Concept Map and Standards

Concept Map

1a: Students know evidence of plate tectonics is derived from the fit of the continents; the location of earthquakes, volcanoes, and midocean ridges; and the distribution of fossils, rock types, and ancient climatic zones.
1d: Students know that earthquakes are sudden motions along breaks in the crust called faults and that volcanoes and fissures are locations where magma reaches the surface.
1e: Students know major geologic events, such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and mountain building, result from plate motions.
1f: Students know how to explain major features of California geology (including mountains, faults, volcanoes) in terms of plate tectonics.
1g: Students know how to determine the epicenter of an earthquake and know that the effects of an earthquake on any region vary, depending on the size of the earthquake, the distance of the region from the epicenter, the local geology, and the type of construction in the region.
2a: Students know water running downhill is the dominant process in shaping the landscape, including California's landscape.
2d: Students know earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, landslides, and floods change human and wildlife habitats.
7. Scientific progress is made by asking meaningful questions and conducting careful investigations.

3b: Students know the principal structures that form at the three different kinds of plate boundaries.
3d: Students know why and how earthquakes occur and the scales used to measure their intensity and magnitude.
9a: Students know the resources of major economic importance in California and their relation to California's geology.
9b: Students know the principal natural hazards in different California regions and the geologic basis of those hazards.
9d: Students know how to analyze published geologic hazard maps of California and know how to use the map's information to identify evidence of geologic events of the past and predict geologic changes in the future.
9-12: Grade Investigation and Experimentation:
Scientific progress is made by asking meaningful questions and conducting careful investigations.

Students solve problems involving fractions, ratios, proportions, and percentages.
Students calculate and solve problems involving addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.
Students analyze and use tables, graphs, and rules to solve problems.
Students use strategies, skills, and concepts in finding solutions.
Students organize and describe distributions of data by using a number of different methods.

Students read and understand grade-level-appropriate material.
Students write clear, coherent, and focused essays.
Students write narrative, expository, persuasive, and descriptive texts.
Students write and speak with a command of standard English conventions appropriate to grade level.

Lithospheric plates on the scales of continents and oceans constantly move at rates of centimeters per year in response to movements in the mantle. Major geological events, such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and mountain building, result from these plate motions.
Landforms are the result of a combination of constructive and destructive forces.

Risk analysis considers the type of hazard and estimates the number of people that might be exposed and the number likely to suffer consequences. The results are used to determine the options for reducing or eliminating risks.
Students should understand the risks associated with natural hazards.
Individuals can use a systematic approach to thinking critically about risks and benefits.
Important personal and social decisions are made based on perceptions of benefits and risks.

We can observe some changes such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions on a human time scale, but many processes such as mountain building and plate movements take place over hundreds of millions of years.

Some hazards, such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and severe weather, are rapid and spectacular.
Natural and human-induced hazards present the need for humans to assess potential danger and risk.