Summary Plate Tectonic

Plate Tectonics and the

Ocean Floor

Benyamin Sapiie

TEKTONOFISIK-2017
 Continental Drift

• Alfred Wegener, a German meteorologist

and geophysicist, was the first to advance
the idea of mobile continents in 1912
• Wegener identified several lines of evidence
to support the idea that the continents had
drifted
 Evidence for continental drift
• Matching coastlines on different continents
 Evidence for continental drift
• Matching mountain ranges across oceans

Today 300 million years ago

Figure 2-4
 Evidence for continental drift
• Glacial ages and climate evidence

Figure 2-5
 Evidence for continental drift
• Distribution of fossils such as Mesosaurus
Objections to the continental drift
model
• Wegener envisioned continents plowing through
ocean basins
• Wegener did not provide a plausible mechanism
to explain how the continents could have drifted
apart
• Most Earth scientists rejected continental drift
because it was
– Too far-fetched
– Contrary to the laws of physics
 The theory of plate tectonics
• Continental drift was reexamined in the 1960s
when new information became available
– Sea floor features became better known
– A technique was developed that enabled scientists
to determine the original positions of rocks on
Earth (paleomagnetism)
 Evidence for plate tectonics
• Earth’s magnetic field affects all magnetic
objects on Earth
 Evidence for plate tectonics

• When rocks cool at

Earth’s surface,
they record Earth’s
magnetic field
(normal or reversed
polarity)
 Evidence for plate tectonics

• Paleomagnetic studies
indicate alternating
stripes of normal and
reverse polarity at the
mid-ocean ridge
• Pattern was created by
sea floor spreading
 Evidence for plate tectonics

• Harry Hess
envisioned new
sea floor being
created at the
mid-ocean ridge
and destroyed in
deep ocean
trenches
Figure 2-10
 Evidence for plate tectonics

• Age of the sea floor

matches pattern
predicted by sea floor
spreading
– Youngest sea floor is
at mid-ocean ridge
– Sea floor is older with
increasing distance
from mid-ocean ridge
 Evidence for plate tectonics
• Pattern of worldwide earthquakes (left)
matches plate boundaries (right)
 Structure of the Earth

• The Earth is made

up of 3 main
layers:
– Core
– Mantle
– Crust
Crust
 Earth structure

• Chemical composition
– Crust
– Mantle
– Core
• Physical properties
– Lithosphere
– Asthenosphere
– Mesosphere
– Outer core
– Inner core
 The Crust
• This is where we live!

• The Earth’s crust is made of:

Continental Crust Oceanic Crust

• thick (10-70km) • thin (~7 km)
• buoyant (less dense • dense (sinks
than oceanic crust) under continental
crust)
• mostly old
• young
 Principles of plate tectonics
• The outermost portion of Earth is composed of a
mosaic of thin rigid plates (pieces of lithosphere) that
move horizontally with respect to one another

• Plates interact with each other along their edges

(called plate boundaries)

• Plate boundaries have a high degree of tectonic

activity (mountain building, earthquakes, active
volcanoes)
 Plate Tectonics
• The Earth’s crust is divided into 12 major plates
which are moved in various directions.

• This plate motion causes them to collide, pull

apart, or scrape against each other.

• Each type of interaction causes a characteristic set

of Earth structures or “tectonic” features.

• The word, tectonic, refers to the deformation of

the crust as a consequence of plate interaction.
World Plates
 Plate Movement
• “Plates” of lithosphere are moved around by
the underlying hot mantle convection cells
Possible Driving Mechanisms for Plate Tectonics

1. Ocean ridge push

2. Gravity sliding (down slope

of an ocean ridge)

3. Gravitational pull on a cold

plate (down a subduction
zone)

4. Carried on convection cell.

 The 3 types of plate boundaries

1. Divergent

2. Convergent

3. Transform
 Type of boundary between plates:

Constructive margins  Mid ocean ridges

Destructive margins
 Subduction zones

Conservative margins  Transform faults

 Divergent Boundaries

• Spreading ridges
– As plates move apart new material is
erupted to fill the gap
 Divergent plate boundaries

• The Mid-
Atlantic Ridge
is a divergent
plate boundary
where sea floor
spreading
occurs
 Divergent plate boundaries

