Geological

History and
Formation of
Earth Plate
Madhawa Premasiri
 Soil Mechanics
• Study of the engineering mechanics and
physical properties of soil
• Describe the engineering behaviors of soil
under various loading conditions using
• Solid mechanics
• Fluid mechanics and
• dynamic theories

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 Geology
• Geology is mainly the study about the Earth. It
includes
• the investigation of the rocks forming the
Earth (petrology)
• how they are distributed over and within
the Earth (Earth’s structure)
• the constituents of rocks Minerology
• study of the chemical compositions of
rocks (geochemistry)
• Physical properties of rocks
• Study of natural hazards like landslides and
earthquakes that may affect the success of
an engineering project

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 The Solar System
• The Universe contains billions of galaxies such as Milky
Way or Andromeda
• Our Solar System revolves around the center of the
Milky way Galaxy.
• The Sun is the center of our solar system
• Celestial bodies such as the planets, their moons,
the asteroid belts, comets and other objects are
gravitationally bound and revolve around.
• The Sun contains around 98% of all the material in
the Solar System.

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 The Solar System
• Terrestrial Planets - Made mostly of rocks, and rock
derivatives like soil and dust
• Minerals based on inorganic substances
• Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars
• They may have water (liquid/ vapour/ solid), organic
matter and gases.
• The Outer Planets - Made mostly of gases
• Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune
• The Outer Planets are made of hydrogen, helium,
methane, etc. and have little or no mineral-based
rock, soil or dust.

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 Origin of the Universe
• The universe began about 14.4 billion years ago
• The Big Bang theory
• The universe was all in one place
• All matter and energy were squished into a singularity,
then exploded
• Material (converted energy) blown out by the explosion
>> formed the stars and galaxies
• Big Bang >> Only formed H and He. Gravity pulls them
together to form stars and galaxies
• Heavier elements C, O etc. are formed inside stars
(pressure and temperature)
• Stars burned out and exploded (supernova) and expelled
the heavier elements (carbon, oxygen and other
elements) >> New Solar Systems

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Origin of Earth
• After about 10 billion years, our solar systems began to
form
• The earth and other members of the solar system is
believed to have been started forming about 4600
million years ago by condensation from a rotating
cloud of gas and dust
• 4.6 – 4.2 Billion years ago
• Interior compacted under gravity, melted due to
heat from radioactive material
• Heavier elements sank towards the center (Fe, Ni,
etc.) of the liquid core
• Buoyant materials such as silicate made an outer
layer, named Mantle
• Hot gases were ejected into space

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 • 4.2 – 3.8 Billion years ago
• Earth cooled; Molten rocks hardened >> Brittle crust formed
• Crust was punctured by meteorites, and volcanoes brought magma to
surface and solidified >> First continental crust
• 3.8 – 2.5 Billion years ago
Origin of Earth • Gasses escaped to the atmosphere cooled >> Clouds formed >> Heavy
rains
(cont’d) • First streams and rivers >> erosion of igneous and metamorphic rocks >>
first sedimentary layers in ocean beds
• First organisms - blue-green algae

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 • 1.9 – 0.6 Billion years

Origin of Earth (cont’d) • O2 gradually replaced CO2 due to photosynthesis of

• 2.5 – 1.9 billion years
• Crust strengthened and thickened to mobile
plates (floating on melted magma) >> split,
amalgamate, collide
primitive organisms
• Ozone layer formed (allowed more sophisticated
life to emerge)
• Over last 600 million years
• Little has changed in earth structure
• Continuous crustal plate movements

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 Structure of Modern Earth
• Studies of inner structure of the Earth
• Seismic waves (earthquakes and nuclear explosions)
• Drilling into upper crust
• Study of fragments of the mantle (from great upheavals)
• Inner structure of earth is stratified based on the chemical and physical
composition

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 Earth Structure by Chemical Composition - Core
• Consists of inner core and outer core – 33% of Earth mass
• Inner core
• Solid layer of radius about 1,220 km (about 20% of Earth's radius)
• Believed to be an iron–nickel alloy
• The temperature estimates - 5,700 K (5,430 °C; 9,800 °F)
• The density estimates - 13.0 kg/L in center, 12.8 kg/L at the surface
• Outer core
• A fluid layer about 2,260 km thick – Generates Earth’s magnetic
field
• Composed of mostly iron and nickel, not enough pressure to make
it solid
• Temperature estimated about 3,000–4,500K
• Density estimates - 5 to 10 percent lower than inner core density

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 Earth Structure by Chemical Composition - Mantle

• A layer of silicate rock (predominantly solid) between the crust and

the outer core - Thickness - 2,900 km
• Its mass is 67% the mass of the Earth (84% of Earth's volume)
• The density estimates – 3.3 kg/L in center, 5.5 kg/L
• Three subdivisions
• Upper, transitional and lower
• occur due to rearrangement of grains in olivine (the largest portion of peridotite) to form a
denser crystal structure as a result of the increase in pressure with depth
• Below a depth of 660 km, evidence suggests due to pressure changes ringwoodite minerals
change into two new denser phases, bridgmanite and periclase
• Partial melting of the mantle at mid-ocean ridges - oceanic crust
• Partial melting of the mantle at subduction zones - continental crust

