Global Plate Tectonics

Plate Tectonics Theory

• the fundamental unifying
theory in the Earth sciences
• explains movement of continents,
volcanism, earthquakes, orogeny
(mountain building) etc.
• Earth's outer shell
(lithosphere) is divided into
several plates that glide over
the mantle (asthenosphere)
Alfred Wegener: Continental drift hypothesis (1915)

• Earth's continents have moved

over geologic time relative to
each other
• the coastlines of Africa and
South America fit together
• same fossils and similar rock
layers occur on widely
separated continents
Wegener's hypothesis was rejected
• Wegener couldn't explain
how or why continents
move
• new data (evidence) in
the 1960's
Plate tectonic theory confirmed
• plate motion is tracked
with satellite positioning
instruments
• all continents drift at
various speeds
Convection currents cause tectonic plates to
move
How Convection Works
• heated fluid expands → becoming less dense → rises
→ pulls cooler fluid down to replace it
Convection currents in the mantle carry
magma to the surface
 7 large or major tectonic plates
and many minor plates and microplates
A plate can be capped by oceanic crust (e.g. Pacific plate) or by
oceanic and continental crust.
The lithospheric plates ride on the
asthenosphere.
• plates move in relation
to one another
• they move at a rate of
about 2-5 cm/year
There are three types of plate boundaries:

• Divergent
• plates moving apart
• Convergent
• plates moving towards
one another
• Transform
• plates sliding past each
other
1) Divergent or constructive boundary
• plates move away → new
crust is created by magma
pushing up from the mantle
• rift valleys, mid-ocean
ridges
• volcanism and shallow
earthquakes
Rift Valley
• divergent boundary on
the continent
Great Rift Valley
(East African Rift)
Red Sea - divergent boundary between
African and Arabian plates
Mid-Ocean Ridge
• seafloor spreading at
divergent plate
boundaries
Iceland - located on a divergent boundary between the North
American and the Eurasian plates

• part of the Mid-Atlantic

Ridge
2) Convergent or destructive boundary

•plates moving towards

one another (colliding)
Subduction - one plate moves under another

• at least one plate with

oceanic crust
• subduction zones have a
lot of earthquakes and
volcanic eruptions
Ocean-ocean convergence
• older, denser plate
goes down
• oceanic trench
• volcanic island arc
Mariana Trench
• the deepest oceanic trench on
Earth
• the lowest point: Challenger Deep
(-11 km)
• Pacific plate is subducted
beneath smaller Mariana Plate
• formation of the Mariana Islands
Ocean-continent convergence
• the denser oceanic plate
is pushed under the less
dense continental plate
• volcanic arc (volcanic
mountains)
• earthquakes
Andes - oceanic plate slides beneath a continent
Continent-continent convergence
• no subduction zone
• earthquakes
• folding → fold mountains
Himalaya - collision between the
Indian Plate and Eurasian Plate
Mount Everest - Earth's highest mountain

• 8,848 m
• China–Nepal border
• rising about 4 mm/year
3) Transform or conservative boundary
• two plates sliding past each other without creating
or destroying lithosphere
• earthquakes
San Andreas Fault
• transform boundary
between the Pacific Plate
and the North American
Plate
• California
• 1,200 km
• 3 cm/year
• risk of a large earthquake