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Science
Quarter 1 – Module 4:
The Earth’s Interior

Department of Education • Republic of the Philippines

Science– Grade 10
Alternative Delivery Mode
Quarter 1 – Module 2: The Earth’s Interior
First Edition, 2019

Republic Act 8293, section 176 states that: No copyright shall subsist in any work
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Published by the Department of Education

Secretary:
Undersecretary:
Assistant Secretary:

Development Team of the Module

Authors:
Lesson 1 & 2 - Hellen M. Dizon
Lesson 3 - Lilibeth B. Montemayor
Lesson 4 - Patty M. Canyong
Lesson 5 & 6 - Dulce S. Ortega
Lesson 6 - Nilo Salazar
Lesson 7 - Marygin T. Joson
Lesson 8 - Helen Rose A. Ferrancullo / Shirlie G. Custodio
Editor: Rebecca M. Roxas, EPS
Reviewer: Arlene Gatpo, PSDS
Management Team: Malcolm S. Garma, Regional Director; Genia V. Santos, CLMD
Chief; Dennis M. Mendoza, Regional EPS in Charge of LRMS and Regional ADM
Coordinator; Maria Magdalena M. Lim, CESO V, Schools Division Superintendent; Aida
H. Rondilla , CID Chief; Lucky S. Carpio, Division EPS in Charge of LRMS and Division
ADM Coordinator

Printed in the Philippines by ________________________

Department of Education – Bureau of Learning Resources (DepEd-BLR) (Sample)

Office Address: ____________________________________________

____________________________________________
Telefax: ____________________________________________
E-mail Address: ____________________________________________
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Science
Quarter 1 – Module 2:
The Earth’s Interior

Department of Education • Republic of the Philippines

Introductory Message
For the facilitator:

(This gives an instruction to the facilitator to orient the learners and support the
parents, elder sibling etc. of the learners on how to use the module. Furthermore, this
also instructs the facilitator to remind the learners to use separate sheets in
answering the pre-test, self-check exercises, and post-test.)

For the learner:

(This communicates directly to the learners and hence, must be interactive. This
contains instructions on how to use the module. The structure and the procedure of
working through the module are explained properly. This also gives an overview of
the content of the module. If standard symbols are used to represent some parts of
the module such as the objectives, input, practice task and the like they are defined
and explained in this portion.)

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 What I Need to Know

This module was designed and written with you in mind. It is here to help
you master the connection between the different processes and landforms along
plate boundaries with the internal structure and mechanisms of our planet. The
scope of this module permits it to be used in many different learning situations.
The language used recognizes the diverse vocabulary level of students. The lessons
are arranged to follow the standard sequence of the course. But the order in which
you read them can be changed to correspond with the textbook you are now using.

After going through this module, you are expected to:

1. Explain the concept of continental drift, sea-floor spreading and plate tectonics
theories.
2. Identify the possible causes of plate movement.
3. Explain the different processes that occur along plate boundaries.

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 What I Know

Choose the letter of the best answer. Write the chosen letter on a separate sheet of
paper.

1. The driving forces behind plate tectonics, a subject that plagued Wegener,
continue to be a matter of debate today. Which of the following is NOT a
possible cause of plate motion?
A. Convection B. Earthquake activity
C. Gravity D. Mantle upwelling
2. Who were the two scientists who proposed the theory of sea-floor spreading in
the early 1960?
A. Charles Darwin and James Hutton
B. Harry Hess and Robert Dietz
C. John Butter and Arthur Smite
D. F. Vine and D. Mathews
3. The theory that states “pieces of Earth’s crust are in constant, slow motion
driven by movement in the mantle” is called____?
A. The theory of continental drift
B. The theory of Pangaea
C. The theory of plate tectonics
D. The theory of plate boundaries
4. The cycle of heating, rising, cooling, and sinking is called ________.
A. Subduction zone
B. Convergent boundary
C. Convection current
D. Conduction current
5. What do you expect to find at a mid-ocean ridge?
A. Very ancient rocks
B. Reverse fault
C. Thick accumulation of sediments
D. Relatively young rocks

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 In Module 1, you have learned about the different processes and landforms
along plate boundaries that slowly shaped the Earth’s surface. In Module 2, you
will learn the connection between these processes with the internal structure and
mechanisms of our planet.

What’s In

Plate Tectonics: The Earth’s Mechanism

The main features of plate tectonics are:

• The Earth's surface is covered by a series of crustal plates.

• The ocean floors are continually moving, spreading from the center, sinking
at the edges, and being regenerated.
• Convection currents beneath the plates move the crustal plates in different
directions.
• The source of heat driving the convection currents is radioactivity deep in
the Earth’s mantle.