• Iceland sits atop

a divergent plate
boundary where
continental
rifting occurs
Iceland: An example of continental rifting
• Iceland has a divergent plate
boundary running through its
middle
 Divergent plate boundaries

• Formation of
an ocean
basin by
rifting and
sea floor
spreading
AGE OF OCEAN BASIN
 Convergent plate boundaries

a. Ocean-continent

• Convergent
plate
boundaries
vary
depending
on the type
of crust c. Continent-
continent

b. Ocean-ocean
 Convergent plate boundaries

• An ocean-
continent
convergent plate
boundary
produces the
Cascadia
subduction zone
and Cascade
Mountains
Convergent plate boundaries
Subduction

• Oceanic lithosphere subducts

underneath the continental
lithosphere
• Oceanic lithosphere heats and
dehydrates as it subsides
• The melt rises forming
volcanism
• E.g. The Andes
Pacific Ring of Fire

Volcanism is
mostly focused
at plate
margins
 Ocean-Ocean Plate
Collision
• When two oceanic plates collide, one runs over the
other which causes it to sink into the mantle forming a
subduction zone.
• The subducting plate is bent downward to form a very
deep depression in the ocean floor called a trench.
• The worlds deepest parts of the ocean are found along
trenches.
– E.g. The Mariana Trench is 11 km deep!
Ocean-Ocean Plate Collision
 Convergent plate boundaries

• A continent-
continent
convergent
plate boundary
produces the
Himalaya
Mountains

Figure 2-25
Himalayas
Transform plate boundaries
 Transform plate boundaries

• Transform plate
boundaries
occur between
segments of the
mid-ocean
ridge
• Can also occur
on land (ex: San
Andreas Fault)
 Conservative margins
Transform faults

The San Andreas fault

in southern California
Volcanoes are formed by:
- Subduction - Rifting - Hotspots
 Hotspots and plate tectonics

• Hotspots are stationary

and have abundant
volcanic activity
• The lithospheric plate
moves over the
hotspot
• Creates a row of
volcanoes progressively
older toward one end
(called a nematath)
Figure 2-28
 What are Hotspot
Volcanoes?
• Hot mantle plumes breaching the surface
in the middle of a tectonic plate

The Hawaiian island chain are

examples of hotspot volcanoes.
Photo: Tom Pfeiffer /
www.volcanodiscovery.com
The tectonic plate moves over a fixed hotspot
forming a chain of volcanoes.

The volcanoes get younger from one end to the other.

 Stages of coral reef development

• If in tropical
shallow water,
coral reefs can
form on the
tops of
volcanoes
– Fringing reef
– Barrier reef
– Atoll
Coral Reefs
Air view
• As with volcanoes, earthquakes are not randomly
distributed over the globe

Figure showing
the distribution
of earthquakes
around the
globe

• At the boundaries between plates, friction causes

them to stick together. When built up energy
causes them to break, earthquakes occur.
Where do earthquakes form?
 Satellite positioning of locations on
Earth
• Shows good
agreement
with
predicted
plate motion
WILSON CYCLE
 The
Wilson
Cycle
uses plate tectonic
processes to show
development and
creation of ocean
floor and ocean
basins;
The Wilson Cycle
Geological Periods
 Geological Periods
Precambrian 4.6 B - 570 Ma solidification
Cambrian 514 Ma Gondwana, hard shell anim.
Ordovician 458 Ma separation, coldest
Silurian 425 Ma Laurentia collides with Baltica
Devonian 390 Ma pre-Pangea, equatorial forests
Early Carboniferous 356 Ma
Late Carboniferous 306 Ma western Pangea is complete
Permian 255 Ma deserts, reptiles, major ext.
Triassic 237 Ma Life begins to rediversify,Pangea
Jurassic 195 Ma Dinosaurs, Pangea starts to break
Late Jurassic 152 Ma Pangea rifts apart, Atlantic
Cretaceous 94 Ma New oceans, India
K/T extinction 66 Ma end of dinosaurs
Eocene 50.2 Ma India collides with Asia
Miocene 14 Ma Modern look
Modern
Future World +50 Ma N. Atlantic widens, Med. vanish
Future +100 Ma new subduction
Future +250 Ma new Pangea
 Paleogeography: A look at the past

• The positions of
continents and
oceans have
changed in the
past
The world as it may look 50
million years in the future
Precambrian
break-up of the
supercontinent, Rodinia,
which formed 1100 million
years ago. The Late
Precambrian was an "Ice
House" World, much like the
present-day.

