Course Title

IEQ-303 Earthquake Geology and Geoinformatics

Plate Tectonics
Brief History of Plate Tectonics

Tectonics = study of the deformation of the earth’s surface and plate motions, especially
as applied to mountain building.

Ideas about and Evidence for Tectonics

The ancient Greeks (~200 BC) realized that shells found high up in mountains were
actually deposited in old oceans.

Leonardo da Vinci (~1500) came to much the same conclusion when he found some
fossil sea shells high in the mountains and reasoned that, since the shell layers were
discontinuous, the shell layers must have been pushed into mountains rather than the seas
being as high as the mountains.

James Hutton (~1750) incorporated the idea of uplift and erosion into the rock cycle
and his ideas of uniformitarianism (The present is the key to the past).

Darwin on the voyage of the H.M.S. Beagle (~1850), realized that tectonic forces,
especially earthquakes, raised mountains while erosion lowered them.

By the mid 1800’s it was obvious that vertical movements of the earth took place. What
remained to be answered is what powered the tectonic forces or what caused the upheaval
of the mountains?

One of the earliest pieces of evidence that large scale horizontal movement of continents
took place was the fit of the continents, especially Africa and South America. Because
there was no mechanism explaining how this could happen the idea that continents
moved over the earth’s surface was not taken seriously.

In 1910 American geologist Frank Taylor, based on the alignment of mountain ranges,
proposed that the continents had at one time been connected.
The person who is usually given credit for starting the modern theory of plate tectonics is
German meteorologist Alfred Wegener. In 1915 Wegener published a book suggesting
that all the continents had been connected in a single large land mass he called Pangaea.
Wegener’s proposed continent helped to explain the distribution of certain plants,
animals, and fossils. However, the hypothesis was not accepted by European and
American geologists, largely because it lacked a mechanism for drifting the continents.
Southern hemisphere geologists who were closer to the evidence accepted Wegener’s
hypothesis more readily
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 The locations of certain fossil plants and animals on present-day, widely separated
continents would form definite patterns (shown by the bands of colors), if the continents
are rejoined.

Present Plate Tectonic set up of the Earth and plate velocities.

 Wegener's continental drift hypothesis
• Evidence used by Wegener
• Fit of South America and Africa
• Fossils match across the seas
• Rock types and structures match
• Ancient climates
• Main objection to Wegener's proposal was its inability to provide a
mechanism

New Evidence for Continental Drift and the Development of Plate Tectonics
Through much of the 1950’s and early 1960’s northern hemisphere geologists continued
to resist the idea of plate tectonics because of the lack of a mechanism.
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Starting in the mid-1960’s new evidence from the fields of paleomagnetism and
seismology was developed that eventually convinced most geologists that continents
moved.

Paleomagnetism

 Evidence for the plate tectonics model

• Paleomagnetism
• Probably the most persuasive evidence
• Ancient magnetism preserved in rocks
• Paleomagnetic records show
• Polar wandering (evidence that continents moved)
• Earth's magnetic field reversals
• Recorded in rocks as they form at oceanic ridges

Apparent polar-wandering paths for Eurasia and North America

When new crust is created by rising magma (esp at mid-ocean ridges) minerals such as
magnetite and hematite, which have some magnetic properties, align themselves (while
still in liquid phase) with the magnetic field of the earth.
Scientists were able to discover that the rock from various dates in the past had magnetic
signatures which pointed in ever-changing directions.

The following types of paleomagnetic information is preserved in rocks:

1. Declination – direction that the compass needle points. In the northern hemisphere the
needle points toward the north pole. This is an important feature for apparent polar
wandering.
2. Inclination – dip of the compass needle that is related to latitude
3. Polarity – N vs. S seeking

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Magnetic Reversal
Reversals have been documented as far back as 330 million years. More than 400
reversals have taken place, one roughly every 700,000 years on average.
In recent geological times reversals have been occurring on average once every 200,000
years, but the last reversal occurred 780,000 years ago.

More Evidence for Plate tectonics

 Evidence for the plate tectonics model

• Earthquake patterns
• Associated with plate boundaries
• Deep-focus earthquakes along trenches provide a method for
tracking the plate's descent
• Ocean drilling
• Deep Sea Drilling Project (ship: Glomar Challenger) confirms age
of oceanic crust
Hot Spots

 Evidence for the plate tectonics model

• Hot spots
• Rising plumes of mantle material
• Volcanoes can form over them
• e.g., Hawaiian Island chain
• Chains of volcanoes mark plate movement

What is a tectonic plate?

A tectonic plate (also called lithospheric plate) is a massive, irregularly shaped
slab of solid rock, generally composed of both continental and oceanic lithosphere. Plate
size can vary greatly, from a few hundred to thousands of kilometers across; the Pacific
and Antarctic Plates are among the largest. Plate thickness also varies greatly, ranging
from less than 15 km for young oceanic lithosphere to about 200 km or more for ancient
continental lithosphere (for example, the interior parts of North and South America).

