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CHAPTER V
FORCES WITHIN
Week 8

Learning Outcomes

1. List the evidence that supports his continental drift hypothesis.

2. Describe how Earth’s tectonic plates result in many geologic features.
3. Distinguish the three types of plate boundaries.

Introduction

Earth’s surface has changed dramatically. The first time that the idea of moving
continents was proposed as a scientific hypothesis was in the early 1900s. German
scientist Alfred Wegener presented his ideas about the continental movement to the
scientific community. But plate tectonics is the first theory to provide a comprehensive
view of the processes that produced Earth’s major surface features, including the
continents and ocean basins. Within the framework of this theory, geologists have found
explanations for the basic causes and distribution of earthquakes, volcanoes, and
mountain belts.

Continental Drift

Wegener developed an idea that he called continental drift, which proposed that
Earth’s continents had once been joined as a single landmass that broke apart and sent
the continents adrift. He called this supercontinent Pangaea, a Greek word that means all
the earth, and suggested that Pangaea began to break apart. Since that time, he reasoned,
the continents have continued to slowly move to their present positions. Wegener and
others who advocated the continental drift hypothesis collected substantial evidence to
support their point of view.

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Earth and Space Science I
1st Semester, SY 2020-2021
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Pieces of evidence:

1. The Continental Jigsaw Puzzle. It is

remarkable that some continents
especially the southern continents
appeared to fit together. Also, there
is a puzzle-like fit of continental
coastlines on either side of the
Atlantic Ocean.
2. Fossils Matching Across the Seas.
Similar fossils of several different
animals and plants that once lived
Figure 1. Wegener’s Pangaea
on or near land had been found on
widely separated continents. Like identical fossil organisms discovered in rocks
from both South America and Africa. The fit of the continents and other supporting
evidence is preserved in rocks and fossils.
3. Rock Types. Many layers of rocks in the United States were identical to layers of
rocks in similar mountains in Greenland and Europe. These similar groups of rocks
supported Wegener’s idea that the continents had once been joined. The rocks
closely match in age and type in adjacent positions on the once adjoining
continent.
4. Ancient Climates. The existence of coal beds in Antarctica indicated that this frozen
land once had a tropical climate. Another evidence is the glacial deposits found in
parts of Africa, India, Australia, and South America. Paleozoic glaciation presently
lies within 30° of the equator, in subtropical or tropical climates. Fossils of this
plant had been found on many parts of Earth, including South America, Antarctica,
and India. Wegener reasoned that the area separating these fossils was too large
to have had a single climate.

Continental drift had two major flaws that prevented it from being widely accepted.
First, it did not satisfactorily explain what force could be strong enough to push such large
masses over such great distances. Second, scientists questioned how the continents were
moving. Wegener had proposed that the continents were plowing through a stationary
ocean floor, but it was known that Earth’s mantle below the crust was solid.

SciEd 111
Earth and Space Science I
1st Semester, SY 2020-2021
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Theory of Plate Tectonics

Plate tectonics is the theory that describes how tectonic plates move and shape
the Earth’s surface. Plates move in different directions and rates relative to one another.
Tectonic plates are huge pieces of crust and rigid upper mantle that fit together at their
edges to cover Earth’s surface.

Seven major lithospheric plates are recognized and account for 94 percent of
Earth’s surface area: the North American, South American, Pacific, African, Eurasian,
Australian-Indian, and Antarctic plates. The largest is the Pacific plate, which
encompasses a significant portion of the Pacific basin. Each of the six other large plates
includes an entire continent plus a significant amount of ocean floor.

Plate Boundaries

Divergent boundaries

It is the regions where two tectonic plates are moving apart. Most divergent plate
boundaries (di = apart, vergere = to move) are located along the crests of oceanic ridges
and can be thought of as constructive plate margins because this is where the new ocean
floor is generated. When two adjacent plates move away from each other, producing long,
narrow fractures (rift valley) in the ocean crust. As a result, hot rock from the mantle
below migrates upward and fills the voids left as the crust is being ripped apart. This
molten material gradually cools, producing new slivers of the seafloor. In a slow and
unending manner, adjacent plates spread apart, and new oceanic lithosphere forms
between them. For this reason, divergent plate boundaries are also referred to as
spreading centers.

SciEd 111
Earth and Space Science I
1st Semester, SY 2020-2021
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Most divergent
boundaries are found along
the seafloor, where they
form mid-ocean ridges. The
actual plate boundary is
located in a fault-bounded
valley called a rift, which
forms along a ridge. It is in
this central rift that the
Figure 2. Seafloor Spreading. Most divergent plate boundaries are situated along the
process of seafloor crests of oceanic ridges—the sites of seafloor spreading.

spreading begins. The formation of new ocean crust at most divergent boundaries
accounts for the high heat flow, volcanism, and earthquakes associated with these
boundaries.

SciEd 111
Earth and Space Science I
1st Semester, SY 2020-2021
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Most divergent plate boundaries are

beneath oceans, but a divergent boundary may
also form within a continent. This process, called
continental rifting, creates a continental rift, such
as the Great Rift Valley in East Africa. Rifting can
lead to seafloor spreading and the formation of a
new ocean basin.

The initial stage of continental rifting

commonly includes broad uplift of the land surface
as mantle-derived magma ascends into and pushes
up the crust. Stretching of the crust causes large
crustal blocks to drop down along faults, forming a
continental rift. If rifting continues, the continent
Figure 3. Progression of Continental Rift
splits into two pieces, and a narrow ocean basin
forms as seafloor spreading takes place. With continuing seafloor spreading, the ocean
basin becomes progressively wider, eventually becoming a broad ocean like the modern-
day Atlantic Ocean.

