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BASIC GEOLOGY
LECTURE NOTE 1
WHAT IS GEOLOGY?
Geology is the scientific study of the Earth. Geology is a young science; it
has existed as a modern scientific discipline for just over 200 years. The
study of the Earth is traditionally divided into two broad subject areas:
Physical geology and Historical geology.
Physical geology concerns the processes that operate at or beneath the
surface of the Earth and the materials on which those processes operate.
Some examples of geologic processes are mountain building, volcanic
eruptions, river flooding, earthquakes, and the formation of ore deposits.
Some examples of geologic materials are minerals, rocks, soils, lava, and
water.
Historical geology concerns geologic events that occurred in the past.
These events can be read from the rock record. Historical geologists try to
answer questions such as when the oceans formed, why the dinosaurs
died out, when the Rocky Mountains rose, and when the first trees
appeared. Historical geology helps us establish a chronology of events in
Earth history and gives us a context for understanding our present-day
environment.
There are many more specialized areas of study within the traditional
domains of physical and historical geology. For example, volcanologists
study volcanoes and eruptions; seismologists study earthquakes;
mineralogists study minerals and crystals; palaeontologists study fossils
and the history of life on the Earth; structural geologists study how rocks
break and bend; economic geologists study the formation and occurrence
of valuable ore deposits. This specialization is needed because geology
encompasses such a broad range of topics.

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WHO ARE GEOLOGISTS?

Geologists are scientists who make a career out of the scientific study of
the Earth. Yet to a certain extent we are all geologists. Everyone living on
this planet relies on resources from the Earth: water, soil, building stones,
metals, fossil fuels, gems, plastics (made from petroleum), ceramics
(made from clay minerals), salt (the mineral halite), and many others. We
are affected by geologic processes every single day we spend on the
surface of this dynamic planet. By learning as much as we can about
these processes, we can become better-informed, more responsible
caretakers of our home planet.

EXERCISE 1.0
Name three examples of geologic processes. Try to think of at least one
example that was not mentioned in the text.
Answer 1.0:
Examples in the text are mountain building, volcanic eruptions, river
flooding, earthquakes, and the formation of ore deposits. Some other
examples are groundwater movement, oil and coal formation,
evaporation, and erosion. Can you think of anymore?
EXERCISE 1.1
Name three examples of geologic materials. Try to think of at least one
example that was not mentioned in the text.
Answer1.1:
Examples in the text are minerals, rocks, lava, and water. Some other
examples are soil, magma, glacial ice, and natural gas. Can you think of
anymore?

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REVOLUTION IN GEOLOGY:
OLD AND MODERN TERMS USED
Even a science as young as geology can have a revolution, and that is
what happened in the 1960s. At that time, a brand-new theory emerged
and completely changed our understanding of geologic processes. The
tools, the methods, and even the language of geology changed as a result
of that scientific revolution.
If you studied geology prior to the 1960s, you may remember some
terms that are no longer in use today. Terms such as "eugeosyncline" and
"miogeosyncline" were used to describe topographic features of the
Earth's surface that geologists observed but could not explain. With the
advent of the theory of plate tectonics, these features took on new
meaning. Consequently, geologists began using new terms to describe
them.
This book will help you learn the vocabulary we use to describe our
current understanding of the Earth. This first chapter and, indeed, much
of the rest of this book concern the plate tectonic revolution and how it
has informed and transformed our understanding of the Earth.
EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE
Geology is currently undergoing another, more subtle revolution. This
revolution is driven by the ability of scientists to observe and collect
information about the Earth as a whole planet, using instruments
mounted on satellites.
This ability is quite new; remember that no one had ever seen a picture of
the whole Earth until the 1960s, when the first photograph was taken of
Earth from space. Satellite images and data collected from outer space
provide a scientific foundation for our study of the Earth as an integrated
system. Earth system science, as this approach is called, is not new in
philosophy, but its tools and techniques are very new.
These tools are used in a wide range of applications, from;
 weather forecasting to the
 monitoring of changes in sedimentation rates

