PaginePaginepagineapp.comRead the text. Answer using evidence from the text.
Earth’s outer shell is broken into large pieces called tectonic plates. They float on a layer of hot, slowly flowing rock in the mantle and move only a few centimeters a year — about as fast as your fingernails grow.
Where plates pull apart, magma rises to form new crust, as along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Where plates push together, one may slide beneath another, forming deep ocean trenches and volcanoes, or both may crumple upward into mountains like the Himalayas.
Where plates slide past each other, stress builds until the rocks suddenly slip, causing earthquakes. California’s San Andreas Fault is a famous example.
Plate tectonics explains why earthquakes and volcanoes cluster along certain zones, such as the "Ring of Fire" around the Pacific Ocean.
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Worksheets › Grade 8 English › Reading Informational Text › Reading Informational Text
Free Grade 8 English worksheet (Common Core RI.8.1): read the informational text "Earth’s Tectonic Plates", find the main idea and answer questions with evidence. Skill: Key ideas and details in informational text. Level: Grade 8 — also suits Year 9 (UK).
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Key ideas and details in informational text.
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