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Raising The Rockies
Locating Plate Boundaries
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Since earthquakes usually occur at the boundaries of
crustal plates, it makes sense to plot the locations of
major earthquakes on a world map.
Earth’s crust is comprised of a series of rigid crustal
plates that move over the asthenosphere.
This is the source of magma for volcanos.
Locating Plate Boundaries
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Volcanoes usually occur at a boundary where two plates
move apart, or at a boundary where on plate is pushed
under another plate.
Even though volcanoes sometimes occur at places not
close to plate boundaries, plotting the locations of the
world’s active volcanoes can still provide valuable insights
for mapping out the edges of crustal plates.
Pangaea
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A single supercontinent that formed in the late Paleozoic
Era.
Some of the strongest evidence for the theory of plate
tectonics emerges from the end of the Paleozoic Era.
Geologists think Earth’s land masses formed a single
gigantic continent called Pangaea at that time.
Theories of Change
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In the early 1900's Alfred
Wegener introduced the
continental drift
theory.
It stated that a super
continent called Pangaea
(meaning "all lands" in
Greek) began to break up
about 225-200 million
years ago, eventually
fragmenting into the
continents as we know
them today.
Volcanoes
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A volcano is a spot that
releases magma & heat
There 3 types of
volcanoes:
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Subduction zone
Hot spot
Rift zone
Building the Rocky Mountains
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During the Jurassic Period
Pangaea continued to break up
and fragments continued to
drift west.
The tectonic plate carrying
these islands was subducted
under the westward advances
of the North American Plate.
Geologists suspect that the
margins of western Alberta
must have been a land of
earthquakes and volcanoes at
that time.
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In the late Jurassic and
Cretaceous periods, sediments
created a vast network of
deltas, swamps, and forests that
became home to a variety of
different dinosaurs.
By the late Cretaceous Period,
another round of plate
collisions on the west coast
caused another period of
compression.
The net effect was that the
inland sea was uplifted and
drained; the existing mountains
were pushed up even higher;
and the main ranges, front
ranges, and foothills were
formed.
Assignment
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Read Section 2.4
2.4 Questions
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Pg. 360 #1-6