills or mountains that have formed close together.
  • earthquake - A sudden movement of the Earth's crust caused when pressure builds up between tectonic plates over long periods of time.
  • friction - A force of resistance between two surfaces that are moving across or against each other. Tectonic plates move in different directions over long periods of time and friction causes them to get stuck.
Back to top

Test your knowledge

Challenge

Draw a diagram of the Earth's layers.

In this article, we learned about the Earth's crust and how it is divided into different slabs called tectonic plates.

The crust is the outer layer of Earth but there are lots of other layers underneath. Can you research the different layers and draw a diagram clearly displaying them?

Here's a clue: the Earth has four main layers.

Back to top

More on Landscapes

Find out more by working through a topic