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GEO1111 Spring 2024
Lecture 04: Plate Tectonics
All evidence leads to theory of Plate Tectonics
• composite of ideas that explain the observed motion of Earth’s
lithosphere through mechanisms of subduction & sea-floor
spreading which generate continents & ocean basins
• tectonic plates are composed of the relatively rigid, brittle lithosphere
• plates "float" upon ductile asthenosphere (but remember: the mantle is
SOLID!)
• plates move slowly
• plates interact at their boundaries, which are classified by relative plate
motion:
• move apart at divergent boundaries
• slide past one another at transform boundaries
• move together at convergent boundaries
Plate boundary types
Let’s look at some datasets:
Major plate boundaries
Topography/Bathymetry (pink: very deep, white: very high, green/teal: sea level)
Age of the ocean floor (red: very young, dark blue: oldest (up to 180-200 Ma)
Earthquake distribution (red: 0-33 km, orange: 33-70 km, green: 70-300 km, blue: 300-700 km)
Currently or historically active volcanoes
How would you classify plate boundaries?
Type 1:
Symmetrical (looks the same on both sides), shallow earthquakes, few volcanoes, young
oceanic lithosphere on either side if ocean-ocean

Type 2:
Asymmetrical, deep oceanic trench on one side of boundary, shallow to deep earthquakes
moving away from trench on other side, volcanoes on side opposite trench, old oceanic
lithosphere on trench side
Continent-continent, ocean-ocean, continent-ocean

Type 3:
No trench, shallow earthquakes, no volcanic activity
Continent-continent, ocean-ocean, continent-ocean
Three plate boundary types
A quick introduction to faults:
 Brittle deformation (rupture) & faulting
FAULTS

Faults are fractures in bedrock along which movement has occurred

• loss of cohesion of a body under the influence of deforming stress
• usually occurs along sub-planar surfaces that separate zones of
coherent material
• considered "active" if movement has occurred within the
last 15,000 years (last ice age)
FAULTS

fault terminology:
hanging wall & footwall
Divergent plate boundaries
 Divergent / constructive margins

• plates move away from each other

• can occur within ocean or within continent
but always leads to creation of ocean basin
• marked by faults, volcanoes & uplift
• crust is stretched and thinned
• normal faults mark rift zones
• decompression causes melting
• hot rocks are thermally buoyant
FAULTS

Normal fault
• HW moves down with respect to the FW
• Younger units are placed on top of older ones
• Results in thinning of the crust (extension)
FAULTS

Normal fault
 new ocean floor via seafloor spreading:

development of a new ocean basin:

Mid-Ocean Ridge system = Spreading centers
Greatest volume of volcanic rock is produced
along the oceanic ridge system (plate divergence)
• Mechanism of (decompression) melting:
• Lithosphere pulls apart
• Less pressure on underlying rocks
• Results in partial melting of mantle
(15%)
• Large quantities of basaltic magma are
produced
Forming new lithosphere
Lithosphere consists of the crust and uppermost mantle. It’s what makes up the tectonic plates.
As a plate moves away from the ridge and cools, dense lithospheric mantle thickens and the seafloor
surface gets deeper. As it cools, the lithosphere gets thicker and denser (Note: Oceanic crust forms at
the mid-ocean ridge. Oceanic crust thickness remains the same as the plate ages, except for the
accumulation of sediment.)

● the geothermal gradient is disrupted at the

mid-ocean ridges
● the plates pulling apart force the asthenosphere to
rise and causes some of the asthenosphere to melt
Lithosphere consists of the crust and uppermost mantle. It’s what makes up the tectonic plates.

Once oceanic lithosphere reaches ~10 million years, its overall density
exceeds that of the underlying asthenosphere!