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 measuring the flow of polar ice,

 Locating mineral resources,
 documenting the extent of oil spills,
 tracking depletion of stratospheric ozone,
and many others. Through Earth system science, geologists are
contributing to our understanding of the Earth as a whole, how the Earth
changes over time, and the impacts of human actions on the Earth
system.
EXERCISE 1.2
Name at least three applications of Earth system science.
Answer 1.2:
Examples in the text are weather forecasting, monitoring changes in
sedimentation rates, measuring the flow of polar ice, locating mineral
resources, documenting the extent of oil spills, and tracking the depletion
of stratospheric ozone. Can you think of anymore?
CONTRACTION AND EXPANSION HYPOTHESIS
During the 1800s, people favoured the idea that the Earth, originally a
molten mass, had been cooling and contracting for centuries. Scientists
argued that mountain ranges full of folded rocks were expressions of the
contraction and shrinkage of the Earth's interior (if the crust didn't
contract as much as the interior, it would fold and crumple like the
wrinkled skin of a dried prune).
Contraction did appear to explain some features of the Earth's surface,
but it could not explain the shapes and positions of the continents. Nor
did it explain features like great rift valleys, clearly caused by stretching
rather than by contraction.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, scientists discovered that the
Earth's interior is heated by the decay of naturally occurring radioactive
elements. This suggested that the Earth might not be cooling but rather
heating up, and therefore expanding. A smaller Earth might once have
been covered mostly by continents. As the Earth expanded, the

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continents would crack into fragments, and eventually the cracks would
grow into oceans.
The expanding Earth hypothesis did explain the apparent fit between the
coastlines of Africa and South America, which look as if they have been
ripped apart from each other. But there are other features that this
hypothesis did not easily account for, such as folded mountain ranges
formed by compression.
PLATE TECTONIC THEORY
To get around the flaws in the expansion and contraction hypotheses,
geologists began to search for other ways of explaining the shapes and
positions of the continents, oceans, and mountain chains. By the middle
of this century, all reasonable suggestions seemed to have been
exhausted; the time was ripe for a totally new approach. This approach
turned out to be Plate Tectonics Theory! - The theory that the
continents are carried along on huge slabs or plates, of the Earth's
outermost layer.
In some places the plates are slowly colliding, forming compressional
features like huge mountain ranges. In other places the plates are moving
apart, forming expansional features like great rift valleys. The theory of
plate tectonics provided, for the first time, a coherent, unified explanation
for all of these features of the Earth's surface.
EXERCISE 1.3
What was wrong with the "contracting Earth" hypothesis?
Answer 1.3:
It did not adequately explain the shapes and positions of the continents,
nor did it explain features like great rift valleys, which appear to have
been caused by stretching.
EXERCISE 1.4

What was wrong with the "expanding Earth" hypothesis?

Answer 1.4: It did not adequately explain features such as folded

mountain ranges formed by compression.

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WEGENERS’ CONTINENTAL DRIFT HYPOTHESIS

This chapter tells the story of how the theory of plate tectonics was
conceived and developed and eventually came to be accepted. The
modern part of the story began in the early 1900s with a German
meteorologist named Alfred Wegener, who had some controversial ideas
about the shapes and positions of the continents.
In 1910, Wegener began lecturing and writing scientific papers about
continental drift. His continental drift hypothesis suggested that the
continents have not always been in their present locations but instead
have "drifted" and changed positions. Wegener's idea was that the
continents had once been joined together in a single "supercontinent,"
which he called Pangaea (pronounced "pan-JEE-ah"), from Greek words
meaning "all lands." He suggested that Pangaea had split into fragments
like pieces of ice floating on a pond and that the continental fragments
had slowly drifted to their present locations.
EVIDENCES TO PROOF CONTINENTAL DRIFT HYPOTHESIS
Wegener presented a great deal of evidence in support of the continental
drift hypothesis. Nevertheless, his proposal created a storm of protest in
the international scientific community. Part of the problem was that
geologists simply could not envision how the continents could move
around.
Another part of the problem was that geologists had to be convinced that
the evidence that the continents had once been joined was truly
conclusive. Let's look at some of the evidence for continental drift, so you
can judge for yourself. Notice that no single piece of evidence is
conclusive on its own. It took several decades and the weight of all this
evidence (and more) to finally convince geologists that continental drift
really happens.
EXERCISE 1.5
What was the name of the "supercontinent" proposed by Alfred Wegener?
Answer1.5:
Pangaea.

