Deforming the Earth’s

Crust
 Types of Stress
• Deformation: When the shape of
a rock changes due to stress
1. Compression = squeezing or
pushing together (convergent
boundaries)
2. Tension = forces stretch an object
(divergent boundaries)
3. Shearing = slicing motion back and
forth (transform boundaries)
 Types of Folding
• Folding: rock layers bending because of
stress
1. Anticline = upward bend
2. Syncline = downward bend
3. Monocline = bend with horizontal ends
 Types of Faulting
• Fault: the surface along which rocks break
and slide past each other
• Hanging wall: the layers of rock ABOVE
the fault line
• Footwall: the layers of rock BELOW the
fault line
HANGING
Fa
ult
Lin WALL
FOOTWALL e
Hanging Wall and Footwall
 Types of Faults
• Normal Faults = the hanging wall
slides down the foot wall

• Reverse Fault = the hanging wall

slides up the foot wall

• Strike slip Fault = the rocks on

either side of the fault line slide
past each other
 Folded Mountains
• COMPRESSION…mountains
COMPRESSION formed at
continental/continental convergent
boundaries.
• Ex. Appalachian Mountains
Appalachian Mtns.

COMPRESSION
 Fault Block Mountains
• TENSION…causes
TENSION large blocks of the
Earth’s crust to drop down compared to
the rocks around it.
• Ex. Tetons (Wyoming)

TENSION
 CONTINENTAL DRIFT

•Alfred Wegner was one of several people who thought the

continents looked like they fit together, so he proposed the
continental drift theory in 1912.
Wegner was a meteorologist and astronomer so needless to say
other scientists thought he was out of his field of study.
•His studies concluded that at one time all the continents were joined
together in one land mass called Pangaea.
1. Laurasia was the name given to the northern part of
Pangaea
2. Gondwanaland was the name given to the southern part of
Pangaea
 WHERE’S THE EVIDENCE
Wegner had 5 pieces of evidence to prove his continental drift
theory:
1. PUZZLE PIECES:
The continents, especially South America and Africa, seemed to fit
together like a puzzle.
2. FOSSIL EVIDENCE:
Wegner noticed that plant and animal fossils were found on different
continents.
 Do you think they swam all the way across the oceans?
NO!
 This would lead people to believe that the continents were once
joined.

Glossopteris…seed much to
large to be windblown
Mesosaurus…lived in fresh
water and could not have lived in
salt water
3. ROCK EVIDENCE:
Huge belts of rocks found in
Africa and South America were
identical. Not only were they the
same, but they would match up
(age, thickness, types) if the
continents were put together.

Matching Mountains
The Appalachian Mountains
that disappear off the coast of
Newfoundland match mountains
in the British Isles and
Scandinavia which are
comparable in age and
structure.
4. GLACIER EVIDENCE:
There is proof that glaciers moved from Africa, through the
Atlantic Ocean, and then on towards South America. This would
be much easier if the Atlantic Ocean were not there
5. CLIMATE EVIDENCE:
•Warm weather plants have been found in the Arctic… but
it’s not warm there!

•Glacier deposits have been discovered in tropical and desert

locations…it’s not cold there, either!

•The continents had to have been at different locations in the

geological past.
 AMAZING EARTH SCIENCE FACTS

Continents
______________ fit together like puzzle pieces

Fossils
__________ showing the same types of life existed
on the now separated land masses

Rock layers & mountains

___________________________match up along
coastlines of once joined continents
Glacial
____________ evidence in temperate and hot
climates