Earth Materials and

Processes: Deformation
of the Crust
 Continental Drift
• Refers to the movement of the Earth’s
continents relative to each other,
appearing to “drift” across the ocean
bed.
- The thought that continents might
have drifted was first speculated by
Abraham Ortelius in 1596. The concept
was fully developed by Alfred Wegener
(1880-1930), a German meteorologist.
He proposed his ideas in a book entitled
The Origin of Continents and Oceans. He
presented the evidence that he collected
from different scientific fields to support
his theory. He said that continents were
once joined together in a one large
landmass called “supercontinent” also
known as Pangaea (meaning “all land”)
which was formed by a series of
continental collisions that began in the late
Paleozoic and continued until the early part
of the Mesozoic. In configuration, Pangaea
is believed to have been a C shaped
landmass that spread across the equator.
Pangaea broke apart beginning in the Late
Triassic and Early Jurassic of the Mesozoic
era. The part that lies in the Northern
hemisphere is Laurasia. It includes most of
the present day North America, Greenland,
Europe and Asia. Gondwana (originally
Gondwanaland) lies in the southern
hemisphere. It includes most of the present
day South America, Africa, India, Australia
and Antarctica. Laurasia and Gonwanaland
were separated by an ocean called Tethys,
which is an east-west trending ocean that
no longer exists today.
North America drifted toward
northwest. Eurasia rotated clockwise
before it moved northward. Africa
rotated counterclockwise and drifted
eastward, while South America drifted
westward. India was separated from
Antarctica and Africa, then drifted
northeast. Then India collided with Asia
and yielded the Himalayan mountain
range along the former Asian
continental shelf. Australia, was once
joined to Antarctica, separated and
moved eastward.
The Pangaea breakup led to an increase in
seaways and shorelines, which may have
affected the diversification of terrestrial plants
and animals by creating several isolated
continental regions. In addition, rapid seafloor
spreading during the final break up of Pangaea
caused a tremendous release of carbon
dioxide (CO2). This began in the early
Cretaceous and led to dramatic global climate
warming that culminated about 92 million
years ago, with nearly tropical temperatures
extending to very high latitudes (polar
regions). Such extreme warmth resulted in ice-
free polar regions that were populated by
dinosaurs , diverse forests and abundant
insects.
Like many revolutionary
theories, Wegener’s
hypothesis was rejected
for lack of convincing
support mechanism that
will make the scientific
community believe in the
new idea.
 Wegener’s Evidence
1. Topographic Evidence
-he noticed that the continents seemed
to fit together, not at the continuously
changing shoreline but at the edge of
their continental shelves.
The “good fit” suggested that just like
the neighboring pieces of jigsaw
puzzle , the continents were once
connected in a single supercontinent.
2. Fossil Correlation-fossils are
traces and remains of organisms
that lived in prehistoric times. He
knew that fossils of plants and
animals such as the Mesosaurus, a
freshwater reptile which is like a
small crocodile found only in South
America and Africa during the
Permian period could be found
around the shores of different
continents.
He pointed out that it is
impossible for this reptile to be
able to swim the long distance
from one continent to the other
and being a freshwater at that.
Another is the discovery of fossils
of the land reptile Lystrosaurus.
Fossil of plant Glossopteris, a
fernlike plant was also found in
India, South Africa, Australia,
Antarctica, and South America.
Plant fossils from the Arctic
Archipelago of Svalbard,
Norway showed that these
plants were not adapted in the
frigid polar climate. They were
tropical plants which can only
survive in a much warmer, more
humid environment. The
presence of these fossils
suggested that Svalbard once
had a tropical climate.
3. Rock Formation
- Rock and fossils in the
continents located in the
southern hemisphere exhibit
identical pattern known as
“Gondwana Sequence”. These
rocks were of the same type
and same age. He described
that the rocks had formed side-
by-side and that the land has
since moved apart.
He matched up mountain ranges that
had the same rock types, structure and
age, but now on opposite sides of the
Atlantic Ocean. For example, the
Appalachians Mountain on the Eastern
United States and Caledonian Mountain
(Scotland) fit together, as well as
Karroo Strata in South Africa and Santa
Caterina rocks in Brazil. He concluded
that they were once a single mountain
range that got separated as the
continents drifted.
4. Paleoclimatic Evidence
-he considered as evidence the glacial
till deposits in the northern and
southern latitudes. He pointed to
scratches on rocks left by glaciers.
Glaciers were able to form and leave
glacial till deposits. Large glaciers are
most commonly found in frigid climates.
Using the distribution of grooves, and
rock deposits left by ancient glaciers
on many different continents, he traced
the glaciers back to where they have
come from.
He said that these scratches show
that places with mild climates today
once had climates cold enough for
glaciers to form. The argument is
that the Earth’s climate has not
changed, instead the positions of
continents have changed. Tillites of
the similar ages are found in Africa,
South America, India and Australia.
The presence of tillites means that
the glaciers were formed in those
places in the past.
Then the supercontinents drifted
away from each other, towards
the position they occupy. He
collected ancient climate
information to confirm his glacial
data. Evidence of glaciers is
present in regions with warm, dry
climate. Continents that are
close to the equator today were
once closer to the South Pole in
the distant past.
He also found evidence for his
hypothesis from warm climate
zones. Coral reefs and swamps that
lead to the formation of coal
deposits are now found in tropical
environments. He discovered
ancient coal seams and coral reefs
in parts of the continents that are
much too cold today. This showed
that coral reef fossils and coal had
drifted to new locations.
Sedimentary rocks examination showed a
climatic change and the only possible
reason was continental drift. For example,
parts of Antarctica, North America, and UK
all contain coal deposits of similar age that
were formed in tropical conditions. These
areas are no longer in tropical climate today
and this only suggests that they have drifted
apart since the Carboniferous period.
Despite all these incredible evidences for
continental drift, Wegener was not able to
see his theory gain acceptance. He died in
1930 at the age of 50 from a probable heart
failure while on a scientific expedition in
Greenland.
 How the Movement of Plates Leads to
the Formation of Folds and Faults

