Elementary Knowledge on

Continental Drift and Plate

Tectonics
Prepared by: Joanna B Avila
 Alfred Wegener
A German Climatologist and arctic
explorer who suggested the idea of
continental drift.

He proposed that all the continental

landmasses had once formed a single
supercontinent, Pangaea (Greek for “all
lands”), which had then split apart, the
modern continents moving to their
present positions via a process called
continental drift.
 Continental Drift
The movement of the Earth’s
Continents relative to each other,
thus appearing “drift” across the
ocean bed.

The idea that the continents move

around on Earths surface.

The theory that once all the

continents were joined in a super
continent which scientist calls
Pangaea.
Wegener found three main pieces
of evidence

Geologic – evidence in the layers of rocks across

continent
Fossil –evidence in the places certain fossils are found
Climate – evidence
in the changing
climates during
the past.
 PLATE
TECTONICS
 P l a t e T e c t o n i c s
Plate tectonics refers to
movements on Earth’s
surface, that is, the
lithosphere. This is a theory in
science explaining such
movements.

These tectonic plates are

suspended on molten layer of
Earth’s crust that comes
immediately below the
lithosphere; this layer is
called asthenosphere.
The Lithosphere is
broken into pieces
CONVECTION
CURRENTS
DRIVE THE
MOVEMENT
OF EARTH'S
RIGID
TECTONIC
PLATES IN
THE PLANET'S
FLUID
MOLTEN
MANTLE.
 01 TRANSFORM PLATE BOUNDARY

A transform boundary causes a fault between two plates of the lithosphere, which will slide
past one another. This motion does not create or destroy crust and will cause
earthquakes, but no volcanoes. A transform boundary occurs when two tectonic plates
move past one another.
Examples of transform plate boundary:
A broad zone forming as the Pacific
Plate slides northwestward past the
North American Plate. It includes
many lesser faults in addition to the
San Andreas Fault.
The San Andreas fault in California &
the North Anatolian fault in Turkey
 01 CONVERGENT PLATE BOUNDARY

Where tectonic plates converge, the one with thin oceanic crust subducts beneath the one
capped by thick continental crust. There are two types of convergent boundaries; A
SUBDUCTION ZONE which consists of material scraped off the ocean floor near the coast
and ISLAND ARC or a chain of volcanoes farther inland (volcanic arc).
Examples of convergent plate boundary:
The collision between the Eurasian
Plate and the Indian Plate that is
forming the Himalayas.
Subduction of the northern part of the
Pacific Plate and the NW North
American Plate that is forming the
Aleutian Islands.
 01 DIVERGENT PLATE BOUNDARY

A divergent boundary occurs when two tectonic plates move away from each
other. Along these boundaries, earthquakes are common and magma (molten
rock) rises from the Earth's mantle to the surface, solidifying to create new
oceanic crust.
Examples of divergent plate
boundary:
Mid-Atlantic Ridge
the East Pacific Rise
the Juan de Fuca Ridge and
the Galapagos Rise.
 1 2
Continental drift has an effect on manmade Understanding the processes that
structures. The most notable effects are
shape the Earth helps engineers design
felt at transform boundaries, where two
the structures in our communities to
tectonic plates move against one another.
withstand powerful natural events such
This can cause earthquakes and volcanoes,
which can be devastating to manmade
as earthquakes. For construction
structures. Engineers and architects need projects, especially those near active
to take continental drift into account when faults and coastlines, engineers
designing structures, in order to account consider the effects of plate tectonics.
for movement and instability.