What drives the plates?

Models for the driving forces
Plate-driving force is the slow movement of hot, softened mantle that lies below
the rigid plates. The circular motion of the mantle carried the continents along in much
the same way as a conveyor belt. Below the lithospheric plates, at some depth the mantle
is partially molten and can flow, albeit slowly, in response to steady forces applied for
long periods of time. Just as a solid metal like steel, when exposed to heat and pressure,
can be softened and take different shapes, so too can solid rock in the mantle when
subjected to heat and pressure in the Earth's interior over millions of years.

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Conceptual drawing of assumed convection cells in the mantle (see text). Below a depth
of about 700 km, the descending slab begins to soften and flow, losing its form.

Sketch showing convection cells commonly seen in boiling water or soup. This analogy,
however, does not take into account the huge differences in the size and the flow rates of
these cells.

The mobile rock beneath the rigid plates is believed to be moving in a circular
manner somewhat like a pot of thick soup when heated to boiling. The heated soup rises
to the surface, spreads and begins to cool, and then sinks back to the bottom of the pot
where it is reheated and rises again. This cycle is repeated over and over to generate what
scientists call a convection cell or convective flow.

Convection cannot take place without a source of heat. Heat within the Earth
comes from two main sources: radioactive decay and residual heat. The radioactive

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decay of naturally occurring chemical elements -- most notably uranium, thorium, and
potassium -- releases energy in the form of heat, which slowly migrates toward the
Earth's surface. Residual heat is gravitational energy left over from the formation of the
Earth -- 4.6 billion years ago -- by the "falling together" and compression of cosmic
debris.

Present Day Plate tectonics

 Evidence for the plate tectonics model
 Earthquake patterns
• Associated with plate boundaries
• Deep-focus earthquakes along trenches provide a method for
tracking the plate's descent
 Ocean drilling
• Deep Sea Drilling Project (ship: Glomar Challenger) confirms age
of oceanic crust

 Measuring plate motion

 By using hot spot “tracks” like those of the Hawaiian Island - Emperor
Seamount chain
 Using space-age technology to directly measure the relative motion of
plates
• Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI)
• Global Positioning System (GPS)

Plate tectonics: the new paradigm

 Plate boundaries
• Types of plate boundaries
• Divergent or Constructive
• Convergent or Destructive
• Shear or Transform

Divergent Boundaries

 Plate boundaries
• Types of plate boundaries
• Divergent plate boundaries (constructive margins)
• Two plates move apart
• Mantle material upwells to create new seafloor
• Ocean ridges and seafloor spreading
• Oceanic ridges develop along well-developed
boundaries
• Along ridges, seafloor spreading creates new
seafloor

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Present active divergent boundary on continental part exists in the eastern part of the
Africa.

Convergent (or destructive), Divergent (or constructive) and Transform or Shear type
plate boundaries.

At divergent boundaries new crust is created as the plates pull away from each other.
Oceans are born and grow wider where plates diverge or pull apart.
Iceland offers scientists a natural laboratory for studying - on land - the processes that
occur along submerged parts of a divergent boundary. Iceland is splitting along the Mid-
Atlantic Ridge - a divergent boundary between the North American and Eurasian Plates.
Iceland will inevitably break apart into two separate land masses at some point in the
future, as the Atlantic waters eventually rush in to fill the widening and deepening space
between.

Rift Valley

A new ocean basin is created when a tectonic plate carrying a continent literally splits
apart. But the most dramatic example of an emerging ocean basin in its infancy is the
Great Rift Valley of East Africa (9600km long), stretching between Ethiopia and
Tanzania. As the continent of Africa breaks apart along a rift, a new plate (the Somali
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Plate) is taking shape. Evidence of volcanic activity along the rift is provided by the
presence of numerous boiling hot springs. Widening of the rift is 3.7±0.9 mm/year, and
that most of this widening is concentrated in the deepest, most youthful part of the rift
zone (2.9±1 mm/year).

East African rift system also showing triple plate junction

Transform or Shear Boundaries

 Plate boundaries
• Types of plate boundaries
• Transform fault boundaries
• Plates slide past one another
• No new crust is created
• No crust is destroyed
• Transform faults
• Most join two segments of a mid-ocean ridge
• At the time of formation, they roughly parallel the
direction of plate movement
• Aid the movement of oceanic crustal material

Plates on either side of a transform boundary slide past each other without either late
being consumed and without a gap opening between the plates.
Examination of oceanic ridges along the East Pacific Rise or Mid-Atlantic Ridge show
offsets along transform boundaries.