The Earth’s crust or lithosphere is divided

into large, rigid pieces called plates. These
plates “float” atop the astenosphere. It is
believed that these plates move.
Plate Tectonics-theory of moving crustal
plates.
This movement of plates is brought about
by the interaction of great forces that has
resulted in the formation of various surface
features of the Earth.
That the plates really moved can be
observed from the tilt, bends or breaks
in the layers of the sedimentary rocks
that are supposed to be lying
horizontally. Plate tectonics is the
fundamental mechanism that drives
geological processes on Earth. It is
based on the understanding of the
Earth’s structure, the different types
of tectonic plates and plate
boundaries and the driving forces of
plate movements.
In 1965, J. Tuzo Wilson, a Canadian
physicist combined the continental drift
and seafloor spreading and made two
major contributions to strengthen the
theory of plate tectonics– the
introduction of hotspots and the
recognition of the third type of plate
boundary which is the transform fault
boundary. The term “continental drift”
was no longer fully accurate because
the plates are made up of continental
and oceanic crust, which both drifts.
Although solid Earth’s crust
may be pushed, pulled or
squeezed out of shape by
great forces acting on it
over long periods of time.
 Folding
When part of the crust is pushed
from opposite direction,
compressional forces act on it. Push
forces at opposite ends of the plate
deform it. The crust crumples or
wrinkles resulting in thickening or
folding. As the crust is crumpled,
the rock strata become tilted
producing an upward and downward
bends. This process is called
The materials of the crust are
dense and rigid but under
enormous heat and intense
pressure, they soften and can be
deformed.
Anticline-upward curve of a fold
-usually form mountains, hills,
ridges
Syncline-downward curve of a fold
- Usually form valleys
Mountain ranges are
formed by folding. The
Cordillera and Sierra
Madre in Luzon are
examples of folded
mountains. The Himalayas
were formed in the same
manner.
As the Indian Plate moved
northeast, it collided with the
Eurasian Plate. These
continental plates have low
densities. For this reason, they
remain floating over the denser
mantle. The pressure of
advancing Indian plate caused
the southern edge of the
Eurasian plate to crumple, thus
forming the Himalayas.
 Faulting
When the rock masses of the crust are
pulled apart, the crust is acted upon by
a tensional force producing cracks or
breaks on the crust. Pull forces at
opposite ends of the plate deform it
resulting in sinking, thinning and
faulting. The tensional force may go
beyond elastic limit of the crust that it
yields to the stress by breaking. This is
a process called faulting.
In this case, the layers of rock slide
and slip against each other along the
breaks. Sometimes, a block of rock
between two parallel faults may rise
as upward forces act on them. This
risen area is called horst and this
develops into a plateau. In other
instances, a block of rock between
two parallel faults may sink as
downward forces act on them. This
area that sank is called a graben and
it forms a rift valley.