SCIENCE 10 (2nd Quarter Prelim Reviewer)

SCIENCE 10 (2nd Quarter Prelim Reviewer)
• PLATE TECTONICS - is a scientific theory that describes how the lithosphere is divided into continuously
moving plates. The movement of the plates is said to contribute to continental drifting.
• CONTINENTAL DRIFTING - suggests that the Earth has one large continent that eventually separated into
parts that gradually drifted apart to form the present continents.
(CAUSES OF PLATE MOVEMENT)
• CONVECTION CURRENTS
- A heat transfer process that involves the movement of energy from one place to another.
- Tend to move a fluid, gas particles, or molten rock due to the differences in the densities and the
temperature of a specific gas or a fluid.
- Due to this temperature difference, the hot fluid tends to RISE as it expands, whereas cold fluid tends to
SINK because it contracts.
- Convection currents also happen in the mantle.
- The MANTLE is the second inner layer of Earth, made up of mostly hot rocks and magma.
- The differences in the temperature at the Earth’s interior and surface cause convection currents to occur
within the mantle.
- The differences in temperature lead to differences in density: hotter mantle rocks are less dense and cooler
rocks are denser.
- Hotter rocks rise while cooler rocks sink.
- This rising and sinking of mantle rocks lead to the formation of convection currents.
- The plates are believed to be riding on the convection currents.
• SLAB PULL
- The presence of a heavier subducting plate pulls down the trailing slab into the subduction zone.
- As the subducted part sinks, it drags the rest of the plate with it, pulling it and making it move.
• TRENCH SUCTION
- Formed as a result of plate movement, and this plate movement is thought to result from a small-scale
convection in the mantle wedge, driven by the subducting lithosphere.
• RIDGE PUSH
- It happens when the mantle wells upward because of the convection and elevates the edges of spreading
oceanic plates.
7 Continents of the World

1. Asia
2. Africa
3. North America
4. South America
5. Antarctica
6. Europe
7. Australia
(AANSAEA)
Evidences of Plate Movement
• CONTINENTAL DRIFTING - suggests that the Earth has one large continent that eventually separated into parts
that gradually drifted apart to form the present continents.
• CONTINENTAL DRIFT THEORY
- Hypothesized in 1912 by Alfred Lothar Wegener, a German polar researcher, geophysicist, and
meteorologist.
- There is once a large landmass called Pangaea, a Greek word which means "All Earth".
Evidences:
➢ Geological "fit“ Evidence
➢ Fossil evidence
• GEOLOGICAL “FIT” EVIDENCE

- The matching of large-scale geological features on different continents.
- The coastlines of South America and West Africa seem to match up.
- The rock terrains of separate continents confirm as well.
- Examples: the Appalachian Mountains of eastern North America linked with the Scottish Highlands, the
familiar rock strata of the Karroo system of South Africa matched correctly with the Santa Catarina system
in Brazil, and Brazil and Ghana mountain ranges agreeing over the Atlantic Ocean.
• GLACIERS - carve rocks and leave marks as they move. In this evidence, scientists can determine the direction
of movement of each continent.
• COAL DEPOSITS - in Antarctica suggested that it was once located near the region of the Earth where the
climate is enough to support complex life forms such as plants and tall trees.
• FOSSIL EVIDENCE:
- The MESOSAURUS is known to have been a type of reptile, similar to the modern crocodile, which propelled
itself through the water; its remains are found solely in South Africa and Eastern South America Continental
- The CYNOGNATHUS was a mammal like reptile; it was as large as a modern wolf; its fossils are found only
in South Africa and South America
- The LYSTROSAURUS which translates to "shovel reptile," is thought to have been a herbivore with a stout
built like a pig; its fossils are only found in Antarctica, India, and South Africa
- GLOSSOPTERIS is possibly the most important fossil evidence found in the plant; its fossil is found in
Australia, Antarctica, India, South Africa, and South America—all the southern continents. Glossopteris
seed is known to be large and bulky and possibly could not have drifted or flown across the oceans to a
separate continent.
- EUROPEAN FLORA
MESOSAURUS LYSTROSAURUS
CYNOGNATHUS GLOSSOPTERIS
• SEAFLOOR SPREADING THEORY

- The idea of continental drift circulated in scientific circles until World War II, when a sounding gear called
SONAR produced new evidence of what the seafloor looked like. The gear, developed in the 1930s, bounced
sound waves off the seafloor to determine its depth and features.
- Ocean floor exploration continued, and by the 1950s, other researchers had found that a huge rift ran along
the top of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, enabling Hess to understand his ocean floor profiles in the Pacific.
- Hess discovered that the bottom of the sea was full of canyons, trenches, and volcanic sea mountains.
- The Earth's crust had been moving away on each side of oceanic ridges, down the Atlantic and Pacific
oceans, long and volcanically active.
- This explains why the Pacific Ocean is getting smaller and the Atlantic Ocean is getting wider.
- Hess published his theory in History of Ocean Basins (1962), and it came to be called "seafloor spreading”.
• HARRY HAMMOND HESS - a geologist from Princeton University and commander of one attack transport ship,
the USS Cape Johnson.
• SONAR – beam to navigate and map out the seafloor.
• SEAFLOOR SPREADING THEORY

- In the early 1960s, dating of ocean-core samples showed that the ocean floor was younger at the Mid-
Atlantic Ridge but progressively older in either direction, confirming the reality of seafloor spreading.
- The Seafloor Spreading Theory contradicts a part of the Continental Drift Theory. The Seafloor Spreading
Theory strongly supports that the actual site of plate movements would be in the mid-oceanic ridge.
• MAGNETIC REVERSAL - further evidence came along by 1963, as geophysicists realized that Earth's magnetic
field had reversed polarity many times; rocks of the same age in the seafloor crust would have taken on the
magnetic polarity at the time that part of the crust formed. Also called the "magnetic flip" of the Earth, it
happens when the North Pole is transformed into the South Pole, and the South Pole becomes the North Pole.
This event happens because of the changing direction of the flow of materials in the Earth's liquid outer core.
• MAGNETIC REVERSAL - the needle of a magnetic compass usually points to the North Pole of the Earth, which
is actually the South Magnetic Pole at present. The crystalized irons in rocks found in the seafloor act as a
magnetic compass that can tell the Earth's magnetic field direction
“?.
• MAGNETIC REVERSAL - the occurrence of the magnetic reversal can be explained through the magnetic
patterns in the magnetic rocks. These magnetic patterns allow our scientists to understand the ages and rate of
movement of the materials from the mid-oceanic ridge. Over the last 10 million years, there had been an
average of 4 to 5 reversals per million years. New rocks are added to the ocean floor at the ridge with
approximately equal amounts on both sides of the oceanic ridge
GOOD LUCK!
- Cielo Montoya

SCIENCE 10 (2nd Quarter Prelim Reviewer)

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SCIENCE 10 (2nd Quarter Prelim Reviewer)

(CAUSES OF PLATE MOVEMENT)

7 Continents of the World

Evidences of Plate Movement

➢ Geological "fit“ Evidence

• GEOLOGICAL “FIT” EVIDENCE

• SEAFLOOR SPREADING THEORY

• SEAFLOOR SPREADING THEORY

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