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    Tectonics

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    Flavyus06
    The document discusses the history and evidence for plate tectonics. It explains that early geologists like Alfred Wegener proposed continental drift to explain how continents seem to fit together and share matching rock formations, fossils, and past climates. However, the idea was initially unpopular due to lack of explanation for what could move continents. The theory was revived in the 1940s-50s when studies of magnetic patterns in rocks supported that continents had moved over time. This led to the new theory of plate tectonics, where Earth's surface is divided into plates that move due to convection currents in the mantle. Evidence like seafloor spreading and the arrangement of volcanoes and mountains provided strong support for plate tect

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    Tectonics

    Uploaded by

    Flavyus06
    45 views32 pages
    The document discusses the history and evidence for plate tectonics. It explains that early geologists like Alfred Wegener proposed continental drift to explain how continents seem to fit together and share matching rock formations, fossils, and past climates. However, the idea was initially unpopular due to lack of explanation for what could move continents. The theory was revived in the 1940s-50s when studies of magnetic patterns in rocks supported that continents had moved over time. This led to the new theory of plate tectonics, where Earth's surface is divided into plates that move due to convection currents in the mantle. Evidence like seafloor spreading and the arrangement of volcanoes and mountains provided strong support for plate tect

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    Placile tectonice

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    The document discusses the history and evidence for plate tectonics. It explains that early geologists like Alfred Wegener proposed continental drift to explain how continents seem to fit together and share matching rock formations, fossils, and past climates. However, the idea was initially unpopular due to lack of explanation for what could move continents. The theory was revived in the 1940s-50s when studies of magnetic patterns in rocks supported that continents had moved over time. This led to the new theory of plate tectonics, where Earth's surface is divided into plates that move due to convection currents in the mantle. Evidence like seafloor spreading and the arrangement of volcanoes and mountains provided strong support for plate tect

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    45 views32 pages

    Tectonics

    Uploaded by

    Flavyus06
    The document discusses the history and evidence for plate tectonics. It explains that early geologists like Alfred Wegener proposed continental drift to explain how continents seem to fit together and share matching rock formations, fossils, and past climates. However, the idea was initially unpopular due to lack of explanation for what could move continents. The theory was revived in the 1940s-50s when studies of magnetic patterns in rocks supported that continents had moved over time. This led to the new theory of plate tectonics, where Earth's surface is divided into plates that move due to convection currents in the mantle. Evidence like seafloor spreading and the arrangement of volcanoes and mountains provided strong support for plate tect

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 32

    Earth

    Geology
    Earth
    Earth
    Earth
    topography

    red=mountain
    blue=depression
    Earth’s surface looks different from other
    planets.

    It seems to have defined ‘continents’.


    Why is this?
    The continents fit together!
    After
    rearrangement,
    rocks and
    mountain belts
    match.
    After rearrangement,
    past climates
    seem to match (for
    example, by looking at
    geological evidence of
    glaciers, or swamps).

    Glacial grooves
    After rearrangement, fossils match.
    The theory of continential drift was
    proposed by Alfred Wegener in the early
    1900s to explain these observations.
    The theory of continential drift was
    proposed by Alfred Wegener in the early
    1900s to explain these observations.

    However, his ideas weren’t popular. People said:


    • How are you going to move entire continents?
    • What force is strong enough to move continents?
    • How can you move rocks across rocks?
    Continental Drift Revived, 1940s & 1950s:
    Supported by Magnetism of rocks
    •  The Earth has a
    magnetic field.
    •  When molten rocks
    cool, they lock in
    their current
    magnetic field
    direction.
    •  If they are moved
    from their point of
    origin, their internal
    magnetic signal
    shows it
    •  The continents
    DEFINITELY
    moved!
    A new theory was postulated to explain
    continental drift:
    “Plate Tectonics”
    • Earth’s surface divided into many plates that move slowly
    over the surface and interact with each other

    • Their movements are driven from below - internal heat and


    convection in the Earth
    (What is convection?)

    • This was a REVOLUTIONARY idea

    Let’s make sure we understand this.


    Earth layers

    Crust = 7 - 50 km
    Mantle = 2,900 km
    Core = 3,470 km
    Plates move by “sliding” along soft upper mantle
    material.
    Mantle convection
    Upwelling beneath ridges
    • Hot, buoyant material causes ridges to sit “high”

    Downwelling at subduction zones


    • Cooler, denser, material sinks
    Sea Floor spreading (Hess, 1962)

    New crust created at ridges (divergence)


    Old crust consumed at subduction zones (convergence)

    Predicts sea floor is young near ridges and ages away


    from the ridges
    Tectonic Plates

    Plates are rigid, pushed along by sea floor spreading.


    Plate Boundaries

    ?
    Once Plate Tectonics was described,
    geologists discovered a ton of
    evidence to support it.
    Age of Sea Floor
    Cascade Mountains - Famous volcanoes
    Hot spots

    Shield (hot spot) Volcanoes are different from other volcanoes...


    Hot spots - Hawaii
    Plate Tectonics: Take-home messages
    •  Earth’s geology is dominated by the processes of
    plate tectonics. This is UNIQUE to the Earth.
    •  Earth’s crust and upper mantle are divided into
    plates. The plates slide around.
    •  Plate movement is driven by convection in Earth’s
    mantle.
    •  Crust is continuously being re-generated and
    removed.
    •  Where plates interact, they form earthquakes,
    volcanoes and mountains.
    Why does the Earth have plate tectonics and not
    other planets?

    Is plate tectonics necessary for life?

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