Southern California Plate Tectonic Puzzle

Instruction for Construction:

1. There are 9 pieces: the base sheet plus 8 puzzle pieces.
2. There are 6 pivot points, labeled 1-6. You will need 6 small brads to
connect the various pieces at these pivot points.
3. Using a brad, poke round holes in the base sheet in the two pivot
circles labeled 5c and 6c.
4. Cut out the eight puzzle pieces. Poke round holes in the labeled pivot
circles (2 holes per piece).
5. The Transverse Ranges is a double piece - SB and SB Copy - to
make it stronger and to smooth the workings of pivot point 2.
6. Using the brads, connect the various pieces in alphabetical order as
follows. (Note: The final puzzle will work better if you exercise each
pivot point by gently turning the pieces around the brad legs after you
construct each point.)
Feeding the brads in from the front:
Attach 1a to 1b to 1c and bend the legs out.
Attach 2a to 2b to 2c to 2d and bend the legs out.
Attach 3a to 3b to 3c and bend the legs out.
Attach 4a to 4b and bend the legs out.
Tape or glue the tabs on the North American pieces to the speckled
spots on the base sheet so that features on the two precisely line up.
This should leave two slots between the North American and the base
sheet. Feed the two free lever arms into the fronts of the slots, and
then:
Attach 5a to 5b to 5c and bend the legs out.
Attach 6a to 6b to 6c and bend the legs out.
Check to see that the edges of the Baja California pieces ended up on
top of the
Geo-Activity with Puzzle: Plate Tectonic History of Southern
California & Northern Baja California
The Pacific Plate is headed northwestward toward Alaska. 18 mya, some
coastal pieces of North America were torn off and became attached to the
Pacific Plate. Between 18 mya-6 mya, the Pacific Plate dragged these pieces
up the coast to the northwest and rotated the Western Transverse Ranges
block (SB) clockwise. About 6 mya, Baja California broke off of North
America and became attached to the Pacific Plate. Since then it has been
moving with the Pacific Plate, pulling away to the northwest from Mexico and
pulling open the Gulf of California.
Make your puzzle enact this history of breakup and drift as follows:
1. Pull the right-hand tab down to its 18-6 mya position (this location is
traced on the base sheet). Hold it down there by pressing your right
thumb on the tab.

2. Pull the left-hand tab down until the lower left corner of the Pacific
Plate sits on its traced 18 mya position.
3. Now, keeping the right tab held down, use the left tab to pull the
Pacific Plate around to the northwest. Do not let go of Baja (the right
tab) until 6 mya, then let go and let it be dragged along as well.
4. Stop when the frames of the pieces match up with the frame on the
base (0 million years = present day configuration).

Creation of Regional Topographic Features

As you work the puzzle, think of the locations where the puzzle edges are
being pulled apart and where edges are running over each other. Where the
plates are being pulled apart, the Gulf of California, the Salton Sea basin
(Imperial Valley) and the offshore borderland basins are being formed.
Where plates are running into each other, the San Bernardino mountains,
San Gabriel mountains, Santa Ynez mountains, Santa Monica mountains, and
the northern Channel Islands are all being pushed up.
Rotation of Rock Paleomagnetic Vectors
Many rocks, especially lavas, were magnetized when they formed, with their
magnetic arrows pointing in the direction of the Earths north pole at the
time. They may keep this old record of the north direction even if they are
later moved and turned.
1. On the 18 mya reconstruction, draw on some arrows pointing north.
2. Work the puzzle and see where they end up pointing.
Dispersion of the Poway Conglomerate deposits of the Eocene
Ballenas River
In the Jurassic Period, 155 mya, a volcano near Sonora, northern Mexico,
erupted some distinctive purplish-red lavas. In Eocene time, about 40 mya,
a big river broke up the lavas and carried the volcanic pebbles (called the
Poway clasts) to the coast of San Diego. When the river met the coast it
dumped the pebbles into the sea to form a big submarine sedimentary fan.
The deposits from that old river valley and submarine fan are found near San
Diego and also in the rocks of the northern Channel Islands.
1. On the 18 mya reconstruction, draw on the old Ballenas River path.
2. See how the pattern gets torn apart when you work the puzzle. This is
evidence of rifting and drifting of pieces.

Analysis Questions
Answer this question on a separate piece of paper in complete sentences.
1. Which direction is the Pacific Plate moving and toward where?

2. How long ago did Baja California break away from the North American
Plate and become attached to the Pacific Plate?
3. What happens to the Gulf of California (Sea of Cortez) as Baja
California moves in a northwestern direction?
4. What is one specific type of evidence that demonstrates the fact that
Santa Barbara was located near San Diego 18 million years ago?
5. On your paper, draw a detailed representation of the coastline of
California at 18, 12, 6, and 0 million years ago.