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 Earth's Tectonic Plates

Earth's Tectonic Plates
Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   grades 4 to 6
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   4.45

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    jigsaw, molten, core, fluid, cubes, opposite, boundary, lines, smash, cause, layer, movement, against, erupt, upward, volcanic
     content words:    Geological Survey, Atlantic Ocean, Himalaya Mountains

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Earth's Tectonic Plates
By Cindy Grigg 		  
1     Caption: This map from the U.S. Geological Survey shows earthquakes and volcanoes, represented by dots. Together, the dots show the boundary lines of the Earth's tectonic plates.
 
2     You may already know that the Earth has three main layers. We live on the crust of the Earth. The crust is the outermost layer. Even the oceans have a layer of crust under them.
 
3     Under the crust is the mantle. The mantle is made up of rock. It is not solid rock though. Inside the earth it is hot-hot enough to melt rock! The mantle is soft and fluid. It flows like melted plastic.
 
4     Under the mantle is the Earth's core. The core is very hot!
 
5     The crust is not a hard, solid piece. It is more like a jigsaw puzzle. There are pieces that fit next to each other. The pieces of the crust stay together. But they move about on the fluid, moving mantle. The pieces are called tectonic plates. The plates bump against each other like ice cubes in a glass.

Paragraphs 6 to 11:
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