April 04, 2023

THE UNIVERSITY OF GOROKA

SCHOOL OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

DIVISION OF PHYSICAL AND NATURAL SCIENCES

PHY331-PHYSICS OF EARTH

LAB.PRACTICAL #01

Name: Alex William JOHN

ID#:2021313142

Program: Bsci-Physics

C/Coordinator. Mr.G.Aiyowa
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Title: Introduction to Plate Tectonics via Google Earth.

Introduction

The theory of plate tectonics posits that the Earth’s lithosphere (crust and upper mantle) is
broken into a number of jigsaw puzzle-like plates which more relatively to one another over a
plastically-deforming or brittle (but still solid) asthenosphere (mid and lower mantle). The
boundaries between plates are marked by a variety of topographic and tectonic features, and
there is relatively little tectonic activity in the interior of plates. Landforms are created as
tectonics plates move throughout the rock cycle.

Aim

Therefore, this lab exercises us to explore and identify the ”Topographic Patterns of the Earth,
above sea level, below sea level and the plate motions”.

Practical Equipment

This lab practical was conducted with the help of only little lab practical equipment. One of the
most important equipment used in this lab practical was, Computers with internet access to open
a Google app called the “Google Earth”.

Practical Procedure

Firstly, all the personal computers were connected to the internet and the Google app called
“Google Earth” was installed on the personal computers form http://earth.google.com/.Once
installed, the app was opened, under the Tools/Options/3D View/ menu the “Decimal Degrees”
and “Meters Kilometers” options was selected and the “Show Terrain” box was also checked.

Then the view menu was opened, and the options were experimented, but in general it just had
the Tool Bar, Side Bar and Status Bar checked. Also, on the View menu, hovered over
Navigation and saw several options for the compass arrow and slide bars in the upper right
corner of the Google Earth screen. “Automatically” it was a good choice as it left a ghost of the
image visible until hovered over it.

After the DynamicEarth.kmz file were loaded into Google app. The filename was double clicked
and it opened within Google Earth or the other option was to download the file onto the personal
computer, and opened it in GE by using File/Open and navigating to the file.

Finally the DynamicEarth.kmz file was loaded, clicked and dragged to move it from “Temporary
Places” to “My Places.” Then saved “My Places” by clicking File/Save/Save My Places.
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DynamicEarth.kmz file was available every time when the Google Earth was opened on this
personal computer. When exited, GE saved “My Places” for the next time.

With an active internet connection, the interactive view of the Earth appeared on the screen.
Thus, it took some time to explore the Earth with Google Earth and figured out how the
navigation worked using the keyboard, touch pad and the mouse.

Results (Data and Calculations)

A.) Topography of the Earth ABOVE sea level

1. Are mountains randomly distributed on the continents, or do they tend to occur in particular
patterns (clusters, linear chains, arcs, etc.)?

Mountains tend to occur in linear chains on continents and in sea mountains are found in
arcs.

2. Find Mt.Willhem, the highest point in PNG. Zoom in enough to see the summit, then pan your
cursor around to locate the highest point (elevations shows up in the status bar at the bottom, as
long as View/Status Bar is selected):

Land forms such as mountains are at different heights. The elevation of Mt.Willhem is
about 4441m.

B.) Topography of the Earth BELOW sea level

3. Examine the Atlantic Ocean between North/South America and Eurasia/Africa. Note that the
deepest part is not in the middle; instead there is an underwater mountain range that runs down
the middle of the ocean. Features like this are called mid-ocean ridges or spreading ridges. Zoom
in enough to see that although the ridge is a topographic high, it also has a valley (the “rift
valley”) running along the middle of it.

a) In the space below, complete the topographic profile of the Atlantic Ocean floor between
South America and Africa.
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b) What is the name of the plate boundary?

Divergent Plate Boundary

c) State weather it is a constructive or destructive plate boundary and describe its formation.

It is a constructive plate margins, because new crust is formed. The South American plate
and the African plate are diverging away from each other; this forms the Mid-Atlantic
Ridge. The Ridge forms when the divergent plates moves away from each other and the
molten material coming from beneath cools under the ocean forming the mountains that
we call Ridges.

4. If the earth’s lowest spots aren’t in the middle of the ocean, where are they? Focus on the west
coast of South America, and in the space below complete the topographic profile of the Pacific
Ocean floor from South America westward about 600 miles (1000 km).

a) Complete the topographic drawing of Oceanic Trench.

b) What is the name of the plate boundary?

Convergent Plate Boundary

c) State weather it is a constructive or destructive plate boundary and describe its formation.
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It is a destructive plate boundary .Two Oceanic plates namely South America Plate and
Pacific plate converging towards one another and the less dense plate slides under more
dense plate creating a subduction zone called Trench.

