Some questions we will answer today:

How is the earth always changing? What forces inside the earth create and change landforms on the surface? What is the theory of plate tectonics and how does it work? What two theories help make up the theory of plate tectonics? What is continental drift and sea floor spreading? What happens when the plates crash together, pull apart, and slide against each other?

Different theories about phenomena on earths surface

Most of them contradict each other Not reliable Eg.
Roman Church Copernicus Aristotle Galileo

Bases of studies of every discipline

Physics
Gravity

Chemistry Biology
Atom Cell

Earth Science Plate tectonic

The Plate Tectonic Theory

One single theory which explains almost all phenomena prevalent in the lithosphere including volcanism, mid-oceanic ridges, deep sea trenches, earthquakes, mineralization, mountain-building and many more. Paradigm Shift Yet tip of the iceberg

To really understand how the earth became to look as it does today, and the theory of plate tectonics, you also need to become familiar with two other ideas:

Continental Drift
and Seafloor Spreading.

- < 100 years ago, many scientists thought the continents always had been the same shape and in the same place. -A few scientists noted that the eastern coastline of South America and the western coastline of Africa looked as if they could fit together. -Some also noted that, with a little imagination, all the continents could be joined together like giant puzzle pieces to create one large continent surrounded by one huge ocean. -No one made any attempts to explain this fact

So, if my contintents fit together, why does the earth look like it does today?

The idea of moving continents

Continental Drift Theory

In the early 1900s a German explorer and scientist proposed the continental drift theory. He proposed that there was once a single supercontinent called Pangaea.

 Alfred Wegener Proposed hypothesis in 1915 Published The Origin of Continents and Oceans Continental drift hypothesis Supercontinent Pangaea began breaking apart about 200 million years ago

Continental drift: An idea before its time

Evidence used in support of continental drift hypothesis

Fit of the continents Fossil evidence Matching rock type and mountain belts Paleoclimatic evidence

Evidence for Continental Drift

Jigsaw Puzzle fit of continents

Alfred Wegener during Greenland expedition

More evidence
Matching geologic structures including:
Mountain chains Ore deposits Same rocks of same age

The Evidence for Continental Drift

Fossil Evidence
Glossopteris Cynognathus Mesosaurus Lystrosaurus

 Glacial Evidence

What Is the Evidence for Continental Drift?

Striations and glacial deposits of the same age in the five southern continents suggest this reconstruction of Gondwana

Wegener not believed

Why? What could possibly force the continents to move across the ocean floor in this way. They would be crushed. He was a meteorologist, not a geologist

Sea-Floor Spreading
Sea-floor spreading: The process by which molten material adds new oceanic crust to the ocean floor

Seafloor Spreading
Emerged from the study of the ocean floor.
Series of mountains that extend around the world, stretching more than 64 thousand kilometers (40 thousand miles).

Developments 50s and 60s

World war 2 submarines found mountains under the oceans the mid-ocean ridges

Theory of seafloor spreading suggested by Princeton professor Dr. Harry Hess

Seafloor spreading

First look at the earths layers as shown here.

Mapping the Mid-Ocean Ridge

What device is used to map the ocean floor?

The sonar is used to map the ocean floor
Sonar bounces sound waves off underwater objects and then records the echoes of these sound waves The time it takes for the echo to arrive indicates the distance to the object

Evidence for Sea-Floor Spreading

Trend of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge

Similar to the coastlines of adjacent continents Europe and Africa to the east North and South America to the west

Oceanic Crust is thin

Both sides of the ridge, oceanic crust is hardly 4 to 5 km thick Rest all oceans between 10 to 20 km

Volcanoes
Continuous chain of volcanoes all along the mid-Atlantic ridge What would be the effect of this at the ridge?

Age of rocks
Youngest near the ridge As we move away from the ridge, rocks are older in age No rock in the Atlantic ocean is more than 200 million years old ( The crust is not more than 200 million years old)

How are these matching stripes evidence of sea-floor spreading?

The pattern of stripes is the same on both sides of the ridge, indicating that the sea floor has spread from the mid-ocean ridge

What happens to the rock along the ridge when new molten material erupts?
The spreading molten material pushes the older rock to both sides of the ridge

Where is the oldest part of the ocean floor?

The oldest part of the ocean floor is farthest from the mid-ocean ridge

Pangaea revisited
By piecing together this information, we can see how the continents have moved over the past 200 million years, due to seafloor spreading

Subduction at Deep-Ocean Trenches

If new crust develops from midoceanic ridges.

Where does the old crust go? Why the amount of lava coming out and forming crust does not reduce?

Look at the observations made by

Hugo Benioff & Vine and MathewsAmerican GEOLOGISTS They observed certain phenomena in the eastern coast of Eurasia

Deep sea coast

The sea near the east coast of China was very deep. Yellow Sea South China Sea East China Sea

Ring of Fire
Chain of volcanic islands running parallel to the east coast of Eurasia
Aleutian Japan Phillipines

Volcanic activity
Intense Explosive. Lava different than that of the Mid-Atlantic ridge

Frequent earthquakes
Japan gets at least 2 earthquakes every day

Conclusion
As Eurasia is pushed from Mid-Atlantic Ridge,
It pressed against and subsided under the crust which make up the floor of the Pacific Ocean Constant rubbing of both the plates melts some rocks, magma forms and erupts out forming the islands. Process known as??????????????????????????