Notes to the Teacher

Activities in this module are very student friendly. They can
work on it by themselves at home as long as they follow properly the
procedures. Materials needed for each activity are simple and readily
available in their surroundings. However, learners must still be
properly guided to achieve the desired outcome of the activity.
Explanations and concepts are simple, yet once and a while teachers
must still interact to ensure the clarity and preciseness of the idea
absorb by each learner.

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 What’s New

THE EARTH’S MECHANISM

The Continental Drift

Continental drift describes one of the earliest way geologists thought

continents moved over time. Today, the theory of continental drift has been
replaced by the science of plate tectonics. In the early 20th century, Alfred Wegener
published a paper explaining his theory that the continental landmasses were
“drifting” across the Earth. It sometimes plows through oceans and into each
other. He called this movement continental drift. Wegener was convinced that all
of Earth’s continents were once part of an enormous, single landmass called
Pangaea.

Pangaea existed about 240 million years ago. By about 200 million years
ago, Pangaea separated into pieces that moved away from one another. These
pieces slowly assumed their positions as the continent we recognized today.

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 What is It

Today, continents rest on massive slabs or rock called tectonic plates. Plates
are made of both continental and oceanic crust. Plates are continuously moving for
about 8 centimeters (3 in) per year and interacting in a process called plate
tectonics.

The theory of plate tectonics states that the Earth’s lithosphere is broken
into 15 major plates. Seven large plates include; the African, North American,
South American, Eurasian, Australian, Antarctic and Pacific plates. Several minor
plates also exist, including the Arabian, Nazca, and Philippine plates. These plates
are all moving in different directions and at different speeds (from 2 cm to 10 cm
per year- about the speed at which your finger nails grow) in relationship to each
other atop the hot plastic upper mantle, known as the asthenosphere.

For further exploration visit; Plates on the Move

(www.amnh.org/explore/ology/earth/plates-on-the-move2)

Figure 1: This shows the movements of plates in different directions

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 What’s More

Activity 1. “Fit me In”

Critical Thinking
Communication
Objectives:
1. Find clues and evidence to reconstruct the position of large islands and
continents as they appeared 220 million years ago.
2. Understand the theory of continental movement and plate tectonics.

Materials:
• World map
• Pair of scissors
• Glue or tape
• Ruler or compass
• Sheet of paper
Procedure:
1. On a separate sheet of paper, draw a large circle about 8 inches in diameter, to
represent the globe.
2. Cut out the islands and continents using the legend identify what each symbol
stands for. Use these evidences (symbols) on the continents and islands to
reconstruct Pangaea, the supercontinent.
Reminder: Not all boundaries may touch and that there might be areas of water
separating some to them.
3. Tape or glue the landmasses into the world map.

Guide Questions:
1. What landmasses seem to fit together?
2. What clues you have considered to match up landmass boundaries?
3. How will you compare the Pangaea / supercontinent with the world map?

Note: Students may further explore the process of continental drift by

visiting;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wq9kLzm36h0

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9
 What is It

Tectonic Activity

One of the elements lacking in Wegener’s Continental Drift theory was the
mechanism of how it works, why did the continents drift and what patterns did
they follow?

Some of the most dynamic sites of tectonic activity are seafloor spreading
zones and giant rift valleys. In the process of seafloor, molten rocks rise from
within the Earth and add new seafloor (oceanic crust) to the edges of the old.
Seafloor spreading is most dynamic along giant underwater mountain ranges
known as mid-ocean ridges. As the seafloor grows wider the continents or opposite
sides of the ridge move away from each other. The North American and Eurasian
tectonic plates, for example, are separated by the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. These two
continents are moving away from each other at the rate of about 2.5 cm (1 inch) per
year. Rift valleys are sites where a continental landmass is ripping itself apart.
Africa, for example, will eventually split along the Great Rift Valley system. What is
now a single continent will emerge as two-one on the African plate and the other on
the smaller Somali plate. The new Somali continent will be mostly oceanic, with
the horn of Africa and Madagascar its largest landmasses.

The process of seafloor spreading, rift valley formation, and subduction

(where heavier tectonic plates sink beneath lighter ones) were not well-established
until the 1960’s. These processes were the main geologic forces behind what
Wegener recognized as Continental drift. The way some continents fit together like
puzzle pieces inspired the theory of Continental Drift.