C.) Plate Motion

1. How many years does each colored band represent?

Each colored band represents 0-10million years.

2. On average, continental crust is 2 billion years old; the oldest rocks are 3.8 billion years old,
and some of the grains in those rocks are even older. What is the age of the oldest seafloor?

The age of the oldest sea floor is from 170-180million years.

3. on average, which is oldest – the continents or the ocean basins?

The continents are the oldest. The oldest rocks found in basins are approximately
200million years old, which is a lot younger than the continental rocks which have age
greater than 4 billion years.

4. Find the South American plate, the African plate, and the Mid-Atlantic Ridge that marks the
boundary between them. What happens to the age of the seafloor as distance increases away
from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge?

The age of the seafloor gets older as distances increases symmetrically away from the Mid-
Atlantic Ridge. The plate is further moving apart at this boundary, creating a new crust.

5. Turn your attention to the Pacific plate. Note that the Pacific Ocean is comprised of several
plates; we want to focus on the very large Pacific plate (not the Nazca plate, or Cocos plate, or
Philippine plate or other plates.) The Pacific plate is “born” underwater at the East Pacific rise,
the spreading ridge west of South America. It is being destroyed at convergent boundaries
around its northern, western, and southern boundaries.

a) Describe the motion of the Pacific plate relative to the East Pacific Rise, based on this
seafloor age data - direction of motion, average speed and whether or not speed and direction has
been constant over time.

i.) Direction of motion-Northwest,

ii.) Average speed-

( )
( )
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Speed and direction it changes overtime.

b) Consider the Volcanic Chains in the Pacific Ocean (Hawaiian/Emperor, Louisville, and
Easter Island). Do these data support the movement you deduce for the Pacific Plate? Explain.

Yes, the Pacific plate is not in a steady direction. It changes its direction because of the
movement in the Asthenosphere.

c) What does the bend in the Hawaiian/Emperor chain indicate happened about 50 million years
ago to the direction of Pacific plate movement?

The motion of the pacific plate transports the Hawaii Island away from the hotspot and the
volcanism becomes extinct. The Pacific plate is moving towards Southwest of the Hawaiian
hotspot at present.

Discussion

A plate boundary is where two plates meet and move relative to each other. This is where
landforms such as mountain building, triggering earthquakes and volcanic activities are
generated.

Some of the topography below sea level as a result of tectonic plates movement are, rift valleys,
underwater mountains (Ridges) and trenches.

On Google Earth, dark red represented 0-10million years, the youngest range and dark purple
ranged from 170-180million years, the oldest range.

Using Google Earth it showed out that continents are the oldest because there was a dark purple
color right on the boundaries of the continents, which signified the oldest age range.

Moreover, the age of the seafloor gets older as distance increased away from Mid-Atlantic
Ridge. The plate is moving further apart at this boundary, creating a new crust. Therefore, this
plate boundary is convergent.

Furthermore, Asthenosphere is like a viscous liquid which can flow overtime. Overlying rigid
lithosphere will move caused by mental flow and when strongly stressed, fracture happens
causing earthquake and the fractured separated plates are called tectonics plates. This action
results in the plate movements.

Therefore, the Hawaiian plate is gradually moving away from the volcanic hotspot.

Conclusion

Plate tectonics is a theory that explains how the earth’s structure and forces have developed and
changed throughout the Earth’s history. This process occurs at two locations: Oceanic and
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continental plates. When tectonic plates move towards each other at active boundaries, they
trigger earthquake and volcanic activities, thus forming many landforms that we see today, such
as mountains. Moreover, there are different kinds of plate tectonic boundaries, including,
convergent, divergent, and transform. A convergent plate boundary is when two plates move
towards each other. A divergent boundary is when they move apart and transform plate boundary
is when plates slide past each other. At the divergent boundary, the plates slowly move away
from each other. Thus, the seafloor will start to spread. As the distance increases, the oceanic
crust’s age also increases. By examining the seafloor age of oceans and studying plate
boundaries, scientists could discover how the earth’s structures have evolved throughout its
history.
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References

G.Aiyowa (2023).PHY331-Physics of Earth, Lecture: 02-The Dynamic Earth, slides (33-50).

Retrieved on 30/03/2023

National Geographic. (2022).Ocean Trench. National Geographic Society.

https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/ocean-trench

Retrieved on 31/03/2023

InteGrate. (2016, December 8).Tectonics and long-term sea level change. Student. Materials

https://serc.carleton.edu/integrate/teaching materials/coastlines/student materials/884

Retrieved on 31/03/2023

University of Colorado (2022).Introduction of plate tectonics with Google earth.Student.doc.

https://www.studocu.com/en-us/document/colorado-state-university-global-campus/earth-
sciences-with-lab/introduction-to-plate-tectonics-with-google-earth/42307828

Retrieved on 31/03/2023