The Sciences: An Integrated

Approach
James Trefil & Robert M. Hazen
John Wiley & Sons 2007

Plate Tectonics
Chapter 17
Great Idea:
The entire earth is still changing, due to the slow
convection of soft, hot rocks deep within the planet.

Chapter Outline
The Dynamic Earth
Plate Tectonics: A Unifying View of
Earth
Another Look at Volcanoes and
Earthquakes

The Dynamic Earth

The Dynamic Earth

Small-scale changes
Construction site
Erosion by rain

Large-scale changes
Volcanoes
Earthquakes
Erosion

The Case of the

Disappearing Mountains
Erosion
Few hundred million years
Mountains continually forming

Earths surface is not static

Volcanoes and EarthquakesEvidence of Earths Inner Forces

Volcano
Magma breaks
through surface

Earthquake
Rocks breaks
along fault
Energy
transmitted as
wave
Richter scale

The Movement of the Continents

F. Bacon
Continents like a
puzzle

Wegener
Continental Drift
Continents in
motion

Current Evidence
Ocean Floors
Magnetic Reversals
Rock Ages

Ocean Floors
Mapping
Ocean floor dynamic
Canyons, mountains
Mid-Atlantic Ridge
Earthquakes,
volcanoes,
lava flows

Magnetic Reversals
Earths magnetic field
Changes periodically

Magnetite
Crystals in lava align to magnetic field

Paleomagnetism
Seafloor Spreading
New rock comes to surface

Magnetic Reversals

Rock Ages
Radioactive Isotopes
Rocks near Mid-Atlantic Ridge younger
Rocks farther away older

New Support for the Theory

Measuring motion of continents
Radio Astronomy
Measured arrival of radio waves
Repeated over several years

North America and Europe

Separating at 5 cm per year

Plate Tectonics: A Unifying

View of Earth

Plate Tectonics
Plate Tectonics

Large-scale surface features

Related phenomena

Tectonic plates

Rigid, moving sheet of rock

Crust and upper mantle
Continental
100 km thick
Lower density (granite)

Oceanic

8-10 km thick
Dense rock (basalt)

Earths surface

continent, water

Earths Plates

The Convecting Mantle

Mantle convection
Motion driven by Earths interior heat energy

Sources of energy
Gravitational potential energy
Decay of radioactive elements

Movement
Heat moves to cooler regions
Convection cells in mantle
Very slow
200 million years for one cycle

Plate Boundaries
Three Main Boundary Types
Divergent
Convergent
Transform

Divergent Boundaries
Characteristics
Volcanoes
Chain of mountains

Earthquakes

Seafloor spreading
Plates pushed apart
Old spreading centers
Located in middle of ocean

New spreading centers

May begin anywhere

Convergent Plate Boundaries

Types
Oceanic-oceanic
Subduction zone
Deep oceanic trench
Island arc

Continental-continental
High, jagged mountain
chain

Continental-oceanic
Subduction zone
Deep oceanic trench
Coastal mountain range

Transform Plate Boundary

Two plates move past each other
NOT smooth
Earthquakes as a result of movement

The Geological History of

North America
Northeastern Canada and Greenland
Several billion years old

Western US
Terranes

Added to continent over time

Appalachian Mountains

Formed 450-300 million years ago

Continental-continental convergence zone

Rocky Mountains

60 million years ago

Warping, folding and fracturing of continent

The Colorado Plateau

Gentle uplift

The Sierra Nevada

Molten rock pushed up sediments

Another Look at Volcanoes

and Earthquakes
Plates and
Volcanism

Divergent Plate
Boundaries
Convergent Plate
Boundaries

Subduction zones

Hotspots

Source stationary,
plates move
Chain of volcanoes

Earthquakes

At plate boundaries
or elsewhere

Seismology: Exploring Earths

Interior with Earthquakes
Seismology
Study of sound vibrations within earth
Used to determine earths inner
structure

Seismic waves
Compressional or longitudinal
Transverse or shear waves

Seismology: Exploring Earths

Interior with Earthquakes