Chapter 2: PLATE

TECTONICS:
The Unifying Theory

Grotzinger • Jordan

Understanding Earth
Seventh Edition

1
 About Plate Tectonics

• It is the movement of plates and the

forces acting between them.

• It explains the distribution of volcanoes,

earthquakes, folded mountain chains, rock
assemblages, and seafloor structures.

• The forces that drive plate motions arise

from the mantle convection system.
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 Plate Tectonics

• What is Plate Tectonics?

The lithosphere is broken into large pieces
known as lithospheric plates that move
(cm/yr) relative to one another
The origin, movement, destruction are
collectively known as Plate Tectonics

• These rigid plates float over the molten

asthenosphere which acts as a conveyor belt

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Is there evidence of Plate Tectonics?
 continental drift
Puzzle Fit of the continents
Fossil Evidence
Glacial Evidence
Coal in Antarctica- coal is formed in tropical swamps.
Coal was formed when Antarctica was closer to the
equator.
Mountain Chains appear where they should if
continents are colliding
 sea-floor spreading
Magnetic Stripes on the ocean floor
 global seismic network
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Evolution of the
Theory

• Continental
drift

• “jigsaw
puzzle” fit of
continents

Around 1912, a German scientist named Alfred Wegener theorized that all of
the Earth's continents were once joined together in a single, large landmass.
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 Evolution of the Theory:
distribution of certain fossils

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Glacial deposits. Arrows illustrate direction of ice movement.
India, which is north of the Equator, has glacial evidence
coming from the south. 7
 Discovery of Plate Tectonics

Seafloor
spreading

new crust
formed there

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 Discovery of Plate Tectonics

Seafloor
spreading

geological
activity in
mid-ocean
ridges
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 Plate Boundaries
• Plate boundaries are classified
according to the relative motion across
boundary; places where most
seismic/tectonic activities take place.
• Types of boundaries/Active plate
Margins:
– Divergent- plates move apart and
new
lithosphere is created (plate area
increases)
– Convergent- plates come together
and one plate is recycled into the
mantle (plate area decreases)
– Transform Fault- plates slide
horizontally past each other (plate
area does not change)
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The Plates and Their Boundaries

mosaic of rigid plates,

three types of boundaries
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 Divergent Boundaries
plates diverge away from each other at Mid Ocean Ridges (MOR) and
new oceanic lithosphere is formed (sea-floor spreading)

Rifting, volcanoes and earthquakes

concentrate Mid-
Atlantic
Ridge

(a) Oceanic Plate Separation 12

Mid-ocean ridges

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Divergent Boundaries

FIGURE 2.9 The Mid-Atlantic

Ridge, a divergent plate
boundary, rises above sea level
in Iceland. This cracklike rift
valley, filled with newly formed
volcanic rock, indicates that
plates are being pulled apart 14
Divergent Boundaries: East African Rift Valley

East African
Parallel rift valleys; volcanoes Rift Valley
and earthquakes

(b) Continental Plate Separation 15

Divergent Boundaries- Continental Plate
Separation- East African Rift Valley
The Afar Triangle

Map of East Africa -- a so-called

triple junction (or triple point),
where three plates are pulling
away from one another: the
Arabian Plate, and the two
parts of the African Plate (the
Nubian on the left of the rift
system and the Somalian to the
right of the rift system) splitting
along the East African Rift Zone
(3000 km crack).

Young Oceanic rift: Red Sea

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Continental rift: East African Rift Zone
 Convergent/Subduction Boundaries
new crust created at divergent boundary are destroyed at
convergent boundary. location of violent tectonic activity.
Mariana Islands Marianas Trench

(a) Ocean-Ocean Convergence

Island Arcs: e.g., Aleutian 17
Convergent Boundaries

(b) Ocean-continent convergence

e.g., volcanic arc: Andes and western North
America-Cascade range of volcanoes 18
Trenches

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 Convergent Boundaries

crustal thickening, folded mountains,

and earthquakes
Himalaya
Mountain
Tibetan
Plateau

Main
thrust
fault
Eurasian
Plate

(c) Continent-Continent Convergence

e.g., Himalayas Mountain
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Convergent Boundary: Ring of Fire
Figure: Volcanic arcs and
oceanic trenches partly
encircling the Pacific
Basin form the so-called
Ring of Fire, a zone of
frequent earthquakes and
volcanic eruptions.
Trenches are shown in
blue. The volcanic island
arcs, are parallel to, and
always landward of, the
trenches.