The San Andreas Fault is a transform boundary that separates the

North American and Pacific Plates. The smaller Juan de Fuca
plate lies between these two plates opposite Oregon, Washington,
northern California, and part of British Columbia. The Pacific Plate
moves northwest relative to the North American Plate. Los
Angeles will migrate toward San Francisco over the next several
million years.

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Seismic characteristics of divergent and transform boundary

Transform or Shear Boundaries

Convergent Boundaries

 Plate boundaries
• Types of plate boundaries
• Convergent plate boundaries (destructive margins)
• Plates collide, an ocean trench forms and lithosphere is
subducted into the mantle
• There are 3 types of convergent boundaries:
• 1) oceanic-continental,
• 2) oceanic-oceanic,
• 3) continental-continental

Convergent Boundaries – Oceanic-Continental

 Plate boundaries
• Types of plate boundaries
• Convergent plate boundaries (destructive margins)
• Oceanic-continental convergence
• Denser oceanic slab sinks into the asthenosphere
• Pockets of magma develop and rise
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 • Continental volcanic arcs form
• Examples include the Andes, Cascades, and the
Sierra Nevadan system

Cross section of slabs illustrating dominant first-motion solutions for earthquakes in

subducted slabs. Open circles indicate down-dip contraction. Closed circles indicate
down-dip extension. Opposing arrows indicate thrust fault solution. A. Slabs extending to
shallow depths show down-dip extension. B. Slabs extending to intermediate depths
show down-dip extension in the shallower part of the slab, and down-dip contraction in
the deeper part. C. Slabs extending to great depths are dominated by down-dip
contraction. D. Segment slabs show down-dip extension in the shallow part and down-dip
contraction in the deep part.

Convergent Boundaries Oceanic-Oceanic

 Plate boundaries
• Types of plate boundaries
• Convergent plate boundaries (destructive margins)
• Oceanic-oceanic convergence
• Two oceanic slabs converge and one descends
beneath the other
• Often forms volcanoes on the ocean floor
• Volcanic island arcs forms as volcanoes emerge
from the sea
• Examples include the Aleutian, Mariana, and Tonga
islands

Convergent Boundaries – Continental-Continental

 Plate boundaries
• Types of plate boundaries
• Convergent plate boundaries (destructive margins)
• Continental-continental convergence
• When subducting plates contain continental
material, two continents collide
• Can produce new mountain ranges such as the
Himalayas

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The collision of India and Asia produced the Himalayas (before)

The collision of India and Asia produced the Himalayas (after)

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The Himalayas: Two continents collide
Among the most dramatic and visible creations of plate-tectonic forces are the lofty
Himalayas, which stretch 2,500 km (100 to 400 km wide) along the border between India
and Tibet. This immense mountain range began to form between 40 and 50 million years
ago, when two large landmasses, India and Eurasia, driven by plate movement, collided.
Because both these continental landmasses have about the same rock density, one plate
could not be subducted under the other.
About 80 million years ago, India was located roughly 6,400 km south of the Asian
continent, moving northward at a rate of about 9 m a century. When India rammed into
Asia about 40 to 50 million years ago, its northward advance slowed by about half. The
collision and associated decrease in the rate of plate movement are interpreted to mark
the beginning of the rapid uplift of the Himalayas.

The 6,000-km-plus journey of the India landmass (Indian

Plate) before its collision with Asia (Eurasian Plate) about
40 to 50 million years ago. India was once situated well
south of the Equator, near the continent of Australia.

The Himalayas and the Tibetan Plateau to the north have

risen very rapidly. In just 50 million years, peaks such as
Mt. Everest have risen to heights of more than 9 km. The
impinging of the two landmasses has yet to end.

The Himalayas continue to rise more than 1 cm a year -- a growth rate of 10 km in a

million years! If that is so, why aren't the Himalayas even higher? Scientists believe that
the Eurasian Plate may now be stretching out rather than thrusting up, and such stretching
would result in some subsidence due to gravity.

At present, the movement of India continues to put enormous pressure on the Asian
continent, and Tibet in turn presses on the landmass to the north that is hemming it in.
The net effect of plate-tectonics forces acting on this geologically complicated region is
to squeeze parts of Asia eastward toward the Pacific Ocean. Tremendous stresses build
up within the Earth's crust, which are relieved periodically by earthquakes along the
numerous faults that scar the landscape. Some of the world's most destructive
earthquakes in history are related to continuing tectonic processes that began some 50
million years ago when the Indian and Eurasian continents first met.

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 Tsunamigenic Earthquake

Typical interplate earthquakes occur at the seismogenic interface between subducting and
overlaying plates. This is the type of most tsunamigenic earthquakes.

Slab (intraplate) earthquake, if the location is within the subducting slab. This include
deep earthquakes, although only those occurring less than about 100 km depth are
tsunamigenic. Crustal earthquake, if it is in the overlaying crust, can be tsunamigenic if
the source is beneath water.