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 Earth Structure by Chemical
Composition - Crust
• Outermost layer – a layer of rocks, soils and water
• Depth ranges
• 0-30/40km at continental crust >> Mafic rocks
(Basalt etc) >> Density around 2.7 g/cm3
• 0-5/10km at oceanic crust >> Felsic rocks (Granite
etc) >. Density around 3 0 g/cm 3
• Lesser density than the Mantle >> Crust floats on the
Mantle >> Isostasy
• The temperature of the crust increases with depth (range
100 °C - 600 °C at the boundary with the underlying
mantle)
• The Mohorovičić discontinuity or ‘Moho’ >> Interface
between crust and mantle

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 Physical Structure of Earth Layers
• Physical layers of the earth
• Lithosphere – Solid crust and upper most Mantle up to
100km thick
• Asthenosphere – 100-400km >> Partly molten
>>convection currents
• Mesosphere – below Asthenosphere till the core >>
Solid due to pressure
• Outer core
• Inner core
• Atmosphere (many gaseous spheres)
• Spheres are close interactions
affecting each others
• Asthenosphere deforms to
accommodate the motions of
the overlying plates

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 Plate Tectonics
• Name given to the modern theory of massive rocky plate movements - that the lithosphere is made of rigid
plates that floats on the asthenosphere
• Lithosphere is broken up into interconnected slabs that geologists call plates
• Convection currents in the semi molten mantle (asthenosphere) drives and lubricates the lithosphere
plates >> gravity, earth’s rotation and tidal waves magnetic fields etc. may have effects
• Plates move at speeds really exceeding 15 cm/year
• About 10-15 major plates

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Major Tectonic Plates
• Primary Tectonic Plates (area greater than 20 million
sqkm)
• Pacific Plate
• North American Plate
• Eurasian Plate
• African Plate
• Antarctic Plate
• Indo-Australian Plate
• South American Plate
• Secondary Tectonic Plates area less than 20 million
sqkm but greater than 1 million sqkm
• Scotia Plate
• Caribbean Plate
• Cocos Plate etc
• Microplates (area less than 1 million sqkm)
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Plate Boundaries

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Types of Plate Boundaries

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Types of Plate
Boundaries - Divergent
• Divergent Boundary
• Plates move away
from each other
• Asthenosphere
moves up to fill
• Mid ocean ridges,
Rift Valleys

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Types of Plate Boundaries - Convergent
• Convergent Boundary
• Direct collision of plates
• Three types
• Oceanic – Continental (ex - subduction of the Nazca Plate
under South America (which has created the Andes
Mountains and the Peru Trench)
• Denser oceanic crust moves down, forms a trench and
mountain range – Subduction zone
• Oceanic – Oceanic (ex - subduction of the Pacific Plate south
of Alaska creating the Aleutian Islands
• Denser oceanic crust subducts forming underwater
trenches and volcanoes
• Continental – Continental (ex - the collision of the India Plate
with the Eurasian Plate, creating the Himalaya Mountains)
• No subduction zone >> push up and create folded
mountains

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Types of Plate Boundaries - Convergent
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 Types of Plate Boundaries
- Transform
• Transform Boundary
• Plates slides past each other (ex
- The San Andreas Fault and
Queen Charlotte Fault
• Lithosphere is neither
created nor destroyed.
• Blocks of crust are torn
apart in a broad zone of
shearing between the two
plates.

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 Plate Boundaries - Hazards

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 Continental Drift
• One of the earliest ways geologists thought continents
moved over time
• The theory of continental drift is most associated with
the scientist Alfred Wegener
• Earth’s continents were once part of an enormous,
single landmass called Pangaea
• the continental landmasses “drift” across the
Earth, sometimes plowing through oceans and into
each other
• Today, the theory of continental drift has been replaced
by the science of plate tectonics
• Difference >> Plates are not drifting on oceans,
plates are moving due to sea floor spreading
(impacted by convection currents from core and
mantle)

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 Proof of Continental Drift
• Puzzle-piece fit of continents (matching coastlines)
• Matching fossils and rocks
• Warm places glaciated
• Cooler places with tropical fossils (ex – Antartica)

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 Proof of Plate Movements
• GPS measurements of plate movements
• Mapping of ocean floors – Bathymetry
• Thinner sediment layers near mid-ocean ranges

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 Proof of Plate Movements
• Paleomagnetism - magnetic poles within each stripe were reversed in
alternating rows
• The reversals take place when iron molecules in Earth's spinning outer
core start going in the opposite direction as other iron molecules around
them
• Wadati-Benioff zones
• earthquake epicenters traced the shapes of oceanic plates sinking into
the mantle

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 Thank you

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