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EVIDENCE FROM COASTLINES

Look at a map of the world. The Atlantic coastlines of Africa and South
America seem to match, almost like puzzle pieces. The southern coast of
Australia similarly seems to match part of the coast of Antarctica, and the
same is true of some other continental coastlines. Is this apparent fit an
dent, or does it support the hypothesis that the continents were once
joined together?

WHERE IS THE TRUE EDGE OF A CONTINENT?

To answer the question of whether continents were once joined, we must
first recognize that the edge of the land that is, the shoreline usually isn't
the true edge of the continent.
To find the true edge of a continent, we need to locate the place where
the rocks of the continent mostly made of granite meet the rocks of the
ocean floor mostly made of basalt. (You will learn more about these two
important rock types in subsequent chapters)
Along a non-cliffed shoreline, such as the Atlantic coasts of North
America, South America, and Africa, the land usually slopes very gently
toward the sea (Figure 1.1). This gently sloping land is called the
continental shelf. At the edge of the continental shelf there is a sharp
drop-off to the steeper continental slope. At the bottom of the steep
continental slope, the land begins to level off again; this is the continental
rise, which marks the transition to the flat ocean floor, the abyssal plain.
The actual place where the granitic rocks of the continent meet the
basaltic rocks of the ocean floor is usually covered by sand, mud, and
other loose rock particles.
The actual shape of the shoreline depends on sea level, the presence or
absence of cliffs, and the details of the topography of the continental shelf
in any particular locality. Thus, the actual transition from continent to
ocean may (or may not) be underwater.

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So, how do we identify the true edge of a continent? Usually the edge of a
continent is defined as being halfway down the steep continental slope.
When we try to fit the continents together, we fit them along this line
rather than along the present-day coastline. When we fit Africa and South
America together in this way, the result is remarkable (Figure 1.2). In the
"best-fit" position, the average gap or overlap between the two continents
is only 90 kilometres (km) (about 56 miles) (Note that 1 kilometre is 0.62
miles)

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THE TRUE EDGE OF A CONTINENT (FIG 1.1 & 1.2)

(FIG 1.3)

Furthermore, the most significant overlapping areas consist of rocks that

were formed after

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the time when the continents are thought to have split apart. This
strongly suggests that Africa and South America were once joined.
Sketch and neatly label a diagram showing the transition from continent
to ocean. Show how the slope of the land changes, and label all of the
topographic features.
EVIDENCE FROM ROCKS
If Africa and South America were once joined, one would expect to find
similar geologic features on both sides of the join. Such correlations
provided some of the most compelling evidence presented by Wegener in
support of the continental drift hypothesis.
However, matching the geology of rocks on opposite sides of an ocean is
more difficult than you might imagine. Rock-forming processes never
cease. Some rocks formed before the continents were joined, some while
they were joined, others during the splitting of the continents, and still
others after they separated. How can we tell which rocks are significant in
trying to find a match between the continents?
A logical starting point is to see if the ages and orientations of similar rock
types match up across the ocean. In Wegener's time, geologists did not
have sophisticated tools for determining the exact age of a rock. But now
we do have such tools, and we know that there are strong similarities in
the ages of rocks across the oceans. The match is particularly good
between rocks about 550 million years old and older in northeast Brazil
and West Africa, but there is not a good match for younger rocks!
This suggests that the two continents were joined together for some
period of time prior to 550 million years ago, and they subsequently split
apart.
We can also look for continuity of geologic features such as mountain
chains. If we re-join the continents as they would have been in the
supercontinent Pangaea, mountain belts of similar ages seem to line up.
For example, the oldest portions of the Appalachian Mountains, extending
from the north-eastern part of the United States through eastern Canada,
match up with the Caledonides of Ireland, Britain, Greenland, and

