Title: Plate Tectonics
1Chapter 8
2What is Plate Tectonics?
- Early Ideas
- Alfred Wegener
- Continental Drift
- Earths lithosphere moves over time - Pangaea
(break up) - Theory of Plate Tectonics
3Fossil Evidence
4Theory of Plate Tectonics
- The crust is divided into plates
- The plates move (a few cm/yr)
- Movement caused by mantle convection
- Different events occur at plate boundaries
5What is a Plate?
- Large slab of rock/Lithosphere
- Floats on crust (Asthenosphere)
- Oceanic is dense basalt
- Continental is lighter granite
- Size and thickness vary
- Oceanic is thin (15 KM)
- Continental is thick (200 KM)
6The Earths Plate Boundaries
Plate Movement
7Earthquakes and Volcanoes
- Ring of Fire
- Hot spots
- Formation of islands
8Ring of Fire
9Earthquakes
Volcanoes
10The Earths Plate Boundaries
Plate Movement
11Magnetism and the Ocean Floor
- Lava contains iron (magnetic)
- Mid-Ocean Ridge
- Earths North magnetic poleNorth Pole(normal
polarity) - Earths North magnetic poleSouth Pole (reverse
polarity) - Recorded in fossils and solidified igneous rock
12Types of Plate Boundaries
- Divergent Boundaries
- Convergent Boundaries
- Transform Boundaries
13Divergent Boundaries
- Plates move apart
- Ocean
- Sea floor spreading
- Land
- Rift Valleys
- Characteristic features
- Fracture zones
- Mid-ocean ridges/rift valleys
- Earthquakes and Volcanoes
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15Divergent Plate Examples
- Mid-Atlantic Ridge
- East Pacific Rise
- East African Rift Zone
16Convergent Boundaries
- Plates move towards each other
- Subduction Boundary
- One plate moves underneath another
- Ocean/ocean - trenches form
- Ocean/Continent (subduction)
- Continent/Continent (Mountains)
17Convergent Examples
18Convergent ExampleVanuatu
19Transform Boundaries
- Plates slide past each other
- Earthquake activity
- Faults
20Transform Plate Movement
21San Andreas Fault
222004 Asian Earthquake
- 9.0 magnitude
- Resulted in multiple tsunamis
- Up to 30 feet in height
- Traveling at speeds of 500 mph
- 700 miles of faultline slipped 50 feet vertically
- India plate pushed under the Burma plate (click
to view map of plate movement)
23Eyewitness Video
Click to view video of tsunami as it strikes
Patong Beach, Thailand. This video takes a few
minutes to download 10MB (windows media player)
24Effects of 2004 Asian Earthquake
- Human loss
- Over 140,000 lost their lives
- Hundreds of thousands more were injured
- Millions were left homeless
- Threat of disease for survivors
- Destruction of property
- Click for video (realplayer)
25Arial of Tsunami Floodplain
Indonesian Coastline after 2004 tsunami
26Asian Tsunami 2004
Click on image for original movie
27Causes of Plate Movement
- Mantle Convection
- Ridge Push
- Slab pull
28Mantle Convection
29Ridge Push
30Slab Pull
31Push and Pull
32Plate Movement and Continental Growth
- Reconstructing the past
- Pangaea
- Craton
- Material sources of continental growth
- Igneous rocks
- River sediments
- Terrranes (crustal block or fragment)
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34Learn More
- Try it for yourself
- Take an online quiz
- Labeling Quiz - Divergence
- Labeling Quiz - Convergence
- Flash cards
- Matching
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