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Plate tectonics (from Greek τέκτων, tektōn "builder" or "mason") is a theory of Geology

that explain the observed evidence for large scale motions of the Earth's lithosphere. That
means, the total system of plate motions is commonly refered to as “plate-tectonics”.

The theory encompassed and superseded the older theory of continental drift from the first half
of the 20th century and the concept of seafloor spreading developed during the 1960s.

A theory that explains the global distribution of geological phenomena such as


seismicity,
volcanism,
continental drift, and
mountain building in terms of the formation,
destruction,
movement, and Interaction of the earth's lithospheric plates.

All these ideas, and many more, are encompassed in the concept of plate
tectonics
•The lithosphere is the upper layer of Earth's interior, including the crust and the brittle
portion at the top of the mantle.

•Tectonism is the deformation of the lithosphere.

•This deformation is the result of the release and redistribution of energy from Earth's
core.

•There are two components of this energy: gravity, a function of the enormous mass at the
core, and heat from radioactive decay.

•Differences in mass and heat within the planet's interior, known as pressure gradients,
result in the deformation of rocks.
Under the effects of these stresses, rocks may bend, warp, slide, or break.

As a result, Earth's interior may manifest faults, or fractures in rocks, as well as folds, or
bends in the rock structure.

The effects of this activity can be seen on the surface in the form of subsidence, which
is a depression in the crust, or uplift, which is the raising of crustal materials.
•There are two basic types of tectonism: orogenesis and epeirogenesis.

•Orogenesis is taken from the Greek words oros ("mountain") and genesis ("origin")
and involves the formation of mountain ranges by means of folding, faulting, and
volcanic activity.

•The Greek word epeiros means "mainland," and epeirogenesis is manifested the form
of either uplift or subsidence.
•The outermost part of the Earth's interior is made up of two layers: above is the lithosphere,
comprising the crust and the rigid uppermost part of the mantle.

•Below the lithosphere lies the asthenosphere.

•Although solid, the asthenosphere has relatively low viscosity and shear strength and can
flow like a liquid on geological time scales.

•The deeper mantle below the asthenosphere is more rigid again. This is, however, not due to
cooler temperatures but due to high pressure.
•The lithosphere is broken up into what are called tectonic plates —
in the case of Earth, there are seven major and many minor plates .

•The lithospheric plates ride on the asthenosphere.

•These plates move in relation to one another at one of the three


types of plate boundaries: convergent or collision boundaries,
divergent or spreading boundaries, and transform boundaries.

•Earthquakes, volcanic activity, mountain-building, and


oceanic trench formation occur along plate boundaries.
Pangaea, Laurasia, and Gondwanaland

About 1,100 million years ago, there was a supercontinent named Rodinia, which
predated Pangaea.

•According to Wegener, the continents of today once formed a single supercontinent


called Pangaea, from the Greek words pan ("all") and gaea ("Earth").

•Eventually, Pangaea split into two halves, with the northern continent of Laurasia and the
southern continent of Gondwanaland, sometimes called Gondwana, separated by the
Tethys Sea.

• In time, Laurasia split to form North America, the Eurasian land-mass with the exception
of the Indian subcontinent, and Greenland.

• Gondwanaland also split, forming the major southern landmasses of the world: Africa,
South America, Antarctica, Australia, and India.

•Starting at about 514 Ma, Laurasia drifted southward until it crashed into Gondwanaland
about 425 Ma. Pangaea, surrounded by a vast ocean called Panthalassa ("All Ocean"),
formed approximately 356 Ma.
Selected Major Plates

North American (almost all of North America and Mexico, along with Greenland and the
northwestern quadrant of the Atlantic)

South American (all of South America and the southwestern quadrant of the Atlantic)

African (Africa, the southeastern Atlantic, and part of the Indian Ocean)

Eurasian (Europe and Asia, excluding the Indian subcontinent, along with surrounding
ocean areas)

Indo-Australian (India, much of the Indian Ocean, Australia, and parts of the Indonesian
archipelago and New Zealand)

Antarctic (Antarctica and the Antarctic Ocean)


Earth's Major Plates:
Important Features of Plate-Tectonics

• A plate is a large, rigid slab of rock moves slowly over the


asthenosphere.
• Thickness of a plate is from 0 to 10 km at the ridges and 100 to 150
kms in other places
• There are 20 lithospreric plates but majorly seven major plates are
accepted by most of the workers.

• They are continously in motion from 1 to 6 cm per year

•The plates contain continents as well as oceanic surface. Out of


seven major plates five contain continents and only pacific-plate is
made up mostly of sea floor
•Plate margins are associated with mostly volcanicity, tectonic
activity and seismicity.
•Plate interiors generally are devoid of earthquakes, volcanoes
Plate boundaries:

Three types of plate boundaries: 1. Constructive boundaries (divergent)


2. Destructive boundaries (convergent)
3. Conservative boundary.

Constructive boundaries: are also known as diverging plate boundaries.

•Divergent boundaries occur where two plates slide apart from each other. Mid-
ocean ridges (e.g., Mid-Atlantic Ridge) and active zones of rifting (such as
Africa‘s Great Rift Valley) are both examples of divergent boundaries.

Convergent may be divided into three types: Oceanic convergence


Continental convergence
Ocean-continent convergence
•Transform boundaries occur where plates slide perhaps more
accurately, grind past each other along transform faults. The
relative motion of the two plates is either sinistral (left side
toward the observer) or dextral (right side toward the observer).
The San Andreas Fault in California is one example.

•Divergent boundaries occur where two plates slide apart from


each other. Mid-ocean ridges (e.g., Mid-Atlantic Ridge) and
active zones of rifting (such as Africa's Great Rift Valley) are
both examples of divergent boundaries.

•Convergent boundaries (or active margins) occur where two


plates slide towards each other commonly forming either a
subduction zone (if one plate moves underneath the other) or a
continental collision (if the two plates contain continental crust).
Deep marine trenches are typically associated with subduction
zones. Because of friction and heating of the subducting slab,
volcanism is almost always closely linked.
By about 152 Ma, in the late Jurassic period, the continents as we know them today began
to take shape. By about 65 Ma, all the present continents and oceans had been formed for
the most part, and India was drifting north,

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