Clarification Statement - S.HS.ESS.2.1.CS:
Emphasis is on how the appearance of land features (such as mountains, valleys, and plateaus) and sea-floor features (such as trenches, ridges, and seamounts) are a result of both constructive processes (such as volcanism, tectonic uplift, and deposition)

Assessment Boundary - S.HS.ESS.2.1.AB:
Assessment does not include memorization of the details of the formation of specific geographic features of Earth’s surface.

Science and Engineering Practices - 9-12.SEP2.1:
Develop a model based on evidence to illustrate the relationships between systems or between components of a system.

Disciplinary Core Ideas - S.HS.ESS.2.1.DCI:
ESS2.A: Earth Materials and Systems •Earth’s systems, being dynamic and interacting, cause feedback effects that can increase or decrease the original changes. (Note: This Disciplinary Core Idea is also addressed by HS-ESS2-2.) ESS2.B: Plate Tectonics and Large-Scale System Interactions •Plate tectonics is the unifying theory that explains the past and current movements of the rocks at Earth’s surface and provides a framework for understanding its geologic history. •Plate movements are responsible for most continental and ocean-floor features and for the distribution of most rocks and minerals within Earth’s crust.

Crosscutting Concepts - CC6.9:
Change and rates of change can be quantified and modeled over very short or very long periods of time. Some system changes are irreversible.