Types of Plates

Boundaries
 LEARNING OUTCOMES

•Examine the evidence proving the

Continental Drift Theory.
•Explain the different process that occur
the plate boundaries.
The Continental Drift Theory

• The Continental Drift Theory was

first explain by Alfred Wegener, a
German geophysicist and
meteorologist. According to this
theory, thousands of years ago,
all of the continents were
combined into one super
continent called the Pangaea.
Evidences of the Continental Drift Theory
Evidences of the Continental Drift Theory

Geographic Evidence (THE

JIGSAW FIT)
• Continents were once in
their shapes. The edge of
the different continents fits
the edge of another. For
instance, south America and
west African coastlines
shows the best jigsaw fit.
Evidences of the Continental Drift Theory

Fossil Evidence
• Glossopteris was a woody, seed-
bearing shrub or tree. Fossils of
this plant are found in Australia,
South Africa, South America, India
and Antarctica.
• Glossopteris is the largest and
best-known genus of the extinct
Permian order of seed ferns
known as Glossopteridales
Evidences of the Continental Drift Theory

Rock Evidence
• The broad belts of rocks and
mountains of south America
and Africa line up perfectly as
if they were once a long
mountain range.
Evidences of the Continental Drift Theory

Coal Deposit Evidence

• Looking at the current location of
Antarctica, living things could barely
survive there now.
• If scientist found coal deposit
there, it could mean that Antarctica
might have been closer before to
the equator where if had a warmer
climate and could sustain life.
 Wegener’s theory was rejected by
scientists.
• He could not find the force that was
causing the continents to drift.
• Because of this, he could not convince
anyone that continents could move.
• He died in Greenland on an
expedition. At the time of his death, no
one believed his hypothesis!
The Mantle Convection

• Arthur Holmes, a British

geologist, proposed the
mantle convection, which
explains the force behind
the drifting of the
continents.
• Plates are floating on the
Earth's mantle and the
convection current happening
in the mantle causes them to
move in different directions.
The moving arrows in the
image shows how the
convection currents move
within the mantle.

• Even though these plates

move slowly, their motion,
called plate tectonics, has a
huge impact on the Earth.
• Hot molten materials move up
whereas cooler materials move
down. The point at which the
current moves opposite from
each other causes the plates to
move apart and produces a
geologic feature on that point,
just like the mid ocean ridges.
When one cell’s directional
movement meets the other,
the two plates will move
together, creating geologic
features such as trenches,
volcanoes, and mountain
ranges.
 Earth’s Tectonic Plates
• The movement of each tectonic plate is slow and
constant relative to one another. This movement creates
the different crustal features, and all major interactions
happen along the plate margins.
• Plate margins also know as plate boundaries, are three
types, namely convergent, divergent and transform.
Each boundary forms different geologic features.
 Earth’s Tectonic Plates
• The movement of each tectonic plate is slow
and constant relative to one another. This
movement creates the different crustal
features, and all major interactions happen
along the plate margins.
• Plate margins also know as plate boundaries,
are three types, namely convergent, divergent
and transform. Each boundary forms different
geologic features.
 Types of Plate Boundaries
• Convergent Boundary
• are plate boundaries
where the plates move
toward each other. The
collisions of two plates
are of three types:
oceanic-continental,
oceanic-oceanic and
continental-continental
collision.
Oceanic-continental convergence
• is a type of collision between an oceanic crust and a
continental crust.
• The process at which the oceanic crust sinks down
the continental crust and goes back to the mantle is
called subduction.
• At the continental crust, volcanoes are formed
parallel to the subduction zone.
• These chains of volcanoes parallel to the subduction
zone are commonly called continental volcanic arcs.
• The volcano formed in the Andes is one example, due to
the subduction of the Nazca plate with the South
American plate.
• Trenches are also formed in the intersection of the
oceanic crust and continental crust.
• A trench is a deep, narrow depression on the ocean
seafloor caused by the collision and/or subduction plates.
 Oceanic-oceanic convergence
• Is a type of collision between two oceanic crustal plates.
• Both oceanic crustal plates have the same average density,
the one that subduct is usually the older plate.
• The older crust is cooler compared to the new crust, and
tends to move down as a result.
• At the top of the other oceanic crust forms volcanic island
arc or simply the island arc.
• One example of trenches formed due to oceanic-oceanic
convergence is the Mariana Trench, which result of the
subduction of the Pacific plate with the Philippine plate.
 Continental-Continental Convergence
• Two continental crustal plates move toward one another.
• The folding of parts of the continental lithosphere happens. A
thickening of the portion where the two continental crust plates meet
up occurs, causing the formation of mountains, and part of the
continental crust descends to the other continental crust but not
toward the mantle.
 Types of
Plate Boundaries

 
Divergent
Boundary

are plate boundaries where

plates move apart from each
other, resulting in the
production of a new seafloor.
As the plate moves opposite
each other, it causes a
fracture in the lithosphere,
resulting in the upwelling of
hot molten materials.
  
Divergent
Boundary
• Underwater mountain
chains results from
diverging plates. These
contain mountains and
volcanoes found in mid-
ocean ridge, such as the
Mid-Atlantic Ridge, the
Mid-Indian Ridge, and
the East Pacific Rise.
• Rift valley- as plates
move apart, they create
a depression or a
lowland region along the
separation of the plates.
The Great Rift Valley of Africa
 Types of
Plate Boundaries
Transform
 
Fault
Boundary
The plates slide past
horizontally to each other
without destroying the
lithosphere plate. This means
that the movement of one
plate is opposite the
movement of the other. The
best example is the San
Adreas Fault in California,
USA.
 Research! Research! Research !

• Please do advance study about the occurring

of earthquakes and the types of seismic
waves.
Types of Plates
Boundaries