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Plate Tectonics
In The Beginning of TIME....
Around 1915, the idea of
Continental Drift or better
known as, “The Dance of
the Continents” had come
about.
In 1922, Alfred Wegener publishes the idea of “Pangea”
the greek word for meaning “All Earth”. He saw that
continents were less dense material floating on the ocean.
As Wegener and other scientist began to explore more
about the Earth, many piece of the puzzle began to tell
the story about how plate move.
FOSSIL Evidence
Sea Floor Spreading
Geological Formations
Dating of Sediments
Magnetic Anomalies
EX:
The Glacier must keep
afloat on top of the ocean
because it is less dense
than water.
Through out our planet, roughly 9
crustal plates are present...
UNDERSTANDING THE
SHIFTING OF PLATES
HEAT from within the Earth’s core cause the hot magma to rise, which is
buoyant and continues to move upward towards the Earth’s surface.
Per year,
plates will
move on
average 1-6
inches (2-15
cm).
Divergent Plate Boundary
The main cause for the splitting apart of
continents is because of the magma that pushes
upward and causes plates to divide.
EX:
A Hot Lava
LAMP
This will mostly occur with sea floor spreading.
Where this is located today...
The Mid-Atlantic
Ridge (MAR) is
located in between
the North American
and Eurasian Plate.
Today, Iceland is
currently being split
in half from this type
of plate boundary.
Convergent Plate
Boundary
This particular plate boundary is caused by two plates
colliding together and a plate will be submerged
beneath another.
TWO MAIN RESULTS FROM THIS TYPE OF BOUNDARY
Continental-Oceanic
(The subduction zones a largely
responsible for the volcanoes along
the RING OF FIRE)
Continental-Continental
(mountain building)
Results of a convergent plate boundary..
The Himalayan
Mountains were
formed by the
colliding of the
Indian and Asian
plates.
Transform Plate Boundary
This particular type of plate boundary is caused by two
plates moving pass one another in a slant direction.
Where this is located today...
The San Andres fault is a
major transform
boundary. These areas
tend to be more active for
earthquakes.