Plate Movements and Boundaries Science Presentation in Dark Blue Teal Style
Plate Movements and Boundaries Science Presentation in Dark Blue Teal Style
Plate Movements and Boundaries Science Presentation in Dark Blue Teal Style
PROCESSES
The Active Earth: Plate Tectonics
LESSON OUTLINE
5.1 Alfred Wegener: The Continental Drift Theory
5.2 The Earth Layers
5.3 The Sea-Floor Spreading Hypothesis
5.4 The Theory of Plate Tectonics
5.5 The Anatomy of a Tectonic Plate
5.6 Why Plates Move: The Earth as a Heat Engine
5.7 Supercontinents
5.8 Isostasy: Vertical Movement of the Lithosphere
5.9: How Plate Movements Affect Earth Systems
5.1 Alfred
Wegener:
Continental
Drift Theory
Alfred Wegener and the Origin of an
Idea: The Continental Drift Hypothesis
CONTINENTAL CRUST
20- 40 kilometer thick
Although under mountain ranges can
be as much as 70 km
Composed of light colored, less
dense granite
MANTLE
Lies directly below the
crust
2,900 km thick
80 % of Earth’s volume
Composed of Peridotite
Temperature and pressure
increase with depth
Strength of mantle rock
also vary with depth
Lithosphere
The outer part of Earth,
including both the uppermost
mantle and the crust
Averages about 100 km thick
But varies from about 75 km
thick beneath ocean basins to
about 125 km under the
continents
Consist mostly of the cold,
stong uppermost mantle
Asthenosphere
Depth: 75 to 125 kilometers
beneath Earth's surface
Weak and plastic due to rising
temperature and pressure
1 to 2 percent of rock melts, while
98 to 99 percent remains solid
Extends from about 100 to 350
kilometers deep
Average temperature: about
1,800°C
Pressure: increases from about 35
kilobars to about 120 kilobars
Lithosphere-Asthenosphere
Relationship:
Lithosphere is strong and
hard, while asthenosphere is
soft and weak
Lithosphere floats on the soft
plastic rock of the
asthenosphere
This floating lithosphere
concept is crucial for
understanding plate tectonics
and Earth's internal
processes.
Lithosphere-Asthenosphere
Relationship:
Lithosphere is strong and
hard, while asthenosphere is
soft and weak
Lithosphere floats on the soft
plastic rock of the
asthenosphere
This floating lithosphere
concept is crucial for
understanding plate tectonics
and Earth's internal
processes.
Core
Innermost layer, a sphere with a
radius of 3,470 kilometers.
Composition: Mainly iron and nickel.
Outer core is molten due to high
temperature (nearly 7,000°C near
the center).
Pressure: Three and a half million
times that of Earth's sea-level
atmosphere.
Inner core is solid due to extreme
pressure, despite being hotter than
the outer core.
5.3 THE SEA-FLOOR SPREADING
HYPOTHESIS
According to Harry Hess, the
seafloor spreading suggest that
new oceanic crust is formed at
mid-ocean ridges through
volcanic activity. As magma
rises from the earth‘s mantle at
Harry Hammond Hess these ridges, it solidifies to
(1906-1969)
create fresh oceanic crust. The
process causes the existing
ocean floor to move away from
the ridge, leading to the lateral
movement of tectonic plates.
Five Evidences to explain seafloor spreading
Formed by
subduction
Causes the seafloor
and outermost crust
to bend
8-11 km below sea
level
4. Geomagnetic reversals
Scientists used
magnetometers to
study the ocean floor.
Basaltic magma-
“Tape recorder”
The discovery of
magnetic stripes
provided powerful
evidence that
seafloor spreading
occurs.
5. The age of seafloor
Scientists noticed
that from the ridge
crest, sediments
becomes older and
the seafloor
becomes thicker.
Seafloor spreading and subduction
keeps the shape of the Earth.
I
Divergent Convergent
C
5.4 Transform
Ana Marie
The Theory of Plate
Tectonics
Plate tectonics theory states that the lithosphere, about 100 km thick,
floats on the asthenosphere as tectonic plates. These plates move at
rates from <1 to 16 cm/year, carrying continents and ocean basins.
