PLATE TECTONICS

WEGENER, CONTINENTAL DRIFT AND

PANGAEA
ALFRED WEGENER
• Proposed the theory of
continental drift in the
early 1900s.

• Proposed that continents

had once fit together like
pieces of a giant jigsaw
puzzle, making one vast
supercontinent.
• This supercontinent, which he named Pangaea from the
Greek pan (all) plus gaia (earth), later fragmented into
separate continents that drifted apart, moving slowly to
their present positions.
 EVIDENCES FOR CONTINENTAL DRIFT

• Jigsaw puzzle fit of the

continents
• Matching fossils on continents now located
thousands of miles apart. Ex. Mesosaurus
• Matching geologic
structures:
- Mountain chains/
ranges
- Ore deposits
- Same rocks of same
age
 DEVELOPMENTS IN THE 1960S
• Wegener’s hypothesis became the foundation of
scientific revolution.
• American geologist, Harry Hess proposed that as
continents move apart new ocean floor forms
between them by a process known as seafloor
spreading.
• This process was named by Robert Dietz.
• Hess suggested that continents can move toward
each other when the old ocean floor between them
sinks back down into the Earth’s interior, a process
now called subduction.
• Hess and his contemporaries realized that the
seafloor spreading hypothesis instantly provided the
long- sought explanation of how continental “drift”
occurs.
• Researchers soon realized that the entity that was
moving did not consist of the crust alone but rather
of the whole lithosphere (the crust plus the
underlying cooler and rigid portion of the upper
mantle).
THE WAY THE EARTH WORKS:
PLATE TECTONICS
• Alfred Wegener planted the seed of plate
tectonics theory with his proposal of
continental drift in 1915.
 The Concept of Lithosphere Plate

• The lithosphere, which consists of the crust

plus the uppermost part of the upper mantle,
behaves as a relatively hard layer, meaning that
when a force pushes or pulls on it, it does not
flow but rather bends or breaks.
• The lithosphere lies over a
relatively soft layer called
the asthenosphere,
composed of mantle that can
flow when acted on by force.
• In geology, we say that the
lithosphere is “rigid”
whereas the asthenosphere
is “plastic”.
• The lithosphere is discontinuous― it’s broken into about
20 pieces. We call these pieces as lithosphere plates or
simply plates, and the contacts between them are plate
boundaries.
 PLATE TECTONIC THEORY

• Plate tectonic is the theory that the outer rigid

layer of the Earth (the lithosphere) is divided
into “plates” that move around across the
Earth’s surface relative to each other like slabs
of ice on a lake.
 PLATE MOVEMENT
• “Plates” of lithosphere are moved around by the underlying
hot mantle convection cells.
 CONVECTION CURRENT
• Convection currents in the magma drive plate
tectonics.
• A temperature difference causes particles to move,
creating a current.
• The current transfers heat from areas of high
energy to those of lower energy.
• In short, hot fluids rise, while cold fluids sink.
WHAT HAPPENS AT TECTONIC PLATE
BOUNDARIES?
THREE TYPES OF BOUNDARY PLATES
EXAMPLE:
 SUMMARY
• The Earth is made up of three 3 main
layers (core, mantle and crust).
• On the surface of the Earth are tectonic
plates that slowly move around the
globe.
• Plates are made of crust and the upper
mantle.
• The Plate Tectonics Theory is based on
concepts proposed by Alfred Wegener.
• The lithosphere is divided into continent-
sized plates that are constantly moving.

• The continents were once part of a

supercontinent called Pangaea.

• Lithospheric plates move 1-2 inches per

year.

• “Plate Boundaries” are where plates

meet.
• Three types of plate boundaries are:
- Convergent- where plates collide
- Transform- where plates slide past one
another
- Divergent- where plates move apart
• Volcanoes and mountains form as a result
of convergent boundaries colliding.
• Earthquakes and tsunamis occur at both
convergent and transform boundaries.
• Fissures, cracks, and rifts in the surface
occur at divergent boundaries.
 REFERENCE
• Marshak, Stephen (2015). Earth: Portrait of a Planet 5th Edition. New York:
W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.