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Scandinavia. A younger part of the Appalachians lines up with a mountain

belt of similar age in Africa and Europe. These and other bedrock features
that match up across the oceans are strong evidence that the continents
were once joined together!
Another geologic feature that matches across continental joins is the
deposits left by ancient ice sheets. These are similar to deposits left by
recent glaciers in Canada, Scandinavia, and the northern United States.

DIRECTION OF ICE MOVEMENT DURING GLACIATION (FIG 1.4)

In South America and Africa there are very thick glacial deposits. The
deposits are the same age, and they match almost exactly when the
continents are "moved back together." As glacial ice moves, it cuts
grooves and scratches in underlying rocks and produces
folds and wrinkles in soft sediments. Such features provide evidence of
the direction the ice was moving during the glaciation. When Africa and
South America are moved back together, the grooves and scratches show
that the ice was radiating outward from the center of a former ice sheet
(Figure 1.4).

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It's hard to imagine how such similar glacial features could have been
created if the continents had not once been joined together.
Africa and South America must also have had similar climates during this
period, colder than their present-day climates. This suggests that they
were not in their present equatorial locations. In fact, the southern
portion of Pangaea was most likely close to what was then the South Pole.
EXERCISE 1.6
How can the ages of rocks provide evidence that two continents now
separated from each other by an ocean were once joined?
Answer 1.6:
If the continents were once joined, we would expect to find rocks of
similar type and age on either side of the ocean. There are strong
similarities in rocks about 550 million years old and older in northeast
Brazil and West Africa. This suggests that the two continents were joined
together for some period of time prior to 550 million years ago.
EVIDENCE FROM FOSSILS
If Africa and South America were joined at one time, with the same
climate and matching geologic features, then they also should have
hosted similar plants and animals. To check this, Wegener turned to the
fossil record!
This revealed that there were communities of plants and animals that
appear to have evolved together until the time of the splitting apart of
Pangaea, after which they evolved separately.
Wegener pointed to specific fossils found in matching areas across the
oceans. One example he used was an ancient fern, Glossopteris, whose
fossilized remains have been found in southern Africa, South America,
Australia, India, and Antarctica.
Could the seeds of this plant have been carried from one location to
another across the oceans? Probably not, the seeds of Glossopteris were
large and heavy, and could not have been carried very far by wind or
water currents. This fern flourished in a cold climate; it would not have
thrived in the warm present-day climates of the continents where its fossil

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remains are found. This, too, suggests that the continents once had
similar, colder climates.
There are other examples as well. The fossilized remains of Mesosaurus, a
small reptile, are found both in southern Brazil and in South Africa. The
types of rocks in which the fossils are found are very similar. Mesosaurus
did swim, but was probably too small to swim all the way across the
ocean. Fossilized remains of specific types of earthworms also occur in
areas that are now widely separated. How could they possibly have
migrated across the oceans? The landmasses in which they lived must
once have been connected.
EXERCISE 1.7
How did Wegener use Glossopteris to support the hypothesis of
continental drift?
Answer1.7:
Fossils of Glossopteris, an ancient fern, have been found in similar rocks
in southern Africa, South America, Australia, India, and Antarctica
locations that are now widely separated by oceans. Its seeds were large
and heavy and could not have been transported very far by wind or water.
This suggests that the areas where Glossopteris fossils are now found
must once have been joined together.
PALEOMAGNETISM: THE MISSING CLUE?
Wegener and his supporters gathered more and more evidence in support
of continental drift, but many scientists remained unconvinced. Wegener
died in 1930 without seeing the end of the debate, which continued after
his death. A turning point occurred in the 1950s through the study of
paleomagnetism; ancient magnetism preserved in rocks!
When lava cools and solidifies into rock, it becomes magnetized and
takes on
the polarity; the north-south directionality of the Earth's magnetic field at
that time. Just as a

