One of the major discoveries in geology (and science in

general) in the last century is the processes by which areas

on the surface of the Earth move relative to each other. This
is often called ‘plate tectonics’ or earlier ‘continental drift’.
Ultimately these movements are driven by deeper
movements within the Earth. They are related to
CONVECTION (movement associated with the transfer of
heat) within the MANTLE. The mantle is the layer of the Earth
between 2,9000km depth and ~30km depth. It is made of
olivine-rich rocks like peridotite, which gives it it’s distinctive
green colour. These rocks are SOLID but they still flow. At
the base heat is transferred from the iron-rich metallic core
as it cools. As the material is heated it expands and
becomes less dense causing it to rise. At the top (beneath
the crust) material cools, becomes more dense and sinks
down.
The material can flow, and so convect, because it is hot. You can think
of this is like the way wax can be deformed easily when hot, but will
break when cold. The uppermost part of the mantle is too cold and too
strong to convect and is called the LITHOSPHERE. Plate tectonics
implies that the strong lithosphere acts like a rigid shell, which is
broken into pieces called plates and these plates move relative to
each other due to the forces applied by the convecting material
beneath (The convecting part of the mantle is called the
ASTHENOSPHERE). The figure on the left shows a numerical model of
a convecting systems with similar properies to the Earth. The
temperature is shown by the colour. You can see darker (colder) areas
sinking and that the upper part gets much colder as it nears the
surface. That is the transition from convection to conduction as the
material becomes too cold to convect.
In summary the forces applied by the convecting asthenosphere move
around parts of the strong lithosphere above.
It had been recognized that the contintents may be moving from the
mid 19th century. Initially it was based on the observation that the
shapes of the continents fitted together like jigsaw pieces. Many did
not accept this as they thought that the movement of such large areas
relative to each other was impossible.
In the early 20th Century, it was also recognized that the types of rocks
on either side of the Atlantic Ocean matched each other (So the same
types of rocks are in both West Africa and Brazil. This also suggests
they may once have been adjacent.
Not only the rock types matched. The fossils found in them were also
similar. This is a Mesosaurus found in South West Africa and in Brazil.
It was a shallow water ambush predator like a crocodile- not
something that would be able to swim across the Atlantic….
We can also use PALEOMAGNETIC evidence to track the movement
of the continents. Magnetic minerals within igneous rocks line up with
the Earth’s magnetic field as they form and cool. Because we know
where they were originally pointing we can work out the relative
movements between continents by looking at the different orientations
of these minerals in rocks in different continents which formed at
different ages. We can track how the arrangement evolved from a
single super-contninent called Pangea through Gondwana-land and
Laurasia to the current arrangement.
The continents are still moving relative too each other. Plate tectonics
holds that all the relative movement should take place along narrow
plate boundaries, with the rest of the plates being rigid and
undeforming. This figure shows the location of earthquakes in the
Atlantic. These earthquakes are caused by the relative movement
between the plates (more on this later). You can see they lie along a
narrow band – the PLATE BOUNDARY.
There are around 16 major plates (although there are many other
smaller ‘microplates’ in more complex regions). They move relative to
each other at rates of a few mm or cm per year. We can measure
these movements using GPS.
There are different types of plate boundaries depending on HOW the
plates move relative to each other. In the Atlantic, South America and
Africa (And Eurasia and North America) are moving AWAY from each
other. This means you get a CONSTRUCTIVE or DIVERGENT plate
boundary. As the plates move apart hot asthenosphere can get close
to the surface. It melts and then cools to form new oceanic crust. This
means that new oceanic crust is being created and the plates are
getting bigger (so constructive). The hot material being so close to the
surface leads to the ocean being shallower and you can recognize
these plate boundaries because they form MID-OCEAN RIDGES.
Because the plates are moving apart you expect to see NORMAL
faulting.
Unfortunately ‘PLATE TECTONICS’ is not the whole story. Earthquakes
don’t always occur along narrow boundaries, but can be spread
across broad regions. This is especially true in areas where two
continental regions collide (a CONVERGENT boundary). The collision
between India and Eurasia is the classic example. The red dots are
earthquakes and they are spread across a broad regions thousands of
kilometers wide. The broad deformation is because where two
continents collide they shorten and crumple up creating a broad
mountain range. This is a CONTINENTAL COLLISION
Where there is a CONVERGENT BOUNDARY and one plate is oceanic
it can be pushed down into the asthenosphere below and most of the
deformation is taken up in a narrow band at the boundary. (This is a
SUBDUCTION ZONE). Because the oceanic plate is pushed down into
the Earth convergent boundaries are often called DESTRUCTIVE plate
boundaries. Because the plates are moving together you expect to see
REVERSE faulting.
You can also get transform boundaries where the two sides move
horizontally past each other.
The most famous of these is the San Andreas fault. You can see how
the rivers have been deflected by the faulting.
Divergent boundaries can also occur in the continents (not just the
oceans). One of the best examples if the East African Rift which is a
newly forming plate boundary which will separate Africa into two parts.