Plate Tectonics

Chapter 10-1 Continental Drift

Objectives:
Describe the hypothesis of continental drift.
Identify evidence supporting continental drift.

The Theory of Continental Drift

The theory of continental
drift, stated by Wegner, a
German meteorologist,
says that Earth once had a
single landmass that broke
up into pieces, which have
since drifted apart.
Scientists call this giant
landmass, Pangaea, which
means all Earth.

Wegeners Evidence
Wegeners evidence for continental drift came
form four areas:
Fit of the coastlines
Fossil
Rocks
Climate

Fit of the Coastlines

Many of the landmasses,
such as South America
and Africa, appear to fit
together as if they are
pieces of a puzzle.

Evidence from Fossils

Evidence from identical fossils
found in both South America and
Africa supports Wegners theory.
Fossils of Glossopteris, an
extinct plant, found in rocks from
South Africa, Australia, India and
Antarctica provide support. The
seeds of this plant were too
large to have been carried by
the wind and too fragile to have
survived the ocean waves.

Antarctica
The presence of
Glossopteris fossils in
the frozen wasteland of
Antarctica also indicate
that the climate must
have changed greatly.
Antarctica must have
changed position.

Evidence from Rock

An ancient folded
mountain chain formed in
Africa lines up with
matching folded
mountains in South
America.
Coal field layers found in
Brazil line up with coal
field layers in Africa.

Evidence from Climate

Glacial deposits found in
areas of warm climate
also provide evidence.
Salt deposits normally
formed between 35 and
10 degrees North and
South of the equator are
found as far north as
Michigan.

Break Up of Panagaea

How did the continents move?

Wegener could not explain how the continents
moved. He though they plowed through the
ocean floor. It did not seem possible that the
continents could plow through the harder
basaltic rock of the ocean floor.
Most scientists did not believe his theory until
later it was explained how the continents moved.

Chapter 10-2
Sea floor Spreading
Objectives:
Explain seafloor spreading.
Recognize how age and magnetic clues support
seafloor spreading.

Mapping the Ocean Floor

During World War I German
scientists introduced the
idea of using sound waves
to detect submarines.
In the 1940s scientists
began to use sound waves
to map the ocean floor.
This is sometimes called
echo sounding.

Earths Spreading Ocean Floor

Scientists discovered a large
system of underwater mountains
that have a deep crack, called a rift
valley, running through their center,
known as the mid-ocean ridges.
A great deal of volcanic activity
occurs at the mid-ocean ridges.
Lava erupts from the rift valley.
The hardened lava forms new
ocean floor. This process is known
as sea-floor spreading.

Faults along the Mid-Ocean Ridge

Ocean-floor spreading helps to explain
how continents drift. As a piece of the
ocean floor moves, it takes its
continent (if it has one) with it.
Individual sections of mid-ocean ridges
are straight but the ridge curves. It
curves because the straight sections
are offset by thin cracks known as
faults.
The youngest rock is near the midocean ridge. As the floor spreads,
older rocks move farther away from
the ridge.

Magnetic Stripes
A permanent record of the Earths
magnetism remains in the rocks.
Scientist discovered that the
Earths magnetic poles reverse
themselves from time to time.
Studies show that during the past
3.5 million years, the magnetic
poles have reversed themselves
nine times. The pattern is identical
on both sides of the mid-ocean
ridge.

Ocean Floor
The ocean floor is divided
into three big areas: margin,
basin and ridge.
The ridge is an underwater
mountain chain formed by
cooling magma that comes
out the division between
plates. As they cool, they
smoke and are called black
smokers.

Mid Ocean Ridge

The mid ocean ridge is
the longest topographic
feature on Earth.
There is always a rift
valley on the top of an
ocean ridge system.

The Continental Margin

The margin is made up of
the shelf, the slope and the
rise.
The shelf is the submerged
part of the continent.
The slope is the area that
drops off into the ocean floor.
The rise is made up of the
sand that is dropped at the
bottom of the slope.

Subduction
As the older ocean floor moves
away from the mid-ocean ridges, it
will eventually move down deep
into the Earth along the trenches,
(a long narrow valley on the
ocean floor). When the rocks are
pushed deep enough, they are
melted by the heat of the Earth.
Some of it will rise up through the
crust and produce volcanoes
along the trench but most of the
molten rock will become part of the
mantle.

Chapter 10-3
The Theory of Plate Tectonics
Objectives:
Compare and contrast different types of plate
boundaries.
Explain how the heat inside the Earth causes
plate tectonics.
Recognize features caused by plate tectonics.

Plate Tectonics
In the 1960s scientists
developed a new theory that
combined continental drift and
seafloor spreading.
This new theory was called
plate tectonics.
According to this theory the
earth is broken into irregularly
shaped sections that move on
a plastic like layer called the
mantle.

Composition of Lithospheric Plates

Plates are made of crust
and a part of the upper
mantle. These two parts
combined are the
lithosphere. It is rigid and
about 100 km thick.
The plastic like layer below
the lithosphere is known
as the asthenosphere.