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Formation of a tsunami

Physics of the tsunami

Waves are formed as the displaced water mass attempts to regain its equilibrium.
And the size of the resultant tsunami waves is determined by the quantum of the deformation of
the sea floor.
More the vertical displacement, greater will be the size of the waves.
To generate tsunamis, earthquakes must occur underneath or near the ocean, be large and create
movements in the sea floor.
They can be more aptly described as a series of waves of extremely long wavelength and long
period generated in a body of water by an impulsive disturbance that displaces the water.
Wind-generated waves usually have period (time between two successive waves) of five to
twenty seconds and a wavelength (distance between two successive waves) of about 100 to 200
meters (300 to 600 ft).

Tsunamis can have a period in the range of ten minutes to two hours and a wavelength in excess
of 500 km.

It is because of their long wavelengths that tsunamis behave as shallow-water waves.

Since tsunamis have a very large wavelength, in excess of 500 km, it will lose little energy as it
propagates.

Hence in very deep water, a tsunami will travel at high speeds and travel great distances with
limited energy loss.

For example, when the ocean is more than 5000 meters deep, unnoticed tsunami travel about 890
km per hour, the speed of a jet airplane.

As the tsunami crosses the deep ocean, its wavelength — distance from crest to crest — may be
hundred kilometers or more and its amplitude — height from crest to trough — will be in the
order of a few feet or less. They cannot be felt aboard ships nor can they be seen from the air in
the open ocean.

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Important Tectonic Features
Son-Narmada Fault

The ENE-WSW trending Son-Narmada fault in peninsular India is an important, ancient

and deep seated line of fracture. About 1600 km long and 150-200 km wide and traceable
across the Indian Peninsula.
Narmada valley formed at the crest of a domal upwarp with tension fractures and
probably shallow depressions along the crest.
This zone has been affected by episodic history of vertical and lateral movements and
magmatism. May be a mid-continental rift with strong neotectonism, high heat flow and
moderate seismicity.
It divided India into a North India Block (NIB) and a South India Block (SIB).

Son- Narmada Fault (also Son-Narmada-Brahmaputra Transform)

Cambay Graben

Cambay Graben is one of the significant subsurface tectonic features located at the
western part of India and is bounded by the curvilinear marginal faults on two flanks.
In this graben the Deccan Traps have been down faulted for about 3000 to 5000 meters
with more throw in the eastern marginal fault.
The Cambay graben has developed due to extension of marginal rifting.
Cambay basin was formed at least in Early Cretaceous time (135 m.y. ago).

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Dauki Fault

The southern margin of Shillong Plateau is marked by the remarkably linear E-W
trending Dauki Fault. Studies have suggested vertical movements along the Dauki Fault,
as it is evidenced by the extrusion of lava through the deep-seated vertical fracture
system. It seems that the fault zone is characterized by uplift and down-sinking of
adjacent basement blocks along the fractures.

Satellite image showing Dauki fault

zone
Satellite image showing the Shillong Plateau
and Dauki Fault

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Himalayan Thrust (Reverse) Faulting

The Himalaya is a product of the continental-continental collision between India

and Eurasia and represents a classic case of continent to continent collision, giving rise to
a mountain range that was built during the Tertiary. As a consequence, mountain building
takes place due to crustal shortening by the development of major thrusts all through the
length of the Himalaya. The rise of mountains due to the activity of major thrusts i.e.
Main Central Thrust (MCT) and Main Boundary Thrust (MBT).

Sagaing Fault

The Sagaing fault is the most conspicuous feature seen on the satellite image of the
Burma. The nearly straight and narrow furrow characterized of strike-slip faults, can be
traced for about 1000 km.
It is suggested some 460 km of cumulative movement along the fault, assuming that slip
on it absorbs the full opening of the Andaman sea.
Fault plane solutions near the northeastern end of the fault indicate nearly pure strike-slip
o
motion, with right-lateral slip on planes trending about N30 E.

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 Sagaing fault of the Burma

San Andreas Fault

The San Andreas Fault is the sliding boundary between the Pacific Plate and the North
American Plate.
It slices California in two from Cape Mendocino to the Mexican border. The San Andreas
Fault is a transform fault.

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 The plates are slowly moving past one another at a couple of
inches a year - about the same rate that your fingernails grow.

For years the plates will be locked with no movement at all as

they push against one another.

Suddenly the built-up strain breaks the rock along the fault
and the plates slip a few feet all at once.

The breaking rock sends out waves in all directions and it is

the waves that we feel as earthquakes.

San Andreas Fault Observatory at Depth (SAFOD). A 5-year, $219 million NSF, USA
initiative

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North Anatolian Fault

Altyn Tagh Fault

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