Department of Education

Science 10
Lithosphere
Quarter 1 – Week 1

Abigail M. De Lios
Writer

Herminia C. Lebrias
Validator

Jason B. Albaro
Dr. Armida S. Oblinada
Quality Assurance Team

Schools Division Office – Muntinlupa City

Student Center for Life Skills Bldg., Centennial Ave., Brgy. Tunasan, Muntinlupa City
(02) 8805-9935 / (02) 8805-9940

1
 This Supplementary Learning Module (SleM) focuses on Earth’s
lithosphere It will also help you understand the concept of lithospheric plates. It
provides you self-learning activities that will further develop your understanding of
the lesson.

After going through this SLeM, you are expected to:

Most Essential Learning Competencies

Week 1: Describe and relate the distribution of active volcanoes, earthquake
epicenters, and major mountain belts to Plate Tectonic Theory (S10ES – Ia-j-36.1)

Specifically, you will be able to:

1. Describe the Earth's lithosphere and differentiate oceanic and continental

crust.
2. Infer that the Earth’s lithosphere is divided into plates.
3. Identify the major lithospheric plates.

A. Directions: Choose the letter of the correct answer. Write your answers on a
separate sheet of paper.

1. Which is the thinnest layer of the Earth’s structure?

A. Core C. Mantle
B. Crust D. Ocean
2. Which is described as the elastic and viscous part of the mantle?
A. Asthenosphere C. Hydrosphere
B. Atmosphere D. Lithospehre
3. The weaker, more viscous part of the upper mantle
A. Mantle C. Asthenosphere
B. Lithosphere D. Lithosphere- Asthenosphere Boundary
4. Which is currently considered as the largest lithospheric plate?
A. Pacific Plate C. Australian Plate
B. African Plate C. North American Plate
5. Which is considered as a minor plate?
A. African Plate C. Pacific Plate
B. Cocos’s Plate D. American Plate
6. Which part of the crust is thicker and denser?
A. Continental C. Mantle
B. Lithosphere D. Oceanic
7. Which is not a lithospheric plate?
A. Arctic plate C. Eurasian plate
B. African plate D. Philppine plate
8. Leslie wanted to find out where she can find the thinnest part of the crust.
Where do you think it can be found?
A. Mt Fuji C. Marianas Trench
B. Mt. Everest D. Philippine Trench
9. Which part of the crust is made up of mostly of basalt rocks?
A. Oceanic only C. Both oceanic and continental
B. Continental only D. Neither oceanic nor continental
10. What causes the cracks in the lithosphere?
A. It is because the asthenosphere moves in the same directions.
B. It is because the crust is thin and brittle and can crack through time.
C. It is because of the presents of different slabs of rocks underneath the
crust.
D. It is because of the differences in the directional movement of the
asthenosphere.

What’s up?

Directions: Look for the words inside the box below. In a separate sheet
of paper define or describe the words.

Note: This word search was

created through book
widgets.

volcano mountain mountain ranges earthquake crust

magma lithosphere plates boundaries mantle

 The Earth’s Lithosphere
The term lithosphere comes from
the Greek word lithos, meaning ‘rock’. The
Earth’s lithosphere is the solid, rocky
portion of the Earth’s surface and is made
up of the crust and the upper mantle. It is
about 100 km thick (60 miles.) Underneath,
it floats on a more viscous and weaker
layer, the asthenosphere.

https://www.britannica.com/science/plate-tectonics
The crust is the thin outer layer and
Fig 1 The Earth’s Lithosphere
is divided into oceanic crust and continental
crust. The oceanic crust is the thin and
denser portion of the crust and mainly formed the ocean basin. Its dense
characteristic allows it to sink under water. The thinnest point is at Marianas Trench.
It is made up of mostly of basalt rocks.

The continental crust formed most of the continents and is thicker but less
dense. The thickest portion of it is at the peak of Mt. Everest. It is made up mostly of
granite rocks.

Fig 2 The Crust

The upper mantle is generally made up of solid but elastic rocks which are
quite different with that of the asthenosphere which is consist of elastic but viscous
rocks allowing it for some movement. Differences in the direction of movement of the
asthenosphere caused the floating lithosphere to move in different directions that
eventually lead to different ‘cracks’ in its surface.

Tectonic Plates
The Earth’s lithosphere when devoid of its water and vegetation looks crack.
This crack formed the boundaries that divide them into huge slabs of lithosphere
called tectonic plates. Tectonic plates and its activities are responsible for the
movement along its boundaries.

These movements occur along

the Lithosphere-Asthenosphere
Boundary (LAB), where the
lithosphere seems to be detaching to
the asthenosphere causing the
lithosphere to move toward the
directional movement of the
underlying part. This movement
leads to the tectonic activities that
shape the geological features of the
Earth.

Currently, there are nine

major lithospheric plates (tectonic
plates) namely African, Antarctic, https://www.britannica.com/science/plate-tectonics
Australian, Eurasian, Indian, Indo- Fig 3 The Plate Tectonic Map
Australian, North American, Pacific,
and South American (Oskin, 2017.) The largest of it is the Pacific Plates. The
Philippines also has its own plate but is considered one of the minor plates.

Activity 1: How Do I Look Like?

A. Directions: Analyze the picture of the lithosphere below and answer
the questions that follow.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Continental_and_oceanic_crust.png

Guide Questions:
1. How will you describe the lithosphere in terms of its
part?_____________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
 2. How will you describe the lithosphere in terms of its
part?_____________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________

3. Describe the continental crust and the oceanic crust as to its thickness
and density.
________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
Directions: Give at least three differences between Oceanic Crust and
Continental Crust.

