Good Learning Co.
SavannahYear 8
← Geography
GeographyThe changing human world28 min★★★ difficulty

Earthquakes and volcanoes

The ground beneath our feet is made of moving plates. Where they meet, the planet's most dramatic and dangerous hazards occur.

Part of your national curriculum
  • Human and physical geography: Understand tectonic processes and hazards, including earthquakes and volcanic activity

Lesson overview

What you'll learn in this lesson

Understand tectonic processes and hazards, including earthquakes and volcanic activity

Key learning points

  • • Plate boundaries
  • • Earthquakes
  • • Volcanic activity
  • • Living with hazards

This lesson at a glance

  • 28 minutes
  • 15 parts to scroll through
  • 3 quick checks
  • Marked quiz at the end
  • Gentle pace: short sittings with pauses

Words to know

tectonicprocesseshazardsearthquakesvolcanic

Scroll down — the lesson carries on below

Part 1 of 15 · Discover7%
1

Watch & discover

Part 1 of 15

Watch first

Earthquakes and volcanoes

An English teaching video on this topic from BBC Earth Science. Watch it, then scroll down for the lesson.

In a nutshell

Understand tectonic processes and hazards, including earthquakes and volcanic activity

2

Learning cycle

Part 2 of 15

Learning cycle 1 of 2

Part 1 · Plate boundaries

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

3

Explore the idea

Part 3 of 15

Learn

Plate boundaries

The Earth's crust is broken into tectonic plates that move slowly on the molten mantle beneath. At destructive boundaries, like where the Nazca Plate meets the South American Plate, one plate is forced beneath another, causing earthquakes and volcanoes.

4

Explore the idea

Part 4 of 15

Learn

Earthquakes

Earthquakes occur when stress builds along a fault and is suddenly released, sending out shock waves. The 2011 Tōhoku earthquake off Japan measured 9.0 and triggered a devastating tsunami.

5

Quick check

Part 5 of 15

Quick check

What happens at a destructive plate boundary?

6

Quick check

Part 6 of 15

Quick check

What natural disaster did the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake trigger?

7

Reset break

Part 7 of 15

Pause

That's sitting 1 of 2 done

Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.

Stop here for now
8

Learning cycle

Part 8 of 15

Learning cycle 2 of 2

Part 2 · Volcanic activity

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

9

Explore the idea

Part 9 of 15

Learn

Volcanic activity

Volcanoes form where magma rises through the crust, often at destructive or constructive boundaries. Mount Etna in Sicily erupts frequently but relatively gently, while explosive volcanoes like Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines can eject huge ash clouds.

10

Explore the idea

Part 10 of 15

Learn

Living with hazards

Countries like Japan use strict building codes and early-warning systems to reduce risk, showing that hazard impact depends as much on preparation and wealth as on the size of the event itself.

11

Quick check

Part 11 of 15

Quick check

What reduces the impact of tectonic hazards in wealthy countries like Japan?

12

Challenge round

Part 12 of 15

Game · Sort it

Which of these are true?

Drag each card into the right column. Tap a card first if dragging is fiddly.

True

Not true

13

Challenge round

Part 13 of 15

Game · Fill the gaps

Finish the sentences

Choose the word that belongs in each gap.

The Earth's crust is broken into ____ plates that move slowly on the molten mantle beneath.

At destructive boundaries, like where the Nazca Plate meets the South American Plate, one plate is forced beneath another, causing ____ and volcanoes.

14

Mastery quiz

Part 14 of 15

Marked quiz

End of lesson quiz: Earthquakes and volcanoes

3 questions, marked with the reasoning shown. No timer.

  1. 1. What happens at a destructive plate boundary?

  2. 2. What natural disaster did the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake trigger?

  3. 3. What reduces the impact of tectonic hazards in wealthy countries like Japan?

15

Lesson round-up

Part 15 of 15

Lesson round-up

Ready when you are

Quiz score

Not sat

Games

Not played

Points this lesson

0

Best run

0 in a row

Luna: 0 out of 3 on the practice checks. Only if you feel up to it — one more?

Ask Luna

Do the work

Your written work for this lesson

This is the part you'd do in your book at school. Pick the pieces below, write here or on paper, and photograph anything you draw or work out.

Case study

Flooding on the River Calder

The town of Harbrook sits where a steep valley opens onto a flat floodplain. In December 2015, 120 mm of rain fell in 36 hours onto ground that was already saturated. The river rose 2.4 m in five hours, and 380 homes and 54 businesses flooded. Two roads and the railway closed for eleven days.

Geographers pointed to physical causes — steep slopes, impermeable rock, heavy rainfall — and human causes: moorland drained upstream, new housing built on the floodplain, and drains designed for smaller storms.

Since then the town has planted 40 hectares of woodland upstream, built leaky dams in small streams, and raised flood walls to 1.8 m. In the storm of 2020 the peak river level was 0.3 m lower and 40 homes flooded, not 380.

Written for Good Learning Co.

Reading questions

  1. List two physical and two human causes of the 2015 flood.
  2. Explain how planting woodland upstream lowers the river's peak level.
  3. Using the figures, judge how successful the scheme has been. Quote data in your answer.

  • Case study notes

    Writing

    Write the place, the facts and the figures from this lesson so you can revise them later.

    Half a page

  • Explain answer

    Writing

    Answer in full sentences, giving causes and effects. Use one figure or place name as evidence.

    8–10 sentences

  • Map or sketch

    Diagram

    Draw the map, cross-section or field sketch with a key, title and labels, then photograph it.

    1 map with a key

  • Data work

    Working out

    Plot your figures as a graph on paper and write one sentence about the pattern.

    1 graph + 1 sentence

Saved as you type.

Part 1 of 15 · Watch & discover

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    Understand tectonic processes and hazards, including earthquakes and volcanic activity

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