What’s More

Sea-floor Spreading
In the early 1960’s, Princeton geologist Harry Hess proposed the hypothesis
of sea-floor spreading in which basaltic magma from the mantle rises to create new
ocean floor at mid-ocean ridges. On each side of the ridge, sea floor moves from the

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ridge toward the deep sea trenches, where it will be subducted and recycled back
into the mantle.

https://studylib.net/doc/5324352/sea-floor-spreading

Activity 2: “Split Away”

Critical Thinking
Creativity
Objectives:
1. Make a simple model that shows the evolution of oceanic crust through sea-floor
spreading and subduction.

2. Simulate and describe the seafloor spreading process.

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Materials:

• 2 Sheets of 8.5” x 11” paper (cardboard may be substituted for 1 of the

sheets)

• Ruler

• Crayons / colored pencil

• Pair of scissors

• Masking tape / transparent tape

Procedure:

1. Draw a vertical line in the middle of the cardboard/paper with a height of 11.5
cm leaving 5 cm on either side of the line. This line represents a mid-ocean
spreading center.

2. Draw a second vertical line to the right of the center line so that it lies 3 cm from
the right edge of the paper. This line represents a subduction zone.

3. Draw a third vertical line to the left of the center line so that it lies 3 cm from the
left edge of the paper. This line represents another subduction zone. When you are
finished, your piece of paper should look like the diagram figure 1 below. Label the
mid-ocean ridge and subduction zones.

4. With a pair of scissors, cut the vertical lines so there will be three slits on the
paper/cardboard all the same height and parallel to each other.

5. On the second sheet of paper draw 11 bands each 2.54 cm (1” wide)
perpendicular to the long edge of the paper.

6. Choose one color to represent normal polarity and a second to represent

reversed polarity. Color the alternate bands to represent periods of normal and
reversed polarity. Color the band on the far left as reversed polarity.

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7. Cut the paper in half parallel to the long edge to get two strips of paper as shown
in figure 2. Mark the bands on each strip with arrow to indicate alternating periods
of normal (up arrow) and reversed (down arrow) polarity.

8. Insert one end of each strip of paper through the spreading center line on your
first piece of paper. (figure 3).

9. Pull each strip of paper towards the slits nearest the margins of the paper (the
subduction zones). Tape each strip to make a loop as shown in figure 3.

10. Circulate the ribbons of paper (which represent oceanic crust) to simulate the
movement of ocean floor from the mid-ocean spreading center to the subduction
zone. Start the movement of the ribbons with bands representing normal polarity.

Guide Questions:

1. What do the bands represent?

2. What occurs at the mid-ocean ridge during the process?

3. What is the role of the mid-ocean ridge in the movement of the lithospheric
plates?

4. How does the new sea floor form at the mid-ocean ridge?

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 A map of the ocean floor shows a variety of topographic features: flat plains,
long mountain chains, and deep trenches. Mid-ocean ridges are part of chain of
mountains some 84,000 km long. The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is the longest mountain
chain on Earth. These ridges are spreading centers or divergent plate
boundaries where the upwelling of magma from the mantle creates new ocean
floor.

Deep-sea trenches are long, narrow basins which extend 8-11 km below sea level.
Trenches develop adjacent to subduction zones, where oceanic lithosphere slides
back into the mantle (Fig. 2).

Tectonic Plates are responsible for shaping the earth's crust. Every continent
formed rises above the sea due to plate tectonics. It causes earthquakes, volcanoes,
the rise of mountains etc.

What causes the plates to move? Heat produced in the core that produces
convection in the mantle where the plates are floating. These cause the movements
of the plates.

To further understand the process, try to perform the next activity.

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Activity 3: “Upward, sideward” Catio?
Objectives:
1. Explain what causes the plates to move.
2. Identify factors that cause the movement of plates.
3. Relate the importance of convection current in tectonic plates.
Materials:
• Transparent /disposable plastic lunch box ( regular size)
• Red and blue food coloring
• 3 Glasses of the same size and height
• Medicine dropper
• 4 pieces blocks of wood
Procedure:
1. Fill the transparent plastic lunch box with tap water, almost full.
2. Use two empty glasses as stand to support the lunch box filled with water.
The stands should be placed on both sides.
2. At the middle bottom of the lunch box, put the water with red food color
using the medicine dropper.
3. On both sides (right and left bottom) of the lunch box, add also the water
with blue food color.
4. Fill one empty glass with hot water and place it under the lunch box.
5. Observe the movement of the water.
Guide Questions:
1. What does the lunch box with water represent?
2. What does the glass with hot water represent?
3. Describe the movement of the water after heating. What does red colored
water represent? Blue colored water?
4. What is the role of the convection current in the lithospheric plate
movement?

