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Plate Tectonics
Four distinct layers make up our planet
Earth according to geologists. The central,
inner core is the hottest, most dense, and
probably solid. The next layer, or outer
core, is still very hot. The mantle is the
layer that gets increasingly cooler as you
move toward the surface but is still molten
under the outermost layer called the crust.
The crust is the outer solid part of our
planet averaging 8–32 km in thickness. 

1. Inner Core: 2,456 km diameter (1,228

km radius), composed primarily of high
density, solid nickel
and iron. 

2. Outer Core: 2,260 km thick, composed

of molten nickel and iron. 

3. Mantle: 2,890 km thick, composed of

silicates and therefore less dense than the
nickel/iron core. 

4. Crust: 8–32 km thick (exaggerated

here). If the 12,756 km diameter of Earth
were shrunk to 12 inches, the crust would
be less than the thickness of 4 sheets of
paper.
Earth's crust "floats" on the hot, molten layer of the mantle. This molten layer is a
dense "magma" that supports the lighter crust. The crust has different thicknesses and
composition depending on where it is located. Some of the crust is mostly terrestrial
(forming the continents), but much of it is marine (underlying the bottoms of the
oceans).

The rigid material that floats on Earth's surface is termed the lithosphere. The low
velocity plastic layer (molten magma) under the lithosphere is called the
asthenosphere. It is believed that heat induced convection currents in the
asthenosphere move (or float) the lithosphere.

The lithosphere is subdivided into outer rock material that forms the thin outer crust
over continents and ocean bottoms (brown and light gray) and a transition zone (solid
gray) between the crust and the asthenosphere. The asthenosphere is a subdivision of
the mantle that is below the lithosphere and may be 100 to 700 kilometers below the
surface.
There are many rock types that comprise Earth's surface; however, they can all be
classed as either oceanic or continental in origin. Andesitic material (a mixture of
oceanic and continental crust) is also found in a few unique areas. 

Oceanic crust is more dense than continental crust. Oceanic crust is the main crustal
unit under Earth's oceans. It is often called basalt. Oceanic crust has lots of silica and
iron and may be referred to as simatic. It is generally not much more than 7 km thick.
Undersea volcanos composed of oceanic crust may form undersea mountain ranges or
oceanic islands (like Iceland, Hawaii, or Galapagos). 

Continental crust generally "rests" on top of oceanic crust and is often called granitic.
It is the main crustal unit forming Earth's major continental land masses and a few
continental islands (like Greenland, Madagascar, and California's Channel Islands).
Continental crust has lots of silica and aluminum and may be referred to as sialic. Its
thickness varies from only a few km at the edges of continents to over 32 km in the
middle of continents.

Earth's crust not only moves on top of the hot molten layer but is broken into pieces
that move relative to each other. These pieces are called "plates" and their relative
movement can be used to explain many of Earth's geological features (mountain
ranges, trenches). 

Earth's twelve major plates are diagrammed here (above and below). Some are
oceanic crust and some are oceanic crust with continental crust. 
 

Adapted from USGS                     

Oceanic ridges/rises on Earth run around the globe like the seams on a
baseballdiagrammed above in red. Plates are moving apart at oceanic ridges/rises
creating undersea volcanos that build an undersea mountain range. This undersea
mountain range stretches all around Earth. It runs right down the middle of the Atlantic
Ocean where it is called the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. The part of this undersea mountain
range that runs up the Pacific Ocean in the southern hemisphere, just east of the
Central Pacific, and up to the Gulf of California is called the East Pacific Rise.

A cross-section of an oceanic ridge/rise shows its general features

(above).Oceanic ridges/rises are called spreading centers because this is where two
plates are moving apart. It is an area of plate divergence where new crust is added to
the diverging plate edges. 

There is often a central rift valley in the area where much of the volcanism occurs. Most
areas have many transform faults that offset the rift valleys and make breaks in the
oceanic ridge/rise system perpendicular to the axis of the rift valleys. The mountains on
either side of the rift valley are mirror images, getting older as you go away from the rift
valley.

Iceland, "the land of fire and ice", is being split by an

oceanic ridge that surfaces to create an oceanic island
(left and below) in the North Atlantic Ocean. Red
triangles show Iceland's active volcanos, including Krafla.
Reykjavik is Iceland's capital.
The central rift valley (above) of an oceanic ridge/rise shows how the volcanism
may be found. Each rift valley is unique, some with lots of activity and some with little
activity. 

In the 1970s scientists discovered large numbers of specialized marine animals living
near volcanically active areas on the deep ocean floor. These deep-sea hydrothermal
vents and their communities have become increasingly interesting to scientists because
the communities do not have photosynthetic plants as the base of the food web but
have chemosynthetic bacteria. The chemosynthetic bacteria get their energy from
minerals dissolved in the seawater by the volcanic activity. This topic will be treated in
greater detail in the lesson on The Deep-Sea in the Bottom Dwellers chapter.