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 Transform-Fault Boundaries

Features of transform boundaries. Transform plate boundaries off set divergent or

convergent boundaries. Plates move in opposite directions on either side of the
transform boundary, causing earthquakes. Plates move in similar directions on
either side of the fracture zone, resulting in fewer earthquakes
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 Transform-Fault Boundaries

(a) Mid-Ocean Ridge Transform Fault

e.g., Romanche transform (in S Atlantic)

(b) Continental Transform Fault

e.g., San Andreas fault system, Western USA

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FIGURE 2.11 A view southeast
along the San Andreas fault in the
Carrizo Plain of central California 24
Active Plate Margins

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 Rates and history of plate motion
A sensitive magnetometer
records magnetic anomalies,…

Magnetic anomalies
Vine and Matthews
(1963)

seafloor areas of high

and low magnetic
values

An oceanic survey over the Reykjanes Ridge, part of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge
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southwest of Iceland, showed an oscillating pattern of magnetic field strength.
 Sea floor as a magnetic tape recorder
The present orientation of the Earth's magnetic field is referred to as
Normal Polarity. i.e. Magnetic north points in the direction of geographic
north
A sensitive magnetometer
records magnetic anomalies,…

Iceland

Mid-
Atlantic
Ridge

Symmetrical bands
on both sides. Why?
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 Geodynamo System
Earth’s magnetic field is generated due to vigorous convection in
the Fe-rich fluid outer core.

Strength and orientation of the

magnetic field varies
– weak and horizontal at
the equator
– strong and vertical at the
poles

Figure: Earth’s magnetic field

and magnetic lines of force. The
magnetic north is inclined by 11º
from the axis of rotation.

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 Inclination = 90
The magnetic field magnitude at
the surface of the Earth: 0.5 Gauss

The magnitude varies over the

surface of the Earth in the range
0.3 to 0.6 Gauss.

Inclination = 0
The magnetic equator is where the
dip or inclination (I) is zero
Inclination = -90

Magnetic inclination is the angle between the horizontal plane and the total
magnetic field vector, measured positive into Earth. In other words inclination
is the angle of pull down toward the earth that the magnetic field exerts on a
compass needle.

Magnetic Declination: is the angle between magnetic north and true north.
Declination is considered positive east of true north and negative when west.
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 Magnetic time scale developed

Subchrons

5.0 Ma 4.0 3.0 2.0 1.0 Present

Gilbert Gauss Matuyama Brunhes

reversed chron normal chron reversed chron normal chron

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black = normal polarity

blue = reverse polarity 31

 Magnetic isochrons on the sea
floor- Dating Oceanic Crust

(note that there is no sea floor older than 200 myrs) 32

 Estimating Rate of Plate motion-Global
Positioning System (GPS) Satellites

24 satellites are currently

in orbit 20,000 km above
the Earth as part of the
NavStar system of the U.S.
Department of Defense.

Indian Regional
Navigation Satellite
System (IRNSS)-
NAVIC-Navigation
with Indian
Constellation
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 Calculating Spreading Rate

Distance of 7th normal

stripe is about 40 km
from the ridge crest.
The age is about 4
million years.