Convection Current
One of the driving mechanisms behind plate movement is mantle convection.
Throughout the mantle there are convection currents circulating, caused by the
difference in temperature at the earth’s interior and surface. Hot material from the
earth’s outer core rises very slowly (over millions of years) throughout the mantle.
This hot material eventually cools enough to sink back down towards the core.

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Mantle convection - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

The illustration above shows the movement of plates cause by convection

current in the mantle. As an oceanic crust moves away from the divergent
boundary, it becomes denser than the newer oceanic crust. As the older seafloor
sinks, the weight of the uplifted ridge pushes the oceanic crust toward the trench
at the subduction zone. This process is called ridge push.

Slab pull is the other possible process involved in the tectonic plate
movement. The weight of the subducting plate pulls the trailing slab into the
subduction zone just like a tablecloth slipping off the table and pulling items with it
as shown in the diagram below.

Note: For further understanding of how the convection current takes place in the
mantle, you may visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mUU69ParFM

Mantle Plumes
A mantle plume is an upwelling of superheated rock from the mantle. Mantle
plumes are the likely cause of “hot spots,” volcanic regions not created by plate
tectonics. As a mantle plume reaches the upper mantle, it melts into a diapir. This
molten material heats the asthenosphere and lithosphere, triggering volcanic

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eruptions. These volcanic eruptions make a minor contribution to heat loss from
Earth’s interior, although tectonic activity at plate boundaries is the leading cause
of such heat loss.

The Hawaiian hot spot, in the middle of the North Pacific Ocean, sits above a
likely mantle plume. As the Pacific plate moves in a generally northwestern motion,
the Hawaiian hot spot remains relatively fixed. Geologists think this has allowed
the Hawaiian hot spot to create a series of volcanoes, from the 85-million-year-old
Meiji Seamount near Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula, to the Loihi Seamount, a
submarine volcano southeast of the “Big Island” of Hawaii. Loihi, a mere 400,000
years old, will eventually become the newest Hawaiian island.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotspot_%28geology%29
Diagram above shows a cross section through the Earth's lithosphere (in
yellow) with magma rising from the mantle (in red). Lower diagram illustrates a
hotspot track caused by their relative movement.

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 Illustration above shows the movement of pacific plate and formation of Hawaiian Island
arcs.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asUXBV12Btg (hot spot formation)

What I Have Learned

1. Continental Drift is a theory that states that continents were once large area of
land that broke apart and now slowly moving away from one another.

2. Mantle convection is the very slow creeping motion of Earth's solid

silicate mantle caused by convection currents carrying heat from the interior to the
planet's surface.

3. Mid-ocean ridge is a continuous mountain chain on the floor of all major ocean
basins which marks the site where new ocean floor is created as two lithospheric
plates move away from one another.

4. Pangaea or Pangea is the proposed "supercontinent" or large land mass that

began to break apart 200 million years ago to form the present continents.

5. Plate tectonics is the theory that proposes that the Earth's lithosphere is
broken into plates that move over a plastic layer in the mantle. Plate interactions
produce earthquakes, volcanoes, and mountains.

6. Sea-floor spreading is the hypothesis, proposed in the early 1960s, that new
ocean floor is created where two plates move away from one another at mid-ocean
ridges.

7. Possible causes of plate movements are ridge push, slab pull and
mantleconvection.

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 What I Can Do

Now that you understand what happens inside the Earth and its effect on the
surface, you should be able to realize that the tectonic activities at the surface of
the earth like volcanic eruptions and earthquakes are inevitable. You should learn
to conserve and prevent the destruction of the nature for despite these inevitable
natural activities, still we have the only planet earth to live in.
As a student what you can do to show your love and care to your planet?
Task 1: Initiate a clean and green campaign by coordinating to your community
leaders or officials. By doing this we can show our gratitude to our planet earth
that would also help us live healthier and longer.
Task 2: Print or illustrate informative materials about ways to lessen/alleviate the
effects of tectonic activities related disasters such as earthquakes or tsunamis.

Assessment

Multiple Choice. Choose the letter of the best answer. Write the chosen letter on a
separate sheet of paper.

1. What does plate tectonic theory predict about the distribution of volcanoes and
earthquakes?
A. They should be distributed all throughout the world.
B. They should occur primarily along plate boundaries.
C. They should occur primarily on continents.
D. They should only occur along continental margins.
2. When scientists found identical patterns on either side of the mid-ocean ridge,
what did they deduce?
A. That these patterns were man made.
B. That these patterns were formed at the same time and that they
moved away from one another.
C. That one of these patterns repeated the first one, due to magnetic reversals.
D. That these patterns were formed at the same time, due to seafloor spreading.
3. Why did distribution of earthquakes and volcanoes help confirm plate tectonic
theory?
A. Both earthquakes and volcanoes were distributed randomly.
B. Earthquakes and volcanoes were different along different types of plate
boundaries.