Most of Earth's deep-sea trenches (aqua lines above) are around the edges of the
Pacific Ocean. This map shows the locations of these deep-sea trenches. When two
plates come together under the ocean a deep-sea trench is formed. These relatively
narrow down-folds in Earth's crust may be twice as deep (almost 12,000 meters) as the
regular deep-sea floor (up to 6,000 meters). This is an area of plate movement and
earthquake activity from this movement. The perimeter of the Pacific Ocean is known
as "The Ring of Fire" because of this earthquake activity resulting from this plate
movement.
A cross section of a deep sea trench shows the collision of two oceanic
platesthat results in a deep-sea trench. Deep-sea trenches are called subduction
zones. This is where excess crust is subducted and melted as new crust is produced at
oceanic ridges. Deep-sea trenches are areas of plate convergence.

Volcano locations (red squares above) match closely the regions of trenches
(subduction zones) and oceanic ridges (spreading centers). The trenches have
crustal friction near the surface and deep into the crust as subduction forces one plate
under another. At oceanic ridges most of the crustal movement is near the surface as
sea-floor spreading causes plates to move apart and new crust is formed by magma
pushing up from the mantle. These data from volcanoes, as well as earthquake
locations, help to substantiate the model of plate tectonics. Earthquakes that are deep
in the crust are found in the same areas as the deep-sea trenches. Earthquakes that
are shallow earthquakes (near the surface of the crust) are found at both the deep-sea
trenches (outlining the subduction zone) as well as oceanic ridge/rise areas.

Earthquakes (yellow) and volcanoes (red) outline plate boundaries (above). The

movement of Earth's twelve major plates may seem slow to us (inches per year) but
has a great effect on the position of the continents over millions of years. Some plate
boundaries are very active (inches per year) while others are very slow (millimeters per
year). Some plates are entirely oceanic crust (like the Pacific Plate) and some are
oceanic crust with continental crust (like the North American Plate).
 Plate tectonic
evidence, combined
with fossil and
geologic evidence,
suggests that the
position of the
continents 200 million
years ago were
together as one large
continent which we
call "Pangaea."

As Pangaea broke up, continental geologic features of Pangaea were torn apart

with their fossils as well as populations of plants and animals. The broken up
continental pieces of Pangaea moved apart on their respective plates over millions
of years to the position we see them now. This idea of continental drift was
supported by all the evidence for plate tectonics (like the locations of oceanic
ridge/rise systems, deep-sea trenches, volcanoes, and earthquakes). Most of this
evidence came from scientific exploration during the 1960s that mapped the
oceans of the world.

The mechanism of continental drift is called sea floor spreading. The

spreading centers at oceanic ridge/rise systems create new crust at areas of
diverging plates. This pushes the plates apart and creates collisions of plates
elsewhere. Under Earth's oceans colliding plates form deep-sea trenches,
subducting old crust (and old sea floor sediments and fossils) into the
asthenosphere to melt. These convergent plate boundaries thus act in concert with
the divergent plate boundaries subducting and melting crust at the trench systems
at the rate it is produced at the ridge/rise systems. Many scientists compare the
ocean bottom to a conveyor belt of recycled crustal material.
 Permian

Source: USGS

Triassic

Source: USGS

Jurassic

Source: USGS
 Cretaceous

Source: USGS

Present

Source: USGS

Andesitic crust has characteristics of both oceanic and continental crust. It is most

often found near a subduction zone where one plate has a continent that is being
subducted. Andesitic crust is found at island arc areas (like the Aleutian Islands) and
some continental mountain ranges (like the Andes in South America).
 
 Oceanic ridges are spreading centers
creating new oceanic crust at diverging
plates. These plates are pushed apart and
collide elsewhere forming deep sea
trenches. Here, the collision of plates is
occurring along a continent.

Subduction is folding oceanic and

continental crusts down into the
asthenosphere where they begin to melt.

Andesitic crust was once thought to be a

mixture of continental crust and oceanic
crust, usually found in regions of
subduction. More recently geologists feel
it forms from a partial melting of the
oceanic crust and changes to the
overlying mantle above this crust that may
be caused by water in this area.

Island arc systems on Earth are made of andesitic crust and are on the continental
side of a deep sea trench. The volcanism that produces them often outlines the trench
system.
Plate tectonics is a very complicated process. It has only been since the late 1960s
that scientists have put together enough information to describe this theory and to
begin explorations to understand it in more detail. There are some parts of the plate
tectonic theory that do not fit neatly. One of these mysteries is the reason for the
locations of what are termed "hot spots." These "hot spots" are areas of volcanism not
associated with plate boundaries. They may result from an area of the plate that is
thinner or weaker than the surrounding area (thus letting magma up) or an area of the
asthenosphere that is hotter than average (and thus melts up through the plate). The
island chain of Hawaii, in the middle of the Pacific Plate, is a classic example of this. 

As the Pacific Plate moves in a northwesterly direction over the hot spot a series of
islands (or seamounts) results from the volcanism there. The island chain of Hawaii is
the result of a hot spot and can be used to show this movement and past movements of
the Pacific Plate. The oldest island is Kauai to the far northwest, then Oahu, then Maui,
and finally Hawaii. Hawaii is the newest of the Hawaiian Island Chain – still with active
volcanism.
 

A new undersea volcanic area is forming just southeast of Hawaii — possibly the next
 island of the chain. This seamount is called Loihi. The lesson entitled "Hawaii - Born of
Fire" will introduce you to Hawaii in greater detail giving you an example of a classic
'hot spot' on Earth.
 

(Revised 5 August 2005)