Subduction
Subduction: The process by which oceanic crust sinks through a deepocean trench and back into the mantle; a convergent plate boundary

Deep-Ocean Trenches
Deep-Ocean Trenches: A deep valley along the ocean floor through which oceanic crust slowly sinks towards the mantle

What happens to the ocean floor at deep ocean trenches?

At deep-ocean trenches, subduction allows part of the ocean floor to sink back into the mantle, over tens of millions of years

Plate Tectonics

According to the theory of plate tectonics, the earths outer shell is not one solid piece of rock. Instead the earths crust is broken into a number of moving plates. The plates vary in size and thickness.

2 Types of Plates

Ocean plates - plates below the oceans Continental plates - plates below the continents

What is the Asthenoshere?

The plastic layer below the lithosphere = asthenosphere The plates of the lithosphere float on the asthenosphere

 When the tectonic plates under the continents and oceans move, they carry the continents and oceans with them.

Sea-Floor Spreading
Mid oceanic ridges Magma comes out Forms new crust Pushes existing crust on both sides Drifting continents

Subduction
Heavier plate subsides under lighter plate. Magma erupts over the thinner plate Sometimes magma may pile over on the ocean to form islands

Plate Tectonic Theory

Plates of rigid lithosphere (oceanic and continental) move from the energy of heat transfer below Their interactions define divergent, convergent, and transform boundaries and control many surface processes

 Sea floor spreading provides the driving mechanism for movement However, it is not the continents that are moving, but the plates of lithosphere floating in effect on the asthenosphere The lithosphere is made up of about 20 plates which move relative to each other in several ways Lets look at a generalized sketch

Plate tectonics

The Plates

Types of Plate Margins

 Plate boundaries
Interactions among individual plates occur along their boundaries Types of plate boundaries
Divergent plate boundaries Convergent plate boundaries Transform fault boundaries

DIVERGENT PLATE BOUNDARY

At a divergent plate boundary lithospheric plates move away from each other. The mid-Atlantic Ridge, a topographically high area near the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, is an example of a divergent plate boundary. New crustal material

 Mid-ocean ridges rift valleys fissure volcanoes

Features of Divergent Boundaries

Theyre Pulling Apart!

When plates pull away from one another they form a diverging plate boundary, or spreading zone.

Thingvellir, the spreading zone in Iceland between the North American (left side) and Eurasian (right side) tectonic plates. January 2003.

Divergent: Atlantic Ridge

LAVA FOUNTAINS KRAFLA VOLCANO ICELAND

Divergent boundaries in Continents

Continental rifts
Splits landmasses into two or more smaller segments

The East African Rift

CONVERGENT PLATE BOUNDARY

At a convergent plate boundary, lithospheric plates move toward each other. The west margin of the South American continent, where the oceanic Nazca Plate is pushed toward and beneath the continental portion of the South American Plate, is an example of a convergent plate boundary

Convergent plate boundaries

Types of convergent boundaries
Oceanic-oceanic convergence
When two oceanic slabs converge, one descends beneath the other Often forms volcanoes on the ocean floor If the volcanoes emerge as islands, a volcanic island arc is formed (Japan, Aleutian islands, Tonga islands) Subducting plate bends downward forming an oceanic trench

Oceanic-oceanic Collision

ure 12.16

Oceanic-Continental Collision

 The Andes Mountain Range spans the entire length of South America, along the western coast. During this subduction some Nazca crust is scraped off along base of the Andes, adding height to the entire range.

ANDES

ALPAMAYO, CORDILLERA BLANCA

Andes Mountains, South America

RING OF FIRE

OCEANIC-CONTINENTAL COLLISONS SUSTAIN MOST VOLCANIC ACTIVITY AROUND THE PACIFIC OCEAN

Convergent plate boundaries

Types of convergent boundaries
Continental-continental convergence
Continued subduction brings continents together Less dense, buoyant continental lithosphere does not subduct Result is a collision between two continental blocks Process produces mountains (Himalayas, Alps, Appalachians)

The collision of India and Asia produced the Himalayas

Continental-continental Collision

Figure 12.16

EVEREST, FROM LOBUCHE

Transform fault boundaries

Third type of plate boundary Plates slide past one another and no new lithosphere is created or destroyed

Transform Boundaries
Transform faults mark fractures in the crust where plates slide laterally past each other The San Andreas fault separates the Pacific plate from the North American plate

 These areas are likely to have a rift valley, earthquake, and volcanic action.

San Andreas Fault, CA

Hot spots
Caused by rising plumes of mantle material Volcanoes form over them (Hawaiian Island chain) Mantle plumes are long-lived structures and originate at great depth, perhaps at core-mantle boundary

The Hawaiian Islands form over stationary hot spot

HOTSPOTS

OTHER HOTSPOTS

Plate Tectonics is as revolutionary and fundamental to Geology as Natural Selection and Evolution are to Biology

THE REAL DRIVING MECHANISM

Plate tectonics causes volcanic activity

and earthquakes

It causes rocks to be tilted

Or even to fold or break

Plate motions also can be looked at into the future, and we can have a stab at what the geography of the planet will be like. Perhaps in 250 million years time there will be a new supercontinent.

Determining Plate Motion

Absolute dates of magnetic anomalies and distance traveled from ridge = rate Hot spots and associated features are used as fixed reference points to determine absolute motion

Plate tectonics - basics

Earthquakes!