Plate Tectonics
Plate Tectonics
Plate Tectonics
MANTLE: Most of
Earth’s mass comes from
the mantle
•Comprised of iron,
magnesium, aluminum, • Upper 1/3 is known as the
and silicon-oxygen ASTHENOSPHERE
compounds • Asthenosphere is more plastic in
nature than rest of the mantle
WHAT LIES BENEATH…
Plate
Tectonics
Continental
Drift
The Continental Drift Hypothesis
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.
Seafloor Spreading
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
How magnetic reversals form at a spreading center
Bands of seismicity—chiefly at trenches and oceanic ridges
Plate Tectonics
• The Earth’s crust is divided into 12 major plates
which are moved in various directions.
• This plate motion causes them to collide, pull
apart, or scrape against each other.
• Each type of interaction causes a characteristic set
of Earth structures or “tectonic” features.
• The word, tectonic, refers to the deformation of
the crust as a consequence of plate interaction.
Tectonic Plates on Modern Earth
What are tectonic plates made
of?
• Plates are made
of rigid
lithosphere.
The lithosphere is
made up of the
crust and the
upper part of the
mantle.
What lies beneath the tectonic plates?
• Below the
lithosphere (which
makes up the
tectonic plates) is
the asthenosphere.
Plate Movement
• “Plates” of lithosphere are moved around by the
underlying hot mantle convection cells
What happens at tectonic
plate boundaries?
The Theory of Plate Tectonics
“group authorship” in 1965-1970
Earth’s outer shell is broken into thin, curved plates
that move laterally atop the asthenosphere
• Divergent
• Convergent
• Transform
Divergent Boundaries
• Spreading ridges
• As plates move apart new material is erupted
to fill the gap
Divergent boundaries: Chiefly at oceanic ridges
(aka spreading centers)
Age of Oceanic Crust
Courtesy of www.ngdc.noaa.gov
Divergent
boundaries
also can rip
apart (“rift”)
continents
How rifting of a
continent could lead to
formation of
oceanic lithosphere.
• Called SUBDUCTION
Subduction