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 C. Earthquakes and volcanoes were the same along all of the plate boundaries.
D. Neither earthquakes nor volcanoes had been studied much before plate
tectonics.
4. Plate tectonics theory explains the movement of continental masses relative to
the movement of ocean basins. This movement explains many phenomena,
such as
A. Earthquake
B. Volcanoes
C. Weather patterns
D. All of the above
5. Why are we able to measure past plate motion using hotspots?
A. Hotspots are relatively stationary, whereas plates move.
B. Hotspots are unaffected by gravity, which drives plate motion.
C. Hotspots only erupt every 1,000 years.
D. Hotspots only erupt when the plate moves.

Additional Activities

Task 1: For additional practice exam visit:

http://apps.usd.edu/esci/exams/tectonics.html. This site is very friendly to the
examinees, thus correct answer for each item is given comments and explanation
for further understanding of the learners.

Task 2: Make a Tectonic Plate Diorama using recyclable materials available at

home.

Sample Tectonic Plate Diorama

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 Answer Key

These serve as the answer keys to the Pre-test (What I Know) and Post-evaluation (Assessment)

What I know Assessment

1. c 1. b

2. b 2. d

3. a 3. c

4.c 4. d

5. d 5. a

These are the answers to the questions in the given activities.

Activity 1: “Fit me In”

1. What landmasses seem to fit together?
-Possible answers:
Europe and Asia
North America, South America and Africa
Australia, Antarctica and India
2. What clues you have considered to match up landmass boundaries?
- The shape of the edges of the continents
3. How will you compare the Pangaea/Supercontinent with the world map?

- Pangaea is one large mass of continents together, while the world map is
composed of continents that are far away from each other.

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Activity 2: “Split Away”
1. What do the bands represent?
- The bands represent the rocks from the mid-ocean spreading center with normal
and reversed polarity.
2. What occurs at the mid-ocean ridge during the process?
- It is where the actual sea floor spreading occurs.

3. What is the role of the mid-ocean ridge in the movement of the lithospheric
plates?

- This serves as the origin of lithospheric movement. It is the place where the force
that pushes the lithosphere originates.
4. How does the new sea floor form at the mid-ocean ridge?

- Hot less dense material below the Earth’s crust rises up on the mid-ocean ridge.
This constant sideway flows of this material forms crack in the crust where magma
flows out. As this magma cools down it forms new sea floor.

Activity 3: “Upward, Sideward” Catio?

1. What does the lunch box with water represent?
- This represents the crust.
2. What does the glass with hot water represent?
- It represents the hot spot.
3. Describe the movement of the water after heating. What does red colored water
represent? What about blue colored water?
- The water moves in circular motion from the center to the side and vice versa.
The red colored water represents the hot less dense material moving upward at the
center known as mid-ocean ridge. The blue colored water represents the cold dense
material being pushed down, so they move in circular motion. This motion is called
convection current.
4. What is the role of the convection current in the lithospheric plate movement?
- The convection current in the magma drive plate tectonics. Rising magma pushes
against and along tectonic plates, which eventually moves the plates together,
apart or along each other.

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References

https://games.legendsoflearning.com/games/WyJnYW1lcyIsMTI2M10=

https://games.legendsoflearning.com/games/WyJnYW1lcyIsMTA5XQ==

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mUU69ParFM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XC2x1_J8Klc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCzCmldiaWQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHWceRySDb8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryrXAGY1dmE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hos7w8xrcEs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJF7RAKzxRw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asUXBV12Btg

file:///C:/Users/Admin/Downloads/dinos_plate_tectonics.pdf

https://evavarga.net/modeling-plate-tectonics/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mUU69ParFM

https://www.s2temsc.org/uploads/1/8/8/7/18873120/convection.pdf

https://www.bgs.ac.uk/discoveringGeology/hazards/earthquakes/whatDrivesTectonicPlates.html

https://www.earthlearningidea.com/PDF/217_Slab_pull.pdf

https://socratic.org/questions/how-do-convection-currents-affect-tectonic-plates

https://www.bgs.ac.uk/discoveringGeology/hazards/earthquakes/activities/BoundariesAndFaults.ht
ml

https://ucmp.berkeley.edu/fosrec/Metzger3.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotspot_(geology)

https://www.sciencedaily.com/terms/hotspot_(geology).htm

https://volcanoworld.wordpress.com/2011/12/12/what-is-a-hot-spot-and-what-is-a-mantle-plume/

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