Oceanic Crust Continental Crust

B. Make a summary of the differences you have given above in a short

paragraph.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

Activity 2 Know My Parts

Directions: Fill in each box with appropriate letters to form the word being described
in each statement.

Note: This crossword puzzle was created through

book widgets.

Across Down

1 the big slabs of rocks that forms the 2 the thinnest part of the oceanic crust
lithosphere 4 the largest tectonic plate
3 the weaker, more viscous part of the 5 the thickest and less dense part of the
mantle crust
9 the outermost layer of the Earth’s 6 the solid, rocky portion of the Earth’s
structure outer surface
10 the boundary between the 7 the thickest part of the continental crust
lithosphere and the asthenosphere 8 the thinner, and denser part of the crust
Activity 3 Where is My Plate?
Directions: Write the names of the major lithospheric (tectonic) plates. Choose
your answer from the word box below

African, Antarctic, Australian, Eurasian, Indian, North American, Pacific, and South American

• Lithosphere is the solid, rocky portion of the Earth’s surface and is

made up of the crust and the upper mantle.

• Asthenosphere is the viscous, weaker layer of the mantle where the

lithosphere floats on.

• Crust is the thinnest, outer most layer of the Earth’s interior that is
divided into oceanic crust and continental crust.

• Tectonic Plates are huge slabs of the lithosphere. Tectonic plates and its
activities are responsible for the movement along its boundaries.
Currently, there are nine major lithospheric plates (tectonic plates) namely
African, Antarctic, Australian, Eurasian, Indian, Indo-Australian, North
American, Pacific, and South American.
 A. Directions: Write a short essay about what you think happens on Earth based
on the concept “The lithospheric movement leads to the tectonic
activities that shape the geological features of the Earth.” What real-life
example can you give about this?
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________

B. What’s on your mind?

Directions: Express your thoughts about the picture.
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________

https://www.livescience.com/37706-what-is-plate-tectonics.html

A. Directions: Choose the letter of the correct answer. Write your answers on a
separate sheet of paper.

1. Which is the part of the crust that is thinner and denser?

A. Continental C. Oceanic
B. Mountain D. Volcanic
2. Which are described as massive irregularly shaped slabs of rocks?
A. Tectonic plates C. Both A and B
B. Lithospheric plates D. Neither A nor B
 3. Janel and her classmates are preparing their reports on landforms, they came
about the different mountain formations. Which part the crust is thicker
especially in areas where mountains are present?
A. Oceanic C. Volcanic arc
B. Continental D. Mountain ranges
4. Which causes changes on the Earth geological features?
A. Earthquake C. Mountain formation
B. Volcanic eruption D. All of the above
5. Which of the following statements describe the crust?
A. The inner most layer of the Earth’s structure
B. The thin layer of the Earth’s structure
C. The thickest layer of the Earth’s structure
D. None of the Above
6. The asthenosphere is moving because
A. It is a weak layer of the mantle
B. It is viscous compared to other structure of the Earth
C. Statements A and B are correct
D. Statements A and B are incorrect
7. Which is true of the statements 1 and 2?
Statement 1: The lithosphere holds the living things on Earth.
Statement 2: Lithosphere is the Earth’s subsystem that is formed by the
crust and the upper mantle
A. Only statement 1 is correct C. Both statements are correct
B. Only statement 2 is correct D. Both statements are incorrect
8. Which causes the cracked appearance of the lithosphere?
A. The detachment of the lithosphere from the asthenosphere from the
mantle
B. The movement of the asthenosphere lithosphere- asthenosphere
boundary
C. The movement of the lithosphere against the lithosphere-
asthenosphere boundary
D. The detachment of the lithosphere from the asthenosphere in the
lithosphere- asthenosphere boundary
9. Which is not considered as a large plate?
A. Pacific Plate C. Philippine Plate
B. African Plate D. Australian Plate
10. The lithosphere and asthenosphere seem to detach at this point
A. G-Boundary
B. LAB
C. Moho
D. None of the Above
For number 11-15, refer to the picture below

11. Which refers to the denser but thinner part

of the crust?
A. Labeled as ‘A’ C. Labeled as ‘C’
B. Labeled as ‘D’ D. Labeled as ‘B’
12. Which refers to the thicker part of the crust?
A. Labeled as ‘D’ C. Labeled as ‘B’
B. Labeled as ‘C’ D. Labeled as ‘A’
13. Which part is labeled as letter B?
A. Lower mantle C. Upper mantle
B. Oceanic crust D. Continental crust
14. What type of rocks made up the part labeled as A?
A. Basalt rocks only
B. Basalt and granite
C. Sedimentary rocks only
D. Granite and sedimentary
15. What causes the part labeled as C to sink in water?
A. It sinks because it is thinner and denser
B. It sinks because it is thicker and denser
C. It sinks because it is thinner and less denes
D. It sinks because it is thicker and less dense
References
Murphy, J., & Andel, T. (2020, March 21). Plate tectonics. Retrieved June 15, 2020, from
https://www.britannica.com/science/plate-tectonics

National Geographic Society. “Lithosphere.” National Geographic Society, October 9, 2012.

https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/lithosphere/.

Oskin, Becky (2017). What is plate tectonics, retrieved June 15, 2020, from
https://www.livescience.com/37706-what-is-plate-tectonics.html