Source: www.scotese.com

Cambrian
Animals with hard-shells
appeared in great numbers
for the first time during the
Cambrian. The continents
were flooded by shallow
seas. The supercontinent of
Gondwana had just formed
and was located near the
South Pole.
Ordovician
During the Ordovician ancient
oceans separated the barren
continents of Laurentia,
Baltica, Siberia and
Gondwana. The end of the
Ordovician was one of the
coldest times in Earth
history. Ice covered much of
the southern region of
Gondwana.

Silurian
Laurentia collides with
Baltica closing the northen
branch of the Iapetus Ocean
and forming the "Old Red
Sandstone" continent. Coral
reefs expand and land plants
begin to colonize the barren
continents.
Devonian
By the Devonian the early
Paleozoic oceans were
closing, forming a "pre-
Pangea". Freshwater fish
were able to migrate from the
southern hemisphere
continents to North America
and Europe. Forests grew for
the first time in the
equatorial regions of Artic
Canada.

Early Carboniferous
During the Early
Carboniferous the Paleozoic
oceans between Euramerica
and Gondwana began to
close, forming the
Appalachian and Variscan
mountains. An ice cap grew
at the South Pole as four-
legged vertebrates evolved in
the coal swamps near the
Equator.
Late Carboniferous
By the Late Carboniferous
the continents that make up
modern North America and
Europe had collided with the
southern continents of
Gondwana to form the
western half of Pangea. Ice
covered much of the
southern hemisphere and
vast coal swamps formed
along the equator.

Permian
Vast deserts covered
western Pangea during the
Permian as reptiles spread
across the face of the
supercontinent.
Triassic
The supercontinent of
Pangea, mostly assembled by
the Triassic, allowed land
animals to migrate from the
South Pole to the North Pole;
and warm-water faunas
spread across Tethys. The
first mammals and dinosaurs
appeared;

Jurassic
By the Early Jurassic, south-
central Asia had
assembled. A wide Tethys
ocean separated the
northern continents from
Gondwana.

Subduction zone Rocky Mountains

Formation of the Rocky Mountains
http://wrgis.wr.usgs.gov/docs/parks/province/rockymtn.html
Late Jurassic
In the Late Jurassic the
Central Atlantic Ocean was a
narrow ocean separating
Africa from eastern North
America.

Cretaceous
During the Cretaceous the
South Atlantic Ocean
opened. India separated from
Madagascar and raced
northward on a collision
course with Eurasia. Notice
that North America was
connected to Europe, and that
Australia was still joined to
Antarctica.
K/T extinction
The bull's eye marks the
location of impact site of a
10 mile wide comet caused
global climate changes that
killed the dinosaurs and
many other forms of life. By
the Late Cretaceous the
oceans had widened, and
India approached the
southern margin of Asia.

Eocene
50 - 55 million years ago
India began to collide with
Asia forming the Tibetan
plateau and Himalayas
(destroying the last of
Tethys ocean). Australia,
which was attached to
Antarctica, began to move
rapidly northward.
Collision of continental crust
 3-2

• Whereas oceanic ridges indicate tension,

continental mountains indicate compressional
forces are squeezing the land together.

Sedimentary Rocks Squeezed by Compression

Miocene
20 million years ago,
Antarctica was covered by
ice and the northern
continents were cooling
rapidly. The world has taken
on a "modern" look, but
notice that Florida and parts
of Asia were flooded by the
sea. Arabia moved away
from Africa forming Gulf of
Aden and Red Sea;

Last Ice Age

When the Earth is in its "Ice
House" climate mode, there
is ice at the poles. The polar
ice sheet expands and
contacts because of
variations in the Earth's orbit
(Milankovitch cycles). The
last expansion of the polar
ice sheets took place about
18,000 years ago.
Modern World

If we continue present-day
plate motions the Atlantic
will widen, Africa will collide
with Europe closing the
Mediterranean, Australia will
collide with S.E. Asia, and
California will slide
northward up the coast to
Alaska.
Future +100

Earth is ~ 4.6 bill

years old –
suggested cyclic of
500 mill year
pattern of
assembling and
disassembling the
land masses;

Future +250