● the geothermal gradient is disrupted at the

mid-ocean ridges
● the plates pulling apart force the asthenosphere to
rise and causes some of the asthenosphere to melt
The boundary between the rigid lithosphere and plastic asthenosphere is thermal:
● The rock chemistry is the same, but it gets hotter deeper in the Earth
● The boundary is at about 1250-1280°C
The continental lithosphere is thicker than oceanic lithosphere. This is because of their density
differences:
● The pressure at a given depth deep enough in the mantle has to be equal
● Pressure is a function of the thickness and density of overlying rocks
● Need a thicker column of less dense rock to add up to the same pressure as under a column of
denser rocks.
● P1 = gravity x [(density of continental crust x thickness of continental crust) + (density of
continental lithospheric mantle x thickness of continental lithospheric mantle) + (density of
asthenosphere + thickness of asthenosphere)]
● P2 = gravity x [(density of water x thickness of water) + (density of oceanic crust x thickness of
oceanic crust) + (density of oceanic lithospheric mantle x thickness of oceanic lithospheric
mantle) + (density of asthenosphere + thickness of asthenosphere)]

P1 = P 2 P1
P2
Convergent plate boundaries
Convergent / destructive margins

• plates move toward each other

• marked by collisional zones:
compression / crustal thickening, thrust faults, high
relief, igneous activity
• nature of boundary depends on plates involved
(oceanic vs. continental)
FAULTS
Reverse / thrust faults faults have
movement parallel to the dip (angle from
horizontal) of the fault plane

• HW moves up with respect to the FW

• Older rock units are placed on top of
younger ones
• Results in duplication of rock units
and thickening (compressional
forces)
Reverse / thrust faults
Ocean-ocean convergent plate boundaries

• nature of boundary depends on plates involved

(oceanic vs. continental):
1) ocean-ocean convergence: marked by deep
ocean trench & volcanic island arc (subduction
zone)
ocean-ocean
convergence

When subduction involves two oceanic

plates, a volcanic island arc forms on the
overriding plate.
Ocean-continent convergent plate
boundaries Convergent / destructive margins

• nature of boundary depends on plates involved

(oceanic vs. continental):
2) ocean-continent convergence: marked by
ocean trench, volcanic arc & mountain belt
(subduction zone)
• moderate thermal heating, voluminous igneous
activity, moderate crustal shortening
ocean-continent
convergence
Continent-continent convergent plate
boundaries Convergent / destructive margins

• nature of boundary depends on plates involved

(oceanic vs. continental):
3) continent-continent convergence: marked by
mountain belts & thrust faults
• extreme thermal heating, some igneous activity,
extensive crustal shortening
Transform plate boundaries
Transform / conservative margins

• plates slide horizontally

past one another
• no igneous activity
• mass (plates) is conserved
FAULTS
Strike-slip/transform fault
• dominant displacement is horizontal;
HW & FW slide past each other in
horizontal plane
• rock unit order is uninterrupted
• types of strike-slip faults
• right-lateral
• left-lateral
FAULTS

Strike-slip/transform fault
Transform faults on the ocean floor connect and
offset ridge segments.
Active faulting, as indicated by earthquakes,
only occurs in the part of the fracture zone
between ridge axes.
Transform boundaries form at the same time as the initiation of the mid-ocean ridges. Note that distance between
ridge segments doesn’t change as sea-floor spreading takes place. Thus, segments of the mid-ocean ridge are
linked, not offset, by fracture zones. Slip occurs only along the segment of the fracture zone between the two ridge
segments.
Some transform boundaries cut continental crust. For example, across the San Andreas
fault, the Pacific plate moves northwest relative to the North American plate.
Tectonic driving forces
This diagram summarizes plate tectonic interactions on Earth, including divergent, convergent, and transform
boundaries, as well as the mantle plume “hot spots” not tied to plate motion:
• Gravity is the driving force: old, cold, dense tectonic plates sink
at convergent margins and are formed at divergent margins –
like a conveyor belt, they get recycled in the mantle
 • mantle convection may be the cause or an effect of circulation set up by:
• slab-pull: pulling of lithosphere into mantle by downgoing slab during
subduction
• ridge-push: pushing of lithosphere resulting from elevated position of
ridge-push oceanic ridge system, causing crust to gravitationally slide down flanks of
ridge

slab-pull
The velocity of plate motion can be described in two ways. Relative plate velocity
describes motion of one plate relative to another. Absolute plate velocity describes
motion compared to a fixed reference point beneath the plate.
Plate velocities can now be measured using Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites.

The length of an arrow represents the velocity.