Science 10
PLATE TECTONICS
• A scientific theory that explain how major landforms are created as result of
Earth’s subterranean movements.
• PLATES – massive, irregularly shaped slab of solid rock that makes up the
lithosphere.
INNER CORE
• Temperature of the inner core is far above the melting point of iron.
• Inner core’s intense pressure prevents the iron from melting.
• Pressure and density are simply too great for the iron atoms to move into
liquid state.
• Inner Core is not a solid but a plasma behaving as a solid.
OUTER CORE
• About 2,200 kilometers thick
• Mostly composed of liquid iron and nickel (NiFe)
• The liquid metal has very low viscosity meaning it is easily deformed and
malleable.
• Site violent of convection
• Churning metal of outer core creates and sustains Earth’s magnetic field
MANTLE
• Lies between Earth’s dense, superheated core and its thin outer layer, the crust.
• 2,900 kilometers thick
• Make up whopping 84% of Earth’s volume
CRUST
• Outermost shell of a terrestrial planet
• Divided into older, thicker continental crust and younger, denser oceanic
crust.
• The dynamic geology of Earth’s crust is informed by plate tectonics
LITHOSPHERE
• Comprises two main layers: crust and upper mantle
• Two distinct types of crust: Continental and Oceanic crust
OCEANIC PLATE
• At the bottom of the ocean
• Thinner
• Denser
• Mostly basalt, having been erupted from mis ocean ridges. Rich in iron,
magnesium and calcium.
• Younger
CONTINENTAL PLATE
• Made of dry land
• Thicker
• Less dense
• More buoyant
• Felsic in nature
• Dominated by granitic rock
• Abundant with silica, aluminum, sodium and potassium
• Composed of metamorphic and sedimentary rocks
• Older
• Take a long time to form but are rarely destroyed
PLATE TECTONICS
• Earth’s lithosphere comprise a number of large tectonic plates
• These plates are slowly moving since about 3.4 billion years ago
CONVERGENT PLATE BOUNDARY
• Plates collide with each other. --→--
SUBDUCTION PROCESS
• When a continental plate and oceanic plate move toward each other
• Oceanic plate subducts (goes under) the continental since it is denser than
the continental plate.
• Subduction in the ocean next to a continent result in deep ocean trenches
and volcanoes.
• Geological event – Earthquakes and Tsunamis
• Plate locked = stress & deformation
• Plate Released = earthquake & tsunami
GEOGOLOGICAL FEATURES
• Deep Ocean Trenches
• Volcanoes
• Island arcs
• Mountain ranges
DIVERGENT BOUNDARIES
• Plates move away from each other. →
BATHYMETRY
• Depth and shape of seafloor
• Divergent boundaries marked by oceanic ridges
• Light blue zones toward centers of ocean on globes
HOW TO MAKE AN OCEAN BASIN
• Continental crust stretches and thins above rising mantle
• Formation of a steep-sided rift valley with normal faults
• Magma formed in rising mantle as pressure decreases
• Continued stretching of crust with related subsidence (the Red Sea is in the
middle of African and Arabian Plate)
• Continental crust splits in two, magma forms a new oceanic crust under narrow
sea.
• Magma solidifies to form a new lithosphere along oceanic ridge
• Plate motion widens ocean basin over time
GEOLOGIC FEATURES
• Rift valleys
• Ocean Ridges
• Underwater volcanoes
• Underwater mountain chains
• Formation of New Ocean floor
EARTHQUAKE MEASUREMENTS
MERCALLI SCALE
• Designed to describe the effects of an earthquake at a given place.
• Intensity Scale
• Invented by Guiseppe Mercalli in 1884
RICHTER SCALE
• Magnitude scale
• Basis of seismograph
• Logarithmic scale used to rate the strength of earthquakes
• Charles Francis Richter
VOLCANIC HOTSPOTS
• Below a volcano
• Caused by a small amount of geological activity known as intraplate activity
• INTRAPLATE ACTIVITY – does not take place at plate boundaries but within a
plate instead.
• MANTLE PLUME – Source of molten materials that formed the hotspot
• YELLOWSTONE – volcanic hotspot found in the continental crust of the North
American Plate.
• The Greater the distance from the hotspot, the older and inactive volcano it is.
• The Lesser the distance, the younger and active volcano it is.
EARTH’S MECHANISM
CONTINENTAL DRIFT THEORY
• The continents used to form a Mesozoic supercontinent called PANGEA
• According to this theory, as time pass by, the supercontinent was broken in
pieces creating our current continents.
EVIDENCES
• Continental Jigsaw Puzzle
• Fossils
• Rocks
• Paleoclimatic Changes
- Glacial Striations
- Coal Beds
Scientist didn’t believe this theory or didn’t buy it because there was no explanation to
why the continental plates are drifting away from each other.
SEAFLOOR SPREDING THEORY
• Proposed by Harry Hess and Robert Dietz
• A mechanism by which a new seafloor is constantly being created at mid – ocean
ridges.
EVIDENCES
• Age
- The closer the floor to the mid – ocean ridge, the younger it is.
• Thickness
- The closer the floor to the mid – ocean ridge, the thinner it is.
• Density
- The closer the greater the density of the floor.
• Magnetic Reversal
- Earth has a magnetic field generated in the outer core
- Earth has two sets of poles: Geologic and Magnetic
- Magnetic Reversal is also called Magnetic Flip
- NORHT GEOLOGIC = SOUTH MAGNETIC
- SOUTH GEOLOGIC = NORTH MAGNETIC
Explain why the Pacific Ocean is getting smaller while the Atlantic Ocean is
getting wider.
• The rate of formation of a new seafloor is not always as fast as the destruction of
the old seafloor at the subduction zone.
PLATE TECTONIC THEORY
SLAB PULL
• Gravity and the plates themselves are the ones responsible for the plate
tectonics through subduction prosses.
• As the slab pulls down into the mantle, it drags the rest of the plate along with it,
causing movements of tectonic plates.
• Believes that MANTLE CONVECTION is not the cause of plate tectonics but
rather, it is a product of subduction
RIDGE PUSH
• Sliding plate force
• Occurs at Mid – ocean ridges
• Results from the elevated position of the oceanic ridge which causes slab of
lithosphere to slide down the flanks of the ridge.
