SCIENCE 10: QUARTER 1 - Scotian Plate

Lithosphere: The Rocky Skin of Earth

 Geological events and features such as
The Lithosphere earthquakes, active volcanoes and major
- Tectonic plates/Plate boundaries mountain ranges are distributed near or along
- The lands of the world plate boundaries.
Tectonic Plates  Scientists have been using these events and
- The smaller sections of the lithosphere features as basis for identifying the plate
Plate Boundaries boundaries.
- Edges that separate tectonic plates with one 
another SCIENCE 10: QUARTER 1
Types of Lithospheric Plates Seismic Waves
1. Continental Lithosphere
- Thick, found under land masses IMPORTANT TERMINOLOGIES
- Average thickness is 25 to 70 km  Epicenter – location on the surface of the
- Composed of old rocks Earth directly above the focus
- Has an average density of 2.7 grams per  Focus – point within the Earth where energy
centimeters-cube is released
- The majority of the rocks that made up the  Magnitude – number that characterizes the
continental lithosphere are called granite relative size of an earthquake
2. Oceanic Lithosphere
- Thinner compared to the continental crust, SEISMIC WAVES
and is found in the ocean floor - Energy released from an earthquake,
- Has an average thickness of 7 to 10 km generated by the movement of tectonic plates
- According to studies, it is younger than the and is recorded by seismographs.
continental crust - It has two main types; Body waves and
- Denser with an average density of 3.0 grams Surface waves
per centimeters-cube
 Body waves travel into the interior of the
- Usually made up mainly of basalt rocks
Earth, while Surface waves travel through the
crust.
CONTINENT OCEANIC
AL TYPES OF BODY WAVES
Older Relative age Younger 1. Primary wave
Thicker Relative Thin - The fastest moving body wave that is also a
thickness longitudinal wave
Less dense Relative Denser (Longitudinal wave – has its movement of
density particle and direction of propagation to be parallel
granite Type of rock basalt to each other)
- Can move through solid rocks and fluids
PRIMARY AND SECONDARY PLATES 2. Secondary waves
1. Primary Plates - Comes after primary wave ; thus, they travel
- Pacific Plate slower
- North American Plate - Transverse
- Eurasian Plate (Transverse - the direction of propagation and
- African Plate movement of particle are perpendicular)
- Antarctic Plate - Can only move through solids
- Australian Plate
- South American Plate TYPES OF BODY WAVES
2. Secondary Plate 1. Love wave
- Juan de Fuca Plate - Named after the scientist Augustus Edward H.
- Nazca Plate Love; a British mathematician who worked
- Cocos Plate out the mathematical model for this kind of
- Caribbean Plate wave in 1911
- Philippine Plate - The most damaging type of surface waves
- Arabian Plate 2. Rayleigh Wave
- Indian Plate - Most of the shaking felt during an earthquake
- Named after the scientist Lord Rayleigh (John
William Strutt) who discovered this type of
wave
SCIENCE 10: QUARTER 1
Triangulation Method
TRIANGULATION METHOD
- A method used in locating the epicenter of an
earthquake wherein data from three different
seismic stations are needed in order to get a
point of intersection.
SCIENCE 10: QUARTER 1
Types of Boundaries
TYPES OF BOUNDARIES
1. Convergent Boundaries
- A boundary when two plates move together.
- Sometimes called a collision boundary or a
destructive boundary.
TYPES:
A. Oceanic-Oceanic Convergence
- Two oceanic slabs converge and one descends
beneath the other (subduction)
- Geologic process/features: volcanic island
arc, trench, earthquakes
- The place where two oceanic lithosphere meet
is called a Trench.
- A trench is a depression which marks the
boundary of two plates.
- The lithosphere that is beneath the other
should be older because it is the one
undergoing subduction. Once the subducted
plate reaches a certain part of the Earth where
the temperature is high enough to melt it, it
would melt and that part would give out
magma that would come out of the
lithosphere which would produce Volcanic
Island Arcs/Island Arcs.
Products of Oceanic-Oceanic Convergence
(Volcanic Island Arcs)
- Indonesian Archipelago (A product of the
convergence of the Australian plate and the
Sunda plate)
- Philippine Island Arc (A product of the
convergence between the Philippine Sea plate
and the Sunda plate.)
- Japanese Island Arc (A product of the
convergence of the Pacific plate and a part of
Eurasian plate)
B. Oceanic-Continental Convergence
- Denser oceanic lithosphere sinks into the
asthenosphere (subduction).
- Geological process/features: continental
volcanic arc, trench, earthquakes.
- The place where an oceanic lithosphere and
continental crust meet is also called a Trench.
- The denser oceanic plate goes beneath the
continental crust, undergoing subduction.
Once the subducted plate reaches a certain
part of the Earth where the temperature is
high enough to melt it, it would melt and that
part would give out magma that would come
out of the crust which would produce
Continental Volcanic Arcs/Island Arcs.
