Chapter 3
Plate Tectonics
CONTINENTAL DRIFT
1912, Alfred Wegener, a Meteorologist, proposed a theory of
Continental Drift: about 200 million years ago all the continents
were connected into a super-continent called PANGAEA.
After World War II, advancement in the exploration of oceans
occurred. These explorations lead to the discovery of “mid-
oceanic ridges” that are at the center of oceanic basins. Based
on those discoveries, the theory of sea-floor spreading was
formed. This theory states that:
the seafloor spreads
fresh lava fills the void created and forms new oceanic crust.
Plate Tectonics integrates continental drift, sea floor spreading,
and seismic zones.
Evidence used in support of continental
drift hypothesis
Fit of South America and Africa
Fossils match across the seas
Rock types and structures match
Ancient climates
Geographic Fit of
the Continents
Matching of Mountain Ranges
on Different Continents
Climatic Evidence for Continental Drift
MID-OCEAN RIDGES
A mid-ocean ridge is a general term for an underwater mountain
system
The uplifted seafloor results from convection currents which rise in
the mantle as magma at a linear weakness in the oceanic crust, and
emerge as lava, creating new crust upon cooling. A mid-ocean ridge
demarcates the boundary between two tectonic plates
Mid-ocean ridges are geologically active, with new magma
constantly emerging onto the ocean floor along the ridge axes.
The crystallized magma forms new crust of basalt and gabbro
The rocks making up the crust below the sea floor are youngest at
the axis of the ridge and age with increasing distance from that
axis.
The ridges rise 3000 meters from the ocean floor and are more than
2000 kilometers wide surpassing the Himalayas in size.
MID-OCEAN RIDGE
Magnetic Stripping
Periodically, the Earth's magnetic field reverses. New rock formed
from magma records the orientation of Earth's magnetic field at the
time the magma cools.
Study of the sea floor with magnometers revealed "stripes" of
alternating magnetization parallel to the mid-oceanic ridges.
This is evidence for continuous formation of new rock at the ridges.
As more rock forms, older rock is pushed farther away from the
ridge, producing symmetrical stripes to either side of the ridge.
Sea- Floor Spreading
Plate Tectonic Theory
The main features of plate tectonics are:
The Earth's surface is covered by a series of crustal plates
The ocean floors are continually moving, spreading from the
center, sinking at the edges, and being regenerated.
Convection currents beneath the plates move the crustal
plates in different directions
The source of heat driving the convection currents is
radioactivity deep in the Earths mantle
There are seven major plates and several smaller ones
Plates are in motion and continually changing in shape and
size (very slowly – 5 cm/year)
EARTH’S MAJOR PLATES
Volcanic Activity
• A volcanic arc is a chain of volcanoes positioned in an arc shape
as seen from above.
• They result from the subduction of an oceanic tectonic plate under
another tectonic plate, and often parallel to an oceanic trench.
• As the oceanic plate is subducted, it is subjected to greater and
greater pressures with increasing depth. Here the mantle melts and
forms magma at depth under the overriding plate. The magma
ascends to form an arc of volcanoes parallel to the subduction
zone.
• The circum-Pacific Ring of Fire is the most often sited example
PLATE BOUNDARIES
Types of plate boundaries:
Divergent plate boundaries
Convergent plate boundaries
Transform fault boundaries
Plate Motions
1- Divergence
Marked by the movements of plates away from one another either in
the crest of oceanic ridge or the continental rift. The actual movement
can be oblique or perpendicular to the boundary between adjacent
plates.
2- Convergence
Relative movement that brings adjacent plates towards each other.
Plates in convergence are in constant competition for space.
Solution: Structural decent of one plate beneath another. The rock
is “swallowed: to greater depths through a tectonic process known
as subduction. Another response of plates to space problems is
Collision.
Subduction Zones
Convergent plate boundaries are normally marked by the slow
decent of one plate beneath the other, heavier plate is swallowed
into mantle
The decent of one plate under the other during subduction causes
seismic activity that is reflected by severe earthquake activity
Earthquake foci can project as deep as 700 km.
Convergent Boundaries
Types of convergent boundaries
1- Oceanic-continental convergence
2- Oceanic-oceanic convergence
3- Continental-continental convergence
1
2
3
The collision of India and Asia
produced the Himalayas
The Hawaiian Islands have
formed over a stationary hot spot
3- Transform
Transform boundaries are where a plate moves past another in a
horizontal direction.
In the figure plates A and B are separating, the ridge crest which
mark the zone of spreading is offset by the transform fault.
Transform Boundaries
SAN ANDREAS
Causes Major Earthquakes in
California