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free-swinging magnet today will point toward today's magnetic north

pole, so too, does a rock's paleomagnetism act as a pointer toward the
location of the Earth's magnetic north pole at the time of rock formation.
In the 1950s, geologists studying the paleomagnetism of rocks from
different localities found evidence suggesting that the Earth's magnetic
poles had wandered all over the globe for at least the past several
hundred million years. They plotted the pathways of the poles on maps,
and referred to the phenomenon as apparent polar wandering (Figure
1.4). Geologists were puzzled by this evidence. They knew that it was
extremely unlikely that the magnetic poles themselves had moved.
Instead, they concluded, somewhat reluctantly, that it must have been
the continents themselves that had moved, carrying their magnetic rocks
with them.

FIG 1.5

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EXERCISE 1.8
What is polarity?
Answer 1.8:
The north-south directionality of the Earth's magnetic field
SEAFLOOR SPREADING
The new evidence from paleomagnetism helped revive the hypothesis of
continental drift. But many scientists were still holding out for a final piece
of evidence that would demonstrate conclusively that a supercontinent
had actually split apart and seas had flowed into the widening rift.
They were trying to envision a mechanism whereby the seafloor could
actually split open. This evidence finally appeared, but not until the early
1960s three decades after Wegener's death.
Oceanographers measuring the paleomagnetic properties of rocks of the
Atlantic Ocean floor were astonished to find a repeating series of rocks
with alternating magnetic polarities: one stripe of rock with the same
polarity (same magnetic north pole) as the Earth's present-day magnetic
field, and the next stripe with the opposite polarity (north and south
magnetic poles reversed). Scientists call these normal and reversed
magnetic polarities.
The stripes are hundreds of kilometers long, and they are exactly
symmetrical on either
side of the mid-ocean ridge that runs down the middle of the Atlantic
Ocean. In other words, if you could fold the seafloor in half along the mid-
ocean ridge, the pattern of alternating paleomagnetic stripes on either
side would match exactly.
What could this possibly mean? At first, scientists were mystified by these
symmetrical patterns of magnetic stripes in seafloor rocks. Then two
groups of geologists, working independently, came up with the same
explanation. They proposed that the seafloor had split
apart along the mid-ocean ridge and that the rocks on either side were
moving away from the ridge (Figure 1.5). As the rocks spread apart, lava

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from below welled up into the crack, solidifying into new volcanic rock on
the seafloor.
When the molten lava solidified, it took on the magnetic polarity of the
Earth at that time.
Over time, the spreading seafloor acted like a conveyor belt, carrying the
newly magnetized rock away from the center-line of the ridge in either
direction. This process came to be known as seafloor spreading.
The discovery of seafloor spreading was probably the single most
powerful piece of evidence in support of the hypothesis of continental
drift.
Geologists have shown that the ages of seafloor rocks increase with
distance from the mid-ocean ridge. The youngest rocks are located along
the center-line of the ridge, where new lava rises through the crack to the
seafloor.
The farther the rocks have moved from the ridge, the older they are.
Every half-million years or so, for reasons that are not entirely
understood, the Earth's magnetic field reverses itself north becomes
south, and south becomes north. (This is discussed in further detail in
subsequent chapter.)

FIG 1.6 A:MID-OCEAN RIDGE

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FIG 1.6 B: SEAFLOOR SPREADING

As magnetic reversals occurred in the past, the changing polarities were
recorded in newly forming rocks along the mid-ocean ridge. The result
was symmetrical stripes of rock with alternating polarities normal,
reversed, normal, reversed.
This final piece of evidence convinced the great majority of geologists that
seafloor spreading had indeed occurred and that the continents had
drifted from their original locations.
EXERCISE 1.9
What is the difference between a rock with normal paleomagnetic polarity
and one with reversed paleomagnetic polarity?
Answer 1.9:
A rock with normal polarity has a magnetic north pole in essentially the
same orientation as the present-day North Pole. A rock with reversed
polarity has magnetic north and south poles reversed from their present-
day orientations.

