Earth 200 Million Years Ago

Earth ~200 million years ago
The Geologic
Time Scale
Based on
*Fossils
*Correlation
Later
*Calibrated
with
radiometric
dating
The Continental Drift Hypothesis
Proposed by Alfred Wegener in 1915.
Supercontinent Pangaea started to break up about

200 million years ago.
Continents "drifted" to their present positions.
Continents "plowed" through the ocean crust.

Continental Drift: Evidence
Geographic fit of South America and Africa
Fossils match across oceans
Rock types and structures match across oceans
Ancient glacial features

Continental
Drift:
Evidence
Tight fit of
the continents,
especially using
continental
shelves.
Continental Drift: Fossil critters and plants
Evidence
Continental
Drift:
Evidence
Correlation of
mountains with
nearly
identical rocks
and structures
Continental
Drift:
Evidence
Glacial features
of the same age
restore to a
tight polar
distribution.
Continental Drift: Reactions
Received well in Europe and southern hemisphere.
Rejected in U.S., where scientists staunchly preferred

induction (incremental progress built on
observation) over what they perceived as
speculative deduction.
Lack of a suitable mechanism crippled continental

drift’s widespread acceptance.
Conflict remained unresolved because seafloors were

almost completely unexplored.
The Rise of Plate Tectonics
WW II and the Cold War: Military Spending
U.S. Navy mapped seafloor with echo sounding (sonar)
to find and hide submarines. Generalized maps showed:
oceanic ridges—submerged mountain ranges
fracture zones—cracks perpendicular to ridges
trenches—narrow, deep gashes
abyssal plains—vast flat areas
seamounts—drowned undersea islands
Dredged rocks of the seafloor included only basalt,

gabbro, and serpentinite—no continental materials.
The Rise of
Plate Tectonics
Marine geologists found
that seafloor magnetism
has a striped pattern
completely unlike patterns
on land.
Mason & Raff, 1961
Black: normal polarity

White: reversed polarity
Both: very magnetic
Hypothesis: Stripes indicate periodic reversal
of the direction of Earth’s magnetic field.
To test this hypothesis, scientists determined

the eruptive ages AND the polarity of young
basalts using the newly developed technique of
K-Ar radiometric dating.
The study validated the reversal hypothesis...

The Rise of
Plate Tectonics
And then (1962-1963)
geologists realized that
the patterns are
SYMMETRICAL
across oceanic ridges.
The K-Ar dates

show the youngest
rocks at the ridge.
Meanwhile, U.S. military developed new, advanced
seismometers to monitor Soviet nuclear tests.
By the late 1950s, seismometers had been deployed in

over 40 allied countries and was recording 24 hrs/day,
365 days/year.
Besides the occasional nuclear test, it recorded every

moderate to large earthquake on the planet. With these
high-precision data, seismologists found that activity
happens in narrow bands.
Bands of seismicity—chiefly at trenches and oceanic ridges
The Theory of Plate Tectonics
“group authorship” in 1965-1970
Earth’s outer shell is broken into thin, curved plates

that move laterally atop a weaker underlying layer.
Most earthquakes and volcanic eruptions happen at

plate boundaries.
Three types of relative motions between plates:
divergent convergent transform

Tectonic Plates on Modern Earth
Divergent boundaries: Chiefly at oceanic ridges
(aka spreading centers)
How magnetic reversals form at a spreading center
Divergent
boundaries
also can rip
apart (“rift”)
continents
How rifting of a
continent could lead
to formation of
oceanic lithosphere.
e.g., East Africa Rift
e.g., Red Sea
e.g., Atlantic Ocean

Presumably,
Pangea was ripped
apart by such
continental
rifting & drifting.
Subduction zones form at convergent boundaries
if at least one side has oceanic (denser) material.
Modern examples: Andes, Cascades
Major features: trench, biggest
EQs, explosive volcanoes
Another subduction zone—this one with
oceanic material on both sides.
Modern example: Japan
Earthquake depth indicates subduction zones
Collison zones form where both sides of a convergent
boundary consist of continental (buoyant) material.
Modern example: Himalayas
This probably used to be a subduction zone,

but all the oceanic material was subducted.
Most transform
boundaries
are in the oceans.
Some, like the one

in California, cut
continents.
The PAC-NA plate

boundary is MUCH
more complex than
this diagram shows.
Hotspots, such as the one under Hawaii,
have validated plate tectonic theory.
Why do the plates move?
Two related ideas are widely accepted:
Slab pull: Denser, colder plate sinks at

subduction zone, pulls rest of plate behind it.
Mantle convection: Hotter mantle material

rises beneath divergent boundaries, cooler
material sinks at subduction zones.
So: moving plates, EQs, & volcanic eruptions

are due to Earth’s loss of internal heat.
How does convection
work? No one knows—
but they aren’t afraid to
propose models!
Whole-mantle convection
Two mantle convection cells
Complex convection
Field Trip Briefing
The California subduction zone (9’ seismic line)
Subduction to transform (Atwater animation)
Faults of the Bay Area (SF-SJ maps)
Rock types we’ll encounter

Landslide north of Mussel Rock
Occurred between 2 am and 8 am, 2/21/05

Earth 200 Million Years Ago

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Earth 200 Million Years Ago

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Earth ~200 million years ago

Proposed by Alfred Wegener in 1915.

Supercontinent Pangaea started to break up about

Continents "drifted" to their present positions.

Continents "plowed" through the ocean crust.

Fossils match across oceans

Rock types and structures match across oceans

Ancient glacial features

Rejected in U.S., where scientists staunchly preferred

Lack of a suitable mechanism crippled continental

Conflict remained unresolved because seafloors were

Dredged rocks of the seafloor included only basalt,

Black: normal polarity

To test this hypothesis, scientists determined

The study validated the reversal hypothesis...

The K-Ar dates

By the late 1950s, seismometers had been deployed in

Besides the occasional nuclear test, it recorded every

Earth’s outer shell is broken into thin, curved plates

Most earthquakes and volcanic eruptions happen at

Three types of relative motions between plates:

divergent convergent transform

e.g., East Africa Rift

e.g., Red Sea

e.g., Atlantic Ocean

This probably used to be a subduction zone,

Some, like the one

The PAC-NA plate

Slab pull: Denser, colder plate sinks at

Mantle convection: Hotter mantle material

So: moving plates, EQs, & volcanic eruptions

Two mantle convection cells

Subduction to transform (Atwater animation)

Faults of the Bay Area (SF-SJ maps)

Rock types we’ll encounter

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