Products of Oceanic-Continental Convergence
(Continental Volcanic Arcs)
- Rocky Mountains (A product of the
convergence of the North American Plate and
Juan de Fuca/Pacific Plate)
- Cascades (A product of the convergence of
Juan de Fuca and North America) and Sierra
Nevadas (Found below the Cascades and a
product of the convergence of the Pacific
Plate and the North American Plate)
- Andes Mountains (A product of the
convergence of the Nazca Plate and the South
American Plate)
C. Continental-Continental Convergence
- Collision of two continental plates
- The two plates that are moving towards are
both continental which are less dense
compared to an oceanic plate, therefore no
subduction happens.
- Geologic process/features: mountain ranges,
earthquakes.
Products of Continental-Continental
Convergence (Mountain Ranges)
- Himalayas (A product of the convergence of
the Indian Plate to the Eurasian Plate)
SCIENCE 10: QUARTER 1
Types of Boundaries
TYPES OF BOUNDARIES
2. Divergent Boundaries
- An occurrence when two plates move apart or
away from each other (unwarping).
- Also called a constructive plate boundary.
- Produces new piece of lithospheres.
- In divergent Boundaries, rift valleys and
oceanic ridges are formed.
- After two plates move apart (unwarping), and
then a rift valley will be produced in the
middle wherein a land in the middle will be
formed from the magma that goes up from the
space between the two plates that are moving
away from each other. After some time , this
rift valley will transform into a linear sea and
since the plates are still moving over time, an
oceanic ridge will be formed in the middle.
 PRODUCTS OF DIVERGENT
BOUNDARIES
A. Rift Valleys
- These are deep-faulted structures found along
the axes of divergent plate boundaries.
(Example: East African Rift)
B. Mid-Oceanic Ridge
- The most extensive chain of mountains on
Earth, stretching nearly 65,000 kilometers
(40,390 miles) and with more than 90% of the
mountain range lying in deep ocean.
(Example: Mid-Atlantic Ridge, East-Pacific
Rise, Southeast Indian Ridge, Juan de Fuca
Ridge)
TYPES OF BOUNDARIES
3. Transform Fault Boundaries
- These are margins where two plates grind past
each other without the production or
destruction of the lithosphere.
- These are also called conservative plate
boundaries.
(Example: San Andreas Fault)
SCIENCE 10: QUARTER 1
Continental Drift and Seafloor Spreading
Theories
1. Continental Drift Theory
- Was proposed by Alfred Wegener (1880-
1930) who is a German scientist,
meteorologists, and astronomer.
- This theory was proposed in 1912.
- Wegener’s profession was a hindrance for his
theory to be accepted during his time.
- According to the Continental Drift Theory,
all the continents were joined together in one
land mass called Pangaea.(Supercontinent)
- The Pangaea was divided into two:
A. Laurasia
- Northern part of the Pangaea
B. Gondwanaland
- Southern part of the Pangaea
 Panthalassa – “all sea”, the huge ocean.
2. Seafloor Spreading Theory
- This theory was proposed by Harry Hess and
Robert Dietz in 1960.
- This theory is made to theorize in order to
explain the driving mechanism that causes the
plates to move.
- The Seafloor Spreading Theory states that
oceanic crust forms along the mid-ocean ridge
system and spreads out laterally away from
them.
- It is a geological process in which tectonic
plates – large slabs of the Earth’s lithosphere
– split apart from each other.
- Ocean floor moves like a conveyer belt
carrying continents with it.
- New ocean floor form along the cracks in the
ocean crust as molten material erupts from the
mantle spreading out and pushing older rocks
to the sides of the crack. New ocean floor is
continually added by the process of seafloor
spreading.
EVIDENCES THAT SUPPORT
CONTINENTAL DRIFT
1. Apparent Fit of the Continents
Examples:
- South America and Africa
- India, Madagascar and Africa
2. Fossil Correlation
- Fossil remains of Mesosaurus (Found only in
South Africa and South America)
- Fossil remains of Cynognathus (Found only in
South Africa and South America)
- The remains of Glossopteris Tree (Found in
Australia, Antarctica, India, South Africa and
South America)
3. Rock and Mountain Correlation
- Rocks in different continents appear to have
the same age and type.
Examples:
- Appalachian Mountains (North America) and
Scottish Highlands
- Karroo System (South Africa) and Santa
Catarina System (Brazil)
4. Paleoclimate Data
- “Past climate data”
- Glacial striations are found in tropical areas
- Coal is found in Antarctica
EVIDENCES THAT SUPPORT
SEAFLOOR SPREADING THEORY
1. Magnetic Patterns
- Magnetic polarity of the lithosphere
2. Age of Rocks
- As a piece of lithosphere goes further from
the mid-oceanic plates, it becomes older.