PLATE TECTONICS IN A NUTSHELL

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By the 1960s most scientists had become convinced that continental drift
had really occurred. However, it remained to put all of this together into a
coherent model. This model became the theory of plate tectonics.
(It's called a theory now, instead of a hypothesis. A hypothesis is an
educated guess; a theory is supported by extensive scientific evidence
and testing.) Here is a brief summary of the theory of plate tectonics.
The outermost, rocky part of the Earth is the crust. As mentioned above,
there are two types of crust: continental crust, which is relatively thick
(average thickness 45 km, or 30 mi) and mostly made of granite, and
oceanic crust, which is relatively thin (average thickness 8 km, or about 5
mi) and mostly made of basalt.
Beneath the crust is the mantle, also made of rocks, but different from
the rocks of the crust. At the centre of the Earth is the core, made of iron-
nickel metal, not rock. (You will learn more about the internal structure of
the Earth in subsequent chapter.)
Together, the crust and the outermost part of the mantle make up the
lithosphere, a
thin, cold, brittle, rocky layer (about 100 km, or 60 mi, thick, on
average). The mantle below the lithosphere is very hot, so it is relatively
malleable, like putty, even though it is made of solid rock. The part of the
mantle immediately beneath the lithosphere is called the asthenosphere;
it is especially weak because it is close to the temperature at which rocks
begin to melt.
If you were to do an experiment in which you placed a very thin, cool,
brittle shell (like the lithosphere) on top of hot, weak material that is
rather squishy (like the asthenosphere), what would happen?
You might predict that the thin shell would break into pieces. That is
precisely the state of the Earth's lithosphere; it has broken into many
large fragments, or plates. Today there are six large lithospheric plates,
each extending for several thousands of kilometers, and a large number
of smaller plates.

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The plates are in a condition called isostasy, which means that they are
essentially "floating" on the weak asthenosphere, like blocks of wood
floating on water.
You can experiment with plate motion by carefully heating wax in a pan
and then letting it cool until it forms a thin skin or crust. Be careful molten
wax is very hot.
Think again about thin, brittle fragments floating on top of hot, squishy
material. You might expect that movement in the underlying material
would cause the brittle fragments to shift about. Again, that is exactly
what happens to the Earth's lithospheric plates. As movement occurs in
the hot mantle, the plates shift and interact with one another. Such
movements involve complicated events that are collectively described by
the term "tectonics" (from the Greek word tekton, meaning "carpenter"
or "builder"). "Plate tectonics" thus refers
to the study of the movement and interactions of lithospheric plates.
EXERCISE 1.10
What is the lithosphere?
Answer 1.10:
The outer 100 km (60 mi) of the Earth; the crust and the upper part of
the mantle, above the
asthenosphere.
PLATE MARGINS AND INTERACTIONS
Lithospheric plates interact with one another mainly along their edges, or
margins. Plates can interact in three basic ways:
 they can move away from each other (diverge);
 they can move toward each other (converge);
 or they can slide past each other.
Consequently, there are three kinds of plate margins:
I. Divergent,
II. Convergent,
III. and Transform fault margins.

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Divergent margins are huge fractures in the lithosphere where plates

move apart from one another (Figure 1.6A). When oceanic crust splits
apart, seafloor spreading occurs and a mid-ocean ridge is formed, like the
one in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. When continental crust splits
apart, a Great Rift Valley forms, as in East Africa where the African Plate
is being stretched and torn apart.
Eventually, a new ocean may form in the widening continental rift valley;
a modern example of this is the Red Sea. In both continents and oceans,
divergent margins are characterized by earthquakes (caused by the
splitting and cracking of the rocks) and volcanism (caused by melted rock
from the mantle welling up into the fractures).

