Plate Tectonics Unit
6 modules covering theory of plate tectonics, plate boundaries, earthquakes and volcanoes for igcse geography
Your route through the unit.
Start anywhere — M1 is the gentlest way in.Module 1
The Theory of Plate Tectonics
Earth's structure, the two types of crust, continental drift evidence, and the forces that move the plates.
Module 2
Plate Boundaries
The four types of plate boundary — destructive, constructive, collision, conservative — and the landscapes, named examples and hazards each one creates.
Module 3
Earthquakes
What earthquakes are, how we measure them, the human and physical factors that decide how deadly they get, and how we predict, prepare, protect and plan.
Module 4
Volcanoes
How volcanoes form, the three types and why they erupt differently, volcanic hazards, monitoring and prediction, and why millions still choose to live in their shadow.
Module 5
The Türkiye–Syria Earthquake 2023
A detailed case study (DSE) of the 6 February 2023 Türkiye–Syria earthquake — its tectonic causes on the East Anatolian Fault, the primary and secondary impacts across Türkiye and Syria, the emergency and long-term responses, and why a natural hazard became a human catastrophe.
Module 6
The Hunga Tonga Eruption 2022
A detailed case study (DSE) of the 15 January 2022 Hunga Tonga–Hunga Haʻapai eruption — the largest of the 21st century. Its submarine, phreatomagmatic causes on the Tonga–Kermadec destructive boundary, the social, economic and environmental impacts of an event that circled the globe, the responses of an isolated LIC cut off by a severed cable, and why a VEI 5–6 blast killed only six people.