Convergent boundaries

At convergent boundaries, two tectonic plates are moving toward each other. When
two plates collide, the denser plate eventually descends below the other, less-dense plate
in a process called subduction. The lithosphere is descending (being subducted) into the
mantle in which the density of the descending lithospheric plate is greater than the
density of the underlying asthenosphere.

Slabs of oceanic lithosphere descend into the mantle at angles that vary from a few
degrees to nearly vertical (90 degrees). The angle at which an oceanic plate subducts
depends largely on its age and its density. For example, when seafloor spreading occurs
near a subduction zone, the subducting lithosphere is young and buoyant, which results
in a low angle of descent. But for oceanic lithosphere ages (gets farther from the
spreading center), it gradually cools, which causes it to thicken and increase in density.
The very dense slabs in this region typically plunge into the mantle at angles approaching

SciEd 111
Earth and Space Science I
1st Semester, SY 2020-2021
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90 degrees. Continental crust is composed mostly of minerals such as feldspar and quartz,
which form less-dense, lighter-colored granitic rocks. The differences in density of the
crustal material affect how they converge.

Types of Convergent Boundaries

Oceanic-oceanic. In the oceanic-oceanic convergent boundary, a subduction zone is

formed when one oceanic plate, which is denser as a result of the cooling, descends below
another oceanic plate. The process of subduction creates a deep-sea trench. Deep-ocean
trenches are the surface manifestations produced as the oceanic lithosphere descends
into the mantle. These large linear depressions are remarkably long and deep. Also,
during the convergence of two oceanic slabs, it initiates the volcanic activity. When
subduction is sustained, it will eventually build a chain of volcanic structures large
enough to emerge as islands. The newly formed land consisting of an arc-shaped chain of
volcanic islands is called a volcanic island arc, or simply an island arc.

SciEd 111
Earth and Space Science I
1st Semester, SY 2020-2021
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Oceanic-continental. Subduction zones are also found where an oceanic plate converges
with a continental plate. The denser oceanic plate is subducted. Mountain systems, such
as the Andes, which are produced in part by volcanic activity associated with the
subduction of oceanic lithosphere, are called continental volcanic arcs.

Continental-continental. Convergent boundary results when one landmass moves toward

the margin of another because of the subduction of the intervening seafloor.
Consequently, a collision between two converging continental fragments folds and
deforms the accumulation of sediments and sedimentary rocks along the continental
margins and will result in the formation of a new mountain belt like the Himalayas and
our own Kalatungan and Katanglad mountain ranges.

SciEd 111
Earth and Space Science I
1st Semester, SY 2020-2021
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Figure 4.Three Types of Convergent Plate Boundaries

SciEd 111
Earth and Space Science I
1st Semester, SY 2020-2021
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Transform boundaries. A region where two plates slide horizontally past each other is a
transform boundary. Transform boundaries were named for the way Earth’s crust
changes or transforms, its relative direction and velocity from one side of the boundary
to the other. Plates slide horizontally past one another without producing or destroying
lithosphere. Sometimes transform boundaries occur on continents. The San Andreas
Fault is probably the best-known example. Movements along this transform boundary
create situations like in the figure and are responsible for most of the earthquakes.

SciEd 111
Earth and Space Science I
1st Semester, SY 2020-2021
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Worksheet VIII

I. Identify the type of plate boundary and label its parts. Write a short paragraph
describing the diagram on the space provided. Give each boundary an example.

SciEd 111
Earth and Space Science I
1st Semester, SY 2020-2021
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II. Answer the following briefly.

1. Define Continental Drift.

2. Define Plate Tectonics. Give two pieces of evidence for plate tectonics.

3. What is the difference between oceanic crust and continental crust?

4. What features occur where plates converge?

5. Describe the process that leads to the formation of deep-ocean trenches.

III. Complete the concept map using the terms in the list below.

SciEd 111
Earth and Space Science I
1st Semester, SY 2020-2021
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IV. Match the following items correctly.

Matching type: Plate Boundaries

_____ 1. Convergent boundary a. Mid-ocean ridges, rift valleys

_____ 2. Divergent boundary b. Fault lines
_____ 3. Transform boundary c. Subduction, trench, mountains

Matching type: Plate Boundaries

_____4. Convergent boundary a. Tectonic plates move apart.

_____ 5. Divergent boundary b. Tectonic plates come together
_____ 6. Transform boundary c. Tectonic plates slide horizontally each other.

Matching type: Plate Boundaries

_____ 7. Convergent boundary a. Himalayas mountain ranges

_____ 8. Divergent boundary b. San Andreas Fault
_____ 9. Transform boundary c. Atlantic mid ocean ridge, rift valley

Matching type: Convergent boundaries

_____10. Continental to oceanic a. Subduction, volcanoes, and trenches

_____11. Oceanic to oceanic b. Subduction, deeper trenches, volcanoes
_____12. Continental to continental c. Mountain ranges like Himalayas

V. Make an events-chain concept

map that describes seafloor
spreading along a divergent plate
boundary. Choose from the
following phrases: magma cools
to form new seafloor, convection
currents circulate hot material
along the divergent boundary, and
older seafloor is forced apart.

SciEd 111
Earth and Space Science I
1st Semester, SY 2020-2021