Lecture 2: The Geosphere: An

Introduction

Geosphere
o The dense, primarily solid part of the Earth that consists of rocks and
overlying sediment
o In constant motion driven by the flow of heat from center outwardly
Bimodal distribution of elevation
o 2 flattened regions in elevation
o 840 m corresponding to mean elevation of land
o 3.4 km corresponding to mean depth of sea
different composition of continental crust vs oceanic crust
o cont crust is felsic
feld-spars and quarts rich (silicon based)
older
o oceanic crust is mafic
Mg and Fe rich
Young < 200Ma
More homogeneous composition
Geographical observations leading to Plate Tectonic Theory
o Mountain chains/belts occur along continental margins (not all cont
margins have Mts) and some are inland
o Earthquakes occur in certain areas (ring of fire in around pacific ocean)
o Atlantic Ocean is shallower in the middle and progressively deeper
outwardly
o Common fossils and rock formations found in different cont
o Glacial and rock formations same when cont put back together
o Sedimentary thickness by continent shore where rivers discharge
sediment
Challenger Expedition first to explore ocean depths
o discovered ocean trenches: narrow, ultra-deep, topographical
depressions in the sea floor
o land bridge: narrow strips of land that rose and dropped over time,
allowing animals to pass. Hypothesis for why similar animals and fossils
are found in multiple, distant regions/cont
Wegners continental drift hypothesis
o continents drifted across Earth over time
o cont did so by plowing through oceanic crust
o no evidence of extensive ocean floor deformations around ploughing cont
o no mechanism explaining movement of cont plates
o lack of ocean topography data impeded acceptance of theory
seismic studies: study of earthquakes
o revealing Earths composition
earth is layered
inner core (solid)
outer core (liquid)
mantle (putty)
layers are convecting

Plate
o
o
o
o
o

driven by heat flow from decaying radioactive element to the

colder surface
ocean floor difficult to map due to:
water being relatively opaque (too dark to see)
high pressure
created demand for new data collecting tech (from WWII)
SONAR: Sound Navigation And Ranging
Magnetometers: metal detectors to detect enemy
submarine (commonly made of magnetic metal; large size of
magnetic material creates disturbances in earths magnetic
field)
New data
o mid oceanic ridge, characterized by high heat flow
(never healing wound)
o sediment thickness increases away from mid-ocean
ridge
o age of basal sediments increases away from ridge
o magnetic anomalies for symmetric, barcode like
pattern around mid-ocean ridge; normal and reverse
polarity
barcode characteristic caused by reversal of
magnetic polarity of earths magnetic field
almost all rocks contain magnetic minerals,
acting as small compasses that record the
direction of earths magnetic field at time it was
formed
Tectonic Theory
The cold outer skin of the Earth is brittle, called the lithosphere
(mechanical definition)
Lithosphere (solid) consists of crust (oceanic or continental) plus the
upper, rigid part of the mantle
It deforms primarily through brittle failure (faulting) and subject to
earthquakes
mantle is solid yet fluid, viscoelastic
upper mantle is brittle solid, forming part of lithosphere and crust
viscoelastic: the property of a substance exhibiting both elastic
and viscous behavior, the application of stress causing temporary
deformation if the stress is quickly removed but permanent
deformation if it is maintained
Moho discontinuity:
increase of seismic activity defines base of crust
related to composition and chemical differences
crust (mafic to felsic) vs mantle (ultramafic)
tectonic plates
lithosphere is broken into rigid plates
cont is incorporated with surrounding ocean floor into plate
generated by volcanism at mid-oceanic ridges (spreading ridges)
supports varying magnetism of ocean rock bed and
distribution of basal and crust sediment
plates are recycled at subduction zones

Sliding of a tectonic plate under another tectonic plate at a

convergent plate boundary
o ie: oceanic crust subducts, whereas continental crust
does not due to its lower density
unifying theory
presence of continents and oceans
rigid plates float on slowly deformable mantle
continents sit higher than the oceanic crust for two reasons:
(1) because they are thicker(continental crust is 35 km thick
on average vs 6 km for oceanic crust)
(2) cont are 10% lessdensethan oceanic crust

differing composition of cont and oceanic crusts

partial melting
o different minerals in the rock will tend to melt at
different temperatures and pressures
o Partial melting over geological time is the cause for
the compositional differences between the continents
and oceanic crust
ie: Oceanic crust (mafic) is generated by partial
melting of the mantle (ultramafic)
has relatively uniform chem
ie: Continental crust (felsic) has been
generated over many cycles of partial melting
varied chem, contains abundant
incompatible elements
presence of mountain belts
form at convergent plate margins
o interior Mts form by cont-cont collisions
o volcanic Mt ranges form by subduction of oceanic
crust beneath cont crust
earthquake frequent zones
occur along plate boundaries
friction or collision of plates
occurrence of mid-oceanic islands
hot spot: volcanism in middle of plate
o mantle plume that rises beneath tecplate at a single
pt
o plume remains fixed in space as plate moves over it
young age of sediment and oceanic crust
constantly being recycled into mantle at subduction zone
shallow mid-ocean depth
thermal subsidence: oceanic litho becomes denser
(thermal contraction) and thicker as it cools (hot mantle
converted into solid litho) causing subsidence (the gradual
caving in or sinking of an area of land)