Plate boundaries—divergent (move apart), convergent (move toward),
and transform (slide past)—are fractures separating plates. Forces at
plate boundaries build mountains, cause volcanic eruptions, and
earthquakes. The interior of a plate is typically tectonically quiet.
Ana Marie
As the plates move,
boundaries are created.
These are...
CONVERGENT DIVERGENT
TRANSFORM
V
E
DIVERGENT
•Plates spread apart, creating a rift
zone.
DIVERGENT
•Asthenosphere rises, melts to form
R magma.
•Magma cools, forming new crust.
G •Activity mostly in ocean basins.
E
N
DIVERGENT
•Lithosphere starts thin (10-15 km),
thickens outward. It reaches steady-
state thickness of about 75 km (ocean
DIVERGENT
basin) and up to 125 km (continent).
T Ana Marie
D
I
DIVERGENT
The Mid-Oceanic Ridge: Rifting in the Oceans
V
E
DIVERGENT The Mid-Oceanic Ridge
resembling a baseball seam, is Earth's
longest mountain chain encircling the
system,
DIVERGENT
globe. At oceanic spreading centers, new
lithosphere forms and rises due to its
R higher temperature and lower density,
creating the ridge. As this fresh
G
DIVERGENT
lithosphere moves away, it cools,
becomes denser, and sinks into the
E asthenosphere. Basaltic magma at the
DIVERGENT
creation of approximately 22 cubic
V
E
DIVERGENT
✓ Continental Rifting and Rift Valley
Formation:
DIVERGENT
• Divergent plate boundaries cause
R stretching, fracturing, and sinking of
continental crust.
G
DIVERGENT
• East African Rift serves as a current
E example.
• Continued rifting could lead to the
N separation of eastern Africa, forming
T
DIVERGENT a new ocean basin.
Ana Marie
C
O CONVERGENT
Converge = to come together
CONVERGENT
•Plates move toward each other.
N •Subduction occurs when denser plate sinks into
DIVERGENT
E occurs.
•Old lithosphere sinks at subduction zones at a rate
R equal to new lithosphere formation at spreading
centers.
G
DIVERGENT
•Earth maintains a balance between creating new
lithosphere and destroying old lithosphere.
E •Plate convergence can involve:
CONVERGENT
Denser oceanic crust sinks beneath continents at subduction zones, triggering volcanic
N activity, exemplified by the Andes' formation due to Pacific oceanic plate subduction.
V Sea-floor rocks age to around 200 million years due to continuous recycling, while
continents retain much older rocks, up to 3.96 billion years, with minimal subduction of
E
R CONVERGENT
continental crust.
CONVERGENT
G
E
N
T CONVERGENT
C
O
CONVERGENT
Convergence of two plates carrying Oceanic crust
CONVERGENT
Newly formed oceanic lithosphere is hot, thin, and low in density, but it ages, cools,
N thickens, and becomes denser as it moves away from the Mid-Oceanic Ridge. In oceanic
V plate convergence, the older and denser plate descends into the mantle, leading to
common oceanic subduction zones, particularly in the southwestern Pacific Ocean.
E
R CONVERGENT
CONVERGENT
G
E
N
T CONVERGENT
C
O
CONVERGENTConvergence of Two Plates Carrying Continents
CONVERGENT
When two converging plates bear continents, neither can sink deeply into the mantle due
N to their low densities. Instead, they collide and crumple, forming massive mountain chains
V like the Himalayas, Alps, and Appalachians. This collision occurs because continents, like
logs in a lake, are less dense than the material beneath them, preventing subduction.
E
R CONVERGENT
CONVERGENT
G
E
N
T CONVERGENT
T
R
A
TRANSFORM
Transform= to change
N
S
F
TRANSFORM
A transform plate boundary forms where two plates slide horizontally past one
another as they move in opposite directions (Andreas Fault is a transform boundary
between the North American plate and the Pacific plate. Frequent earthquakes occur
TRANSFORM
O along transform plate boundaries. This type of boundary can occur in both oceans
R and continents.
M
F
A
U
TRANSFORM
L
T TRANSFORM
I N S U M M A R Y
teaches us that plates are
Plate Tectonics
constantly shifting
5. Plates behave like ice slabs on a pond, allowing minor vertical movements.