Geography Notes

Plate tectonics – Endogenic Force

 Plates tectonics states that the Earth’s lithosphere is broken into a number of slabs called plates.
 These plates float on top of the mantle and are constantly in motion.
 Plate boundary: Zone where plates collide, separate or slide past one another.
 The earths crust is broken into sections called plates.

Classroom code = wgf7dvo

Continental drift

One of the earliest ways geologists thought continents moved over time.

Alferd Wegener was the creator of plate tectonics.

It proposes that all the earth’s continents were once part of a giant single landmass called Pangaea.

After Pangaea it was split into 2 landmasses Laurasia and Gondwana.

Proofs of continental drift.

Continental fit: The continental shelves of the east coast of South America and the west coast of Africa fit
together.

Fossil similarity: fossils of the ancient freshwater reptiles have been found on both the African and south
American continents.

Matching rocks and mountain ranges: mountain ranges of the east coast of the USA and north-western
Europe have similar features.

Ice sheets once covered areas that today are very warm: Evidence of glaciation in equatorial areas
suggest they were at different latitudes before being moved by continental drift.

Transform Plate boundaries.

 Passive plate boundaries are created where plates slide past each other.

• The best-known passive boundary in the world exists between the North American

and Pacific Plates.

 • Pressure builds over time as the faster-moving Pacific Plate tries to jolt free from

the slower-moving North American Plate.

• This pressure builds until one plate slips or jolts free. The sudden movement of the

plate triggers powerful earthquakes.

• The movement of the plates has created a large crack in the crust that is over 1300

km long. This is known as the San Andreas Fault

Divergent Plate Boundaries

 Constructive -- new crust/land is created here.
 Plates separate – pull away from each other due to convection currents within the mantle.
 The convection currents in the mantle are flowing away from each other – this splits the
lithosphere and drags the plates apart.
 There are 2 types of divergent plate boundaries
 Continental Rifting
 Sea floor Spreading
 Rifting valleys are formed when continental plates are pulled apart by convection currents
 East Africa is rifting apart from the rest of the African continent. The Red Sea has formed as a
result of water formed the Indian Ocean rushing in to fill the north part of the rifting valley.

Folding, faulting and doming

 Deformation refers to any change in the shape and size of rock as a result of stress.

Forces of deformation
 Compression squeezes and shortens the rock. Convergent plate movement. It results in folding
and/or faulting in the rock.
 Tension stretches a body of rock.