Spreading Rate = Distance (cm)/Age (years)

= (40 x 105)/(4 x 106) = 1 cm/yr
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 Example relative plate velocities

East Pacific Rise (Pacific and Nazca plates)

– 138 to 150 mm/yr
South Atlantic (Mid-Atlantic Ridge) –
34 to 35 mm/yr
Southern Ocean, south of Australia –
70 to 75 mm/yr
Southern Ocean, south of Africa –
14 mm/yr
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Reconstructing the history of plate
motions

1. Assembly and breakup of the

supercontinent Rodinia

2. Assembly and breakup of the

supercontinent Pangaea

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 Geologic Time-Scale
EONS ERAS PERIODS EPOCHS
Holocene
Quaternary Pleistocene
----------------- -----------------
Pliocene
. Cenozoic 65 my Miocene
Oligocene
Tertiary Eocene
Paleocene
Cretaceous
Phanerozoic 540 my Mesozoic 245 my Jurassic .
Triassic
Permian
Pennsylvanian
Mississippian
. Paleozoic 540 my Devonian .
Silurian
Ordovician
Cambrian
Proterozoic 2.5 by
Archean 3.9 by PRECAMBRIAN
Hadean 4.65 by
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 RODINIA: Late Proterozoic, 750 Ma

Evidence from:
rock types, fossils,
paleoclimate, and
paleomagnetism

The Earth’s geography 1 Ga ago. began to break up about

750 million years ago. Let’s see continental motion!

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The pre-Pangean
pattern of
continental drift
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ASSEMBLY OF PANGAEA
PANGAEA (a) Early Triassic, 237 Ma

Pangaea is formed

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BREAKUP OF PANGAEA
(b) Early Jurassic, 195 Ma

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BREAKUP OF PANGAEA
(c) Late Jurassic, 152 Ma

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BREAKUP OF PANGAEA
(d) Late Cretaceous, Early Tertiary, 66 Ma
much like today in some ways

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 The present-day & future world

The modern world has

been produced over the
past 65 Ma. India collided
with Asia, and is still
pushing northward.

• 50 MY in the future:
• Africa will move N and close Mediterranean
Sea
• E Africa will detach (Red Sea rift zone) and
move to India
• Atlantic Ocean will grow and Pacific will
shrink as it is swallowed into trenches.
• W California will travel NW with the Pacific
Plate (LA will be swallowed into the Aleutian
trench in 60 Ma).
 What causes plate motion?
– Mechanism known as mantle convection.
– Source of heat driving mantle convection is radiogenic heat
(decay of heat producing elements (HPE) U, Th, K in mantle)

Convection Cell

Figure: Mantle convection. Source: USGS

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 Mantle convection: the engine of
plate tectonics

The underlying Upper

mantle
fundamental driving force
for mantle convection is 700 km

gravity
Lower
mantle

● Theory 1: whole
mantle convection
(Geophysical 2900 km
Evidence) Outer core 46
 Mantle convection: the engine of
plate tectonics

● Theory 2:
stratified mantle Boundary near
700 km separates
convection the two convection
(Geochemical systems.
Evidence)

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 Mantle Plumes

spreading
centers
and hot
spots

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Mantle Plumes- Hawaii

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50
The Wilson Cycle

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Theory of Plate Tectonics and the
Scientific Method
• Plate tectonics is not a dogma, but a confirmed theory
whose strength lies in its simplicity, its generality, and
its consistency with many types of observations.

• This theory has survived so many attempts to prove it

wrong and has been so important in explaining and
predicting so many phenomena that geologists treat
the theory as fact.

• Reasons why proof and acceptance took so long: very

cautious approach of many scientists studying this
issue; global scale of the problem; and specialized
technology required to gain data took time to develop.
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 Thought questions for this chapter

1. What is the theory of plate tectonics?

2. What are some of the geologic characteristics of plate

boundaries?

3. How can the age of the seafloor be determined?

4. What is the engine that drives plate tectonics?

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Key terms and concepts
Continental drift
Convergent boundary
Divergent boundary
Geodesy
Island arc
Isochron
Magnetic anomaly
Magnetic time scale
Pangaea
Plate tectonics
Relative plate velocity
Rodinia
Seafloor spreading
Spreading center
Subduction
Transform fault 54