South American 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/south-american-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 South American Plate?Approximately 10,300,000 square kilometers (4,000,000 square miles)
2. What is the movement?Generally eastward at approximately 2.5 cm/year
3. What is the associated features?Andes Mountains, Andean Volcanic Belt, Atacama Desert, Amazon Basin
4. Why do the Andes Mountains form?The Nazca Plate slides under the South American Plate, creating magma that rises and pushes the land upward, forming the Andes.
5. Where does the South American Plate move?The plate moves mainly toward the east, pushed by forces from the Mid‑Atlantic Ridge and the Earth's mantle.

Lithospheric Plate: A massive, irregularly shaped slab of solid rock, composed of both the crust and the upper part of the mantle.
Convergent Boundary: A plate boundary where two plates move towards each other, often resulting in subduction or collision.
Divergent Boundary: A plate boundary where two plates move away from each other, leading to the creation of new crust.
Transform Boundary: A plate boundary where two plates slide past each other horizontally.