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I.
2. These converged into single continent of Pangaea, which then began to break
up about 250 million years ago into two pieces: Laurasia (Northern
Hemisphere) and Gondwanaland (Southern Hemisphere).
3. Look at rocks, fossils, and magnetic patterns to determine relative positions.
4. Numbers of plates appear to have changed through time, with some eras
having more than today, others having less. Sizes and shapes also have
changed through time.
D. Modifications to the Original Theory
1. Terranea small-to-medium mass of lithosphere that is too buoyant to be
subducted so instead is fused to a plate. It is often very different from the
plate.
a) For example, most of Alaska, western Canada, and western U.S. are a
mosaic of several dozen accreted terranes.
2. Hot spot (mantle plume)a location where molten mantle magma rises to,
or almost to, Earths surface.
a) Cause is unknown; creates volcanoes and/or hydrotherma (hot water)
features.
b) Recent research indicates that explanation of hot spots may be more
complex than previous assumed.
(1) Seismic tomography suggests that some mantle plumes may be
shallow and that some may be mobile.
E. The Questions
1. Still many unanswered questions, from why some plates are larger to what is
ultimate cause of plate movement.
2. Most basic question: What is source of enormous amount of energy required?
3. Present knowledge helps to understand gross patterns of most of worlds
major relief features (size, shape, and distribution of continents and ocean
basins, and many of the cordilleras).
a) Cordilleraa chain of mountains, often encompassing many ranges.
IV. Vulcanism
A. Other internal processes are directly associated with tectonic movement; one is
vulcanism.
1. Vulcanismgeneral term that refers to all phenomena connected with origin
and movement of magma from the interior of Earth to or near the surface.
2. Three types of vulcanism: volcanism, intrusive vulcanism, and plutonic
activity.
a) Volcanismextrusive vulcanism, in that the magma is expelled onto
Earths surface while still molten.
b) Intrusive vulcanismoccurs where magma solidifies in shallow crust
near surface.
c) Plutonic activityoccurs where magma solidifies very deep inside Earth,
far below surface.
B. Volcanism
1. Lavamolten magma that is extruded onto the surface of Earth, where it
cools and solidifies; affects landscape whether gentle or explosive.
2. Pyroclastic materialsolid material such as rock fragments, solidified lava
blobs, and dust thrown into the air by volcanic explosions.
a) For example, the Krakatau explosion in 1883 ejected 20 cubic kilometers
(6 cubic miles) of material into air.
3. Active volcanoesthose that have erupted at least once in recorded history.
a) U.S. has 10% of about 550 active volcanoes in world.
b) Pacific Ring of Fire or Andesite Line has some 80% of worlds volcanoes.
e) Overthrust folda fold in which the pressure was great enough to break
the oversteepened limb and cause a shearing movement, so older rock
rides above younger.
VII.Faulting
A. Faultingthe breaking apart of crustal rocks with accompanying displacement
(vertical, horizontal, or both).
1. Can vary in time (slow or sudden) and in size (centimeter to 20 or 30 feet [in
sudden slippage] up to hundreds of kilometers horizontally and tens of
kilometers vertically [over millions of years]).
2. Earthquakes usually but not exclusively associated with faults.
3. Fault lines often marked by other prominent topographic features.
a) Fault scarpsteep cliff formed by faulting; represent the edge of a
vertically displaced block.
b) Linear erosional valleys and sag ponds.
B. Types of Faults
1. Two dozen types of faults can be generalized into four principal types on
basis of direction and angle of movement:
a) Normal fault, reverse fault, strike-slip fault, and overthrust fault.
(1) Normal faultthe result of tension producing a steeply inclined fault
plain, with the block of land on one side being pushed up, or
upthrown, in relation to the block on the other side, which is
downthrown (displacement is mostly vertical).
(2) Reverse faulta fault produced from compression, with the
upthrown block rising steeply above the downthrown block, so that
the fault scarp would be severely oversteepened if erosion did not act
to smooth the slope (displacement is mostly vertical).
(3) Strike-slip faulta fault produced by shearing, with adjacent blocks
being displaced laterally with respect to one another (displacement is
entirely horizontal).
(a) Can result in wide variety of landforms, including
(i) Linear fault trougha valley marking strike-slip fault, occurs
by repeated movement and fracturing of rock.
(ii) Sag ponda pond caused by the collection of water from
springs and/or runoff into sunken ground, resulting from the
jostling of Earth in the area of fault movement.
(iii) Offset streamoffset drainage channel; perhaps most
conspicuous landform produced by strike-slip faulting.
(iv) Shutter ridgedisplaces streams flowing across a fault.
(4) Overthrust faulta fault created by compression forcing the
upthrown block to override the downthrown block at a relatively low
angle; complicated in structure.
C. Prominent Faulted Landforms
1. Fault-block mountain rangea mountain formed under certain conditions
of crustal stress, whereby a surface block may be severely faulted and
upthrown on one side without any faulting or uplift on the other side. The
block is tilted asymmetrically, producing a steep slope along the fault scarp
and a relatively gentle slope on the other side of the block.
2. Horstan uplifted block of land between two parallel faults.
3. Grabena block of land bounded by parallel faults in which the block has
been downthrown, producing a distinctive structural valley with a straight,
steep-sided fault scarp on either side.