Summary
Examines how Earth's landscapes have changed dramatically over millions of years due to plate tectonics, erosion, and deposition — and how scientists reconstruct past landscapes from rock and fossil evidence.
Viewer safety
All ages
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Teaching resources
Discussion questions
Discussion
- What evidence tells scientists that Earth's landscapes have changed over millions of years?
- How do plate tectonics change Earth's surface?
- How do erosion and deposition change landscapes over shorter time scales?
- If you found a fossil of a sea creature on top of a mountain, what would that tell you?
Quick work-a-long
Vocabulary: plate tectonics, fossil, evidence, landscape, rock layer, geologic time.
Try it: Stack layers of different-colored clay to represent rock layers. Press down on one side to simulate tectonic compression — watch the layers fold. What do the folds tell a geologist?