FIG1.7 A: DIVERGENT BOUNDARY

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FIG 1.7 B: SUBDUCTION ZONE BOUNDARY

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FIG1.7 C: CONVERGENT BOUNDARY

FIG 1.7 D: TRANSFORM FAULT BOUNDARY

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FIG 1.7 E: COLLISION ZONE

PLATE BOUNDARIES

Convergent margins occur where two plates move toward each other.
There are three basic types of convergent margins:
 ocean-ocean,
 ocean-continent,
 continent-continent.
Oceanic crust is made of basalt, which is denser (heavier) than the
granitic rocks that make up the continental crust. Whenever oceanic
crust is involved in a convergent margin, the dense oceanic crust sinks
beneath the other plate (Figure 1.7B). This process is called subduction,
and places where it occurs are called subduction zones. Subduction
zones are
marked by deep oceanic trenches and lines of volcanoes, as in Indonesia
(an ocean-ocean subduction zone) or the Andes (an ocean-continent
subduction zone).

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When one continent meets another continent at a convergent margin, no

oceanic crust is available to form a subduction zone. Instead, the
continents collide and crumple up, forming huge, uplifted mountain
ranges like the Himalayas; this is a collision zone (Figure 1.7E). Collision
zones and subduction zones have lots of earthquake activity, caused by
rocks colliding and grinding past one another.
Transform fault margins are huge fractures in the lithosphere where two
plates slide past each other, grinding along their edges and causing
earthquakes as they go (Figure 1.7D). A famous modern example is the
San Andreas Fault in California, where the Pacific Plate is moving north-
northwest relative to the North American Plate.
All these types of plate interactions are occurring today, as they have
occurred throughout most of Earth's history.
We don't often notice plate motion because lithospheric plates move very
slowly usually between 1 and 10 centimetres (cm) (0.4 to 4.0 inches [in])
per year. But we often feel the earthquakes and observe the volcanic
activity that happens along active plate margins. The scars and remnants
of ancient plate interactions are also preserved in the rock record for us to
study.
EXERCISE 1.11
What is the difference between a collision zone and a subduction zone?
Answer1.11:
A collision zone occurs where two continents converge. A subduction
zone occurs along
ocean-continent or ocean-ocean convergent margins.
WHAT CAUSES PLATE MOTION?
CONVECTION: THE DRIVING FORCE.
The theory of plate tectonics has been accepted by almost all geologists,
but some questions remain. What causes plate motion? How does the
mantle interact with the crust? What makes subduction occur?
Scientists have a basic understanding of these processes, but the details
have not been completely worked out. We know that thermal movement

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in the mantle is at least partly responsible for the movement of

lithospheric plates. We also know that movement in the mantle is caused
by the release of heat from inside the Earth. Let's examine the Earth's
heat-releasing processes and consider how they cause plate motion.
The temperature inside the Earth is high about 5,000° Celsius (C) (more
than 9,000° Fahrenheit [F]) in the core. Some of this heat is left over
from the Earth's beginnings, but some of it is constantly being generated
by the decay of radioactive elements inside the Earth. This heat must be
released; if it was not, the Earth would eventually become so hot that its
entire interior would melt.
Some of the Earth's internal heat makes its way slowly to the surface
through conduction, in which heat energy passes from one atom to the
next. However, conduction is a slow way to transfer heat.
It is faster and more efficient for a packet of hot material to be physically
transported to the surface. This is similar to what happens when a fluid
boils on a stovetop, as in the wax experiment described above. If you
watch a fluid such as wax or spaghetti sauce as it boils, you will see that
it turns over and over. Packets of hot material rise from the bottom of the
pot to the top. As it reaches the surface, the hot fluid cools and then sinks
back down to the
bottom of the pot, where it is reheated.
The continuous motion of material from bottom to top and down again is
called a convection "cell," and this type of heat transfer is called
convection.
Even though the Earth's mantle is mostly solid rock, it is so hot that it
releases heat by convection (Figure 1.8). Rock deep in the mantle heats
up and expands, making it buoyant. As a result, the rock moves toward
the surface very, very slowly in huge convection cells of solid rock. Near
the surface, the hot rock moves along the surface while losing heat, like
the spaghetti sauce.