Seven Lithospheric Plates

The Pacific plate covers 1/5
of the Earths surface.
The other major plates are
the North American, South
American, Eurasian, African,
Indo-Australian and Antarctic
plates.
There are also smaller plates
such as the Caribbean and
Arabian plates.

Plate Boundaries
Plates move at different
speeds and in different
directions. Smaller
landmasses move more
quickly.
In a few cases, the edges of
the continents are the
boundaries of plates.
Most plate boundaries are
on the ocean floor.

Types of Plate Boundaries

There are three types of plate boundaries.
Divergent Boundaries
Convergent Boundaries
Transform Boundaries

Divergent Boundaries
The first type occurs at
mid-ocean ridges.
Because the plates move
apart, the ridges are called
divergent. These
boundaries are also called
constructive boundaries.
The average rate of
seafloor spreading is 5
cm/yr.

Ocean Floor
None of the ocean floor
is older than 180 million
years.
The East Pacific Rise is
spreading more rapidly
than the Mid Atlantic
Ridge.

Continental Rifting
Sometimes there will be
a divergent boundary
under a land mass.
This is happening on the
African plate today.
This is known as
continental rifting.

Red Sea
The Red Sea was a
continental rift valley in
the past.
As Africa and Saudi
Arabia moved apart,
water moved into the rift
valley created and
formed a sea.

Convergent Plate Boundaries

There are three types of convergent plate boundaries:
Ocean - Ocean
Ocean - Continent
This type of plate boundary has trenches. Because the
plates come together at the trenches, these boundaries are
called convergent. They are also called destructive.
Continent Continent
This does not produce a trench but some land is destroyed.

Convergent Boundaries
Ring of Fire
The collision of plates at
convergent boundaries
causes tremendous friction
and pressure.
Earthquakes and
volcanoes often result. This
explains why the Ring of
Fire follows the major
ocean trenches in that
area.

Ocean-Continent Plate Boundary

Oceanic plates are more dense than
continental plates. When an oceanic
plate collides with a continental plate, the
continental plate rides over the edge of
the oceanic plate and pushes the ocean
plate underneath. This is known as
subduction.
The subduction of the oceanic plate
causes the plate to start to melt back into
magma. Some of the magma bubbles
up through the land and forms
continental volcanic mountain ranges
(arcs) such as the Andes of South
America and the Cascades of North
America.

Ocean- Ocean Plate Boundary

When two oceanic plates collide,
the older oceanic plate is
subducted under the younger.
(Plates grow denser as they
cool.)The plate being subducted
melts. Molten rock then rises up
and breaks through the surface.
As a result, a string of volcanoes
erupts on the ocean floor along the
trench. Sometimes they may rise
above the oceans surface as a
string of islands, such as Japan,
the Tonga Islands, the Philippines
and the Aleutian Islands.

Continent-Continent Plate Boundary

When two continental plates
collide, the edges of the continents
fold upward to form large mountain
ranges, such as the Appalachian
Mountains. They were formed
when Africa collided with North
America during the formation of
Pangaea.
The Urals formed when Siberian
plate collided with the Baltic plate
and North America.
The Himalayan Mountains formed
when India collided with Eurasia
after the break up of Pangaea.

Transform Boundaries
The third type of plate
boundary is formed when
plates move side by side.
No new plate material is
destroyed or made.
Earthquakes often occur
along strike-slip
boundaries, such as the
San Andreas Fault.

Pacific-North American Plate

Boundary
The Pacific Plate is moving
in a northwest direction.
The North American plate
is moving to the southwest.
Eventually the part of
California on the Pacific
Plate will move up toward
Alaska and collide with the
Aleutian Islands.

Causes of Plate Tectonics

Today most scientist think plates
move as convection currents in the
mantle circulate.
A convection current is the
movement of material caused by
differences in temperature. Mantle
material close to the core is very
hot. Mantle material farther from
the core is cooler and more dense.
Rising and sinking of magma
occurs in a circular motion.

Faults
When rocks break and
move along surfaces, a
fault occurs.
Faults interrupt rock
layers by moving them out
of place.
Entire mountains can form
this way and are called
fault-block mountains.

Evidence of Plate Movement

Magnetic stripes on ocean floor
Volcanoes and earthquakes
Lasers and satellites

Hawaiian Islands
The Hawaiian Islands show
direction of plate movement as
well as the rate of movement
in the past.
The Hawaiian Islands formed
over a hot spot in the Pacific
Plate.
As the plate moves over the
hot spot new islands are
created with the youngest
island being over the hot spot.

Possible Changes in Plates

Any change in one plate or
boundary affects all the other
plates and boundaries. There are
many changes that can occur in
plates and their boundaries.
Continental plates may fuse
together. A trench may switch
direction and begin to subduct a
formerly overriding plate. New
divergent boundaries may form in
the center of continents. Plates
may also be completely subducted
and disappear.

Prediction of our Future World