PLATE TECTONICS OUTLINE

I. ROCK CYCLE:
A. convection currents move the tectonic plates in the mantle which help drive the rock
cycle by helping form magma:

1. Igneous rocks form by:

a. oceanic plates move apartmagma moves upwardfills gap with new
igneous rock

b. oceanic plates move beneath continental plate magma forms and rises=igneous
rocks

2. Sedimentary rocks form by:

a. collision of continental platesform mountain ranges weathering and erosion
produce sediments sedimentary rocks

3. Metamorphic rocks form by:

a. collision between continental plates can push rocks down beneath the surface heat
and pressure change rocks to metamorphic

II. THEORY OF PLATE TECTONICS

A. Hypothesis of Continental Drift
1. Porposed by Alfred Wegener – German meteorologist
2. All the continents were fused together and over time drifted apart
3. Pangaea – supercontinent
4. Evidence:
a. land features:
i. mountain ranges near the continents’ coast – made in the same
place and time

b. fossil record – fossils were found on continents that once were

connected.
i. Examples: Glossopteris (fernlike plant) found in 5 continents and
Mesosaurus (reptile) that lived South America and Africa)

c. climate:
i. Continents had experienced different climates than the ones they have today

5. Flaw
i. lacked explanation of HOW continents separated
 ii. mapping of the ocean floor corrected this flaw
a. mid ocean ridges
i. long zipper like chains of undersea mountains Ex: Mid Atlantic Ridge
ii. sources of new ocean floor

b. sea floor spreading

i. molten rock that flows up a crack in Earth’s crust and hardens into solid
strips of new rock on both sides or the crack

ii. older strips of rock move farther from the crack or ridge; newer strips
of rock are closer to the ridge

c. ocean trenches
i. subduction – sinking movement of ocean floor back into the mantle
(reason why oceans don’t get wider due sea floor spreading)
a. occurs where a dense plate of oceanic crust goes under an
adjacent section of Earth’s crust
i. ocean trenches – undersea valleys that are the deepest
parts of the ocean

b. process:
1. rock from oceanic crust cools and gets denser as it
moves away from mid ocean ridge
2. oceanic crust sinks into the mantle at an ocean trench
3. process can produce volcanoes and volcanic islands

c. maturity of oceans
1. spreading ridge
2. subduction zones
3. both
4. may appear new supercontinent because of the
recycling of the oceanic crust of the Pacific Ocean – is
getting smaller

B. Theory of Plate Tectonics

1. states that Earth’s lithosphere (crust and upper mantle) is broken into distinct plates
and explains specific pattern of motion among these plates as well as boundaries where
they meet
a. convection currents – causes movements of the plates
i. occurs in the mantle
 b. types of crusts
i. oceanic crust – dense
ii. continental crust – less dense

c. slow movement of plates have caused changes

i. in the locations of continents
ii. size and shape of ocean basins

d. prediction of where earthquakes and volcanoes should occur

i. plate boundaries
ii. Ring of Fire - area around the Pacific Ocean prone to volcanic activity
and earthquakes

2. Plate Boundaries
a. divergent boundaries
i. plates that move apart
ii. mid ocean ridges and rift valleys
iii. volcanoes and volcanic islands

b. convergent boundaries
i. plates that come together or collide
ii. mountains and mountain ranges
iii. subduction zones due to the collision of two oceanic plates form
volcanoes and volcanic islands

c. transform boundaries
i. plates slide past each other
ii. formation of earthquakes

III. EARTHQUAKES
A. an earthquake is the shaking and trembling that results from the movements of plates beneath the
Earth’s surface, releasing energy in the form of seismic waves.

B. Seismic Waves
1. vibrations that travel through Earth carrying energy

2. Types:
a. Primary Waves (P waves)
i. travel the fastest

ii. first to arrive at a location on Earth’s surface

iii. waves that compress and expand on the ground like a spring (resorte)

b. Secondary Waves (S waves)

i. travel more slowly

ii. can move to the ground side to side or up and down like a rope

c. Surface Waves
i. form when P waves and S waves reach Earth’s surface

ii. result in a rolling motion (circular)

iii. damage structures on the surface

3. Seismographs
a. device that measures seismic waves
b. converts the energy in the different waves to a visual called a seismogram
i. S and P waves are gentle and arrive first
ii. surface waves have larger amplitudes
iii. amplitudes of waves are used to quantify the size of an earthquake
iv. data is used to locate the epicenter of an earthquake

4. Magnitude
a. single number used by geologists based on an earthquake’s size
b. each whole number increase in this scale represents a 32 fold increase in energy
i. Example: the seismic waves of a magnitude 9 earthquake are 10 times larger
than the seismic waves of a magnitude 8 earthquake and the energy released is
32 times greater
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA-NC