Download Plate Tectonics

Wegener's hypothesis of
Continental Drift
lacked a geological
mechanism to explain
how the continents
could drift across the
earth's surface.
PLATE TECTONICS
It wasn’t until the 1960s
that the theory of plate
tectonics was advanced to
explain how the continents
could separate..
The main features of plate tectonics are:
•Convection currents
beneath the plates move the
crustal plates in different
directions.
•The source of heat driving
the convection currents is
radioactivity deep in the
Earth's mantle.
Oh that’s it!
I couldn’t
figure that
part out!
Convection currents rise
up from the radioactive
core, carrying heat to the
thin crust of the earth.
In
the 1960’s, U of T
professor J. Tuzo
Wilson completed
his theory called
“Plate Tectonics” after
mapping the ocean
floor. He
discovered that the
Atlantic gets larger
each year.
 Oil
deposits in Alberta and the Arctic.
 Oil originates from paleo-fish & algae
which thrived in shallow, tropical, warm
sea water. (must have been closer to the
Equator)
Coal
in Antarctica and
Nova Scotia
Coal originates from ferns
and plants which survived in
hot and wet climates
Palm tree fossils in
Antarctica too
NOTE:
Plates
slide:
where two
plates slip
past one
another.
Eg:…..