African Plate

High school (ages 12+)
Geography

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/african-plate

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. How big is African Plate?Approximately 61,300,000 square kilometers (23,700,000 square miles)
2. What is the average plate velocity?Approximately 2.15 cm/year, with variations across the plate
3. What is the key geological features?East African Rift System, Atlas Mountains, Ethiopian Highlands, Kilimanjaro volcano
4. What is the African Plate and why does it move?The African Plate is a huge piece of Earth’s crust that moves slowly because hot convection currents in the mantle push it. It travels about 2.15 centimeters each year.
5. How does the African Plate create mountains and earthquakes?When the African Plate bumps into other plates, it can push up mountains like the Atlas Mountains. The movement also can cause earthquakes.

Lithospheric Plate: A massive, irregularly shaped slab of solid rock, composed of both the crust and the rigid upper portion of the mantle.
Divergent Boundary: A linear feature that exists between two tectonic plates that are moving away from each other.
Convergent Boundary: A region where two tectonic plates are moving toward each other, often resulting in subduction or collision.
Mantle Convection: The slow churning motion of Earth's mantle, which drives plate tectonics.