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FIG 1.8: CONVECTION

The movement of hot rock in the asthenosphere is thought to be the main

cause of plate motion. As the rock cools, it becomes denser (cool rock is
denser, or heavier, than hot rock) and sinks back into the deeper parts of
the mantle.
This convection cycle provides an efficient way for the Earth to rid itself of
some of its internal heat. Convection and the movement of plates near
the surface create some of the most distinctive geologic and topographic
features of the Earth's surface: the deep trenches where oceanic plates
are subducted into the mantle; the mid-ocean ridges and continental rift
valleys where plates split apart; and the high, folded-and-crumpled
mountain chains where continents collide.
Convection in the mantle is not nearly as simple as convection in a pot on
a stovetop. Some of the most challenging unanswered questions about
plate tectonics have to do with the exact nature of this process. Does the
whole mantle convect as a unit, or is the top part of the mantle
convecting separately from the bottom?
In subduction zones, are the plates dragged down into the mantle, or do
they sink under their own weight? What is the exact shape of convection
cells in the mantle? Scientists are still seeking the answers to these and
other questions about plate tectonics.

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EXERCISE 1.12
What is the temperature in the Earth's core?
Answer 1.12:
About 5,000°C (9,000°F)
SUMMARY
You have covered an enormous amount of material in this chapter an
entire scientific revolution in a few pages! Many of the concepts presented
in this chapter may seem difficult and unfamiliar to you now, but don't
worry. Plate tectonics is the foundation for our understanding of the Earth
and its processes and materials, so many of these ideas
will be revisited in the chapters to follow. Now test your knowledge of this
material by trying out the Self-Test.
SELF-TEST
These questions are designed to help you assess how well you have
learned the concepts presented in chapter ONE the answers are given at
the end of the book
1. The ages of seafloor rocks generally __________ with distance from a
mid-ocean ridge, on either side of the ridge.
a. increase
b. decrease
c. stay the same
d. vary irregularly

2. The San Andreas Fault in California is a modern-day example of a

__________ plate margin.
a. collisional
b. subduction zone
c. divergent
d. transform fault
3. The "plates" in plate tectonics are made of fragments of __________.
a. continents
b. oceanic crust

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PET 113 ND PET LECT NOTE 1

c. the lithosphere
d. the mantle
4. The weak layer of the mantle, immediately underlying the lithosphere,
is called the __________.
5. The Earth has two fundamentally different types of crust: __________
crust is made mainly of basaltic rocks, and __________ crust is made
mainly of granitic rocks.
6. Along a non-cliffed shoreline, the land usually slopes very gently
toward the sea; this gently sloping land is called the abyssal plain. (T or
F)
7. Wherever there is a convergent plate margin, a subduction zone will
develop. (T or F)
8. Convection is faster and more efficient than conduction as a
mechanism of heat transfer. (T or F)
9. Is the coastline, where the land meets the water, the true edge of a
continent? Why, or why not?
10. What is the difference between a hypothesis and a theory?

11. Why is it tricky to match rock types and other geologic features
across a continental split, such as where South America and Africa were
once joined?
12. How does the distribution of glacial deposits support the idea that the
continents were once joined together in the supercontinent Pangaea?
13. Summarize the main types of plate margins.
KEY WORDS
abyssal plain conduction
isostasy normal magnetic polarity
apparent polar wandering continental crust
lithosphere oceanic crust
asthenosphere mantle continental drift
collision zone
mid-ocean ridge

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paleomagnetism
continental rise
Pangaea
continental shelf
physical geology
continental slope
plates
convection
plate tectonics
convergent margin
polarity
core
reversed magnetic polarity
crust
rift valley
divergent margin
seafloor spreading
Earth system science
subduction
geology
subduction zone
historical geology
theory
hypothesis

transform fault margin

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