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Plate Tectonics Notes

Plate tectonics describes the movement of tectonic plates. Evidence for plate tectonics includes seafloor spreading at mid-ocean ridges, subduction zones where plates converge, and fossil and magnetic data indicating continental drift. Tectonic plates consist of oceanic or continental crust and move atop the asthenosphere. Plate boundaries include convergent, divergent, and transform fault boundaries which form different geological features through processes like mountain building, volcanism, and earthquakes. Fossils preserved in rock provide evidence of past life and plate movement. Paleontologists study fossils and geology to understand ancient environments.

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97 views7 pages

Plate Tectonics Notes

Plate tectonics describes the movement of tectonic plates. Evidence for plate tectonics includes seafloor spreading at mid-ocean ridges, subduction zones where plates converge, and fossil and magnetic data indicating continental drift. Tectonic plates consist of oceanic or continental crust and move atop the asthenosphere. Plate boundaries include convergent, divergent, and transform fault boundaries which form different geological features through processes like mountain building, volcanism, and earthquakes. Fossils preserved in rock provide evidence of past life and plate movement. Paleontologists study fossils and geology to understand ancient environments.

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mahsa t
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Plate Tectonics

What? The scientific theory describing the movement of the plates.

Seafloor spreading
What? The process of new crust forming at the ocean ridges and spreading outwards. Occurs on
diverging plate boundaries.
Evidence:

- Continent Shapes
- Fossils
- Magnetic Stripping

Diagram:

Subduction Zone
What? When one plate sinks below another plate during a collision. Occurs on converging plate
boundaries.
Diagram:

Evidence of continental drift:

- Continent shapes
- Fossils
- Magnetic stripping
Tectonic Plates
What? Section of Earth’s crust that moves about on Earth’s surface.
Types:

- Oceanic: thin, denser, no landmass


- Continental: thick, less dense, contains landmass

Diagram:

Lithosphere
What? Name for the crust and the upper mantle together, Earth’s tectonic plates.
Asthenosphere
What? a layer of ‘plastic’ semi-solid rock in the lower mantle on which Earth’s tectonic plates move

Diagram:
Converging Boundaries
What? Plates that collide with each other
Diagram:

Features formed:

- Continental + continental: mountain range high plateau


- Oceanic + continental: trench, volcano
- Oceanic + oceanic: trench, volcano

Diverging Boundaries
What? Plates that move away from each other
Diagram:

Features formed:

- Continent + continent: rift valley, volcanoes


- Oceanic + Oceanic: ocean ridge

Transform Boundaries
What? Plates that slide past each other
Diagram:

Features formed:

- Fault lines

Geologic Fold
What? A fold is a bend in the rock strata. Folding: Is a type of earth movement resulting from the
horizontal compression of rock layers by internal forces of the earth along plate boundaries.

Anticline
What? a ridge or fold of stratified rock in which the strata slope downwards from the crest.

Syncline
What? a trough or fold of stratified rock in which the strata slope upwards from the axis.
Monocline
What? a bend in rock strata that are otherwise uniformly dipping or horizontal.

Earthquakes
What? the rapid movement of the ground, usually back and forth and up and down in a wave
motion, due to the movement of tectonic plates. Scale of the quake is measured using the Richter
scale.
Seismometer: A seismometer is a device that is sensitive to vibrations. It works on the principle of a
pendulum: a heavy, inert mass with a certain resistance to movement (i.e., inertia) due to its weight
is suspended from a frame by a spring that allows movement.

Diagram:

Volcanoes
What? Volcanoes are found near tectonic plate boundaries; the movement of the plates creates
weaknesses in the crust and creates heat that can melt rock.
Diverging: diverging plate boundaries create weaknesses in the crust. Lowers force on underlying
rocks of the asthenosphere and they melt. Magma formed then finds its way up through the crust
weaknesses.
Converging: Creates a lot of weakness in the crust and generates a lot of heat, especially evident
where subduction occurs.
What makes an eruption explosive?
Explosive eruptions are favored by a high gas content, and high viscosity magmas. Gas bubbles
build up until pressure is too intense and erupts from the crust.
What is a hot spot?
Hot spots are isolated weak spots in the crust where a lot of hot magma is being created. They occur
under oceanic or continental plates. Volcanoes occur from here, because of the magma being
created under weak spots.
Hot spots are evidence of plate tectonics as each island is formed as it sat over the hot spot. As the
plates move, the island goes with it and so the islands are no longer over the hotspot. A new part of
the plate is now sat above the hotspot and this gradually forms a new island/volcano.

Diagram:

FOSSILS
What? Preserved evidence in a rock or soil of organisms that once existed on Earth.
How are they formed? When plants and animals die and are quickly buried by clay, sand and other
sediments. Soft tissues quickly decompose leaving the hard bones or shells behind. Over time
sediment builds over the top and hardens into rock.
Types

- Original: When plants and animals die and are quickly buried by clay, sand and other
sediments. Soft tissues quickly decompose leaving the hard bones or shells behind. Over
time sediment builds over the top and hardens into rock.
- Compression: a fossil preserved in sedimentary rock that has undergone physical
compression
- Replacement: When a part of the organism is chemically changed into another mineral
- Indirect: Preserved remains of things such as imprints of the body (e.g., footprints),
fossilized dung and burrows. Are not a part of the original organism.
Mould: usually an imprint left in a rock showing the outside of the organism; a hollow space in a
sediment in the shape or part of an organism.
Cast: forms when a mould is filled with sand or mud that hardens into the shape of the organism

Paleontology
What? The study of past life, especially fossils. Reconstruct past environments using fossils and
geology.

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