DEFORMATION OF THE CRUST

Report by: Claude Felix Belangel

CONTENTS
• Plate Tectonics
• The Theory of Continental Drift
• Evidence in Support of Continental Drift
• Seafloor Spreading and Subduction
• The Theory of Plate Tectonics
• Tectonic Plate Movement
• Hot Spots in the Mantle
• Geologic Time and Paleogeography
PLATE TECTONICS
PLATE TECTONICS

• Catastrophism
• the concept that present landscapes were created
by a previous period of great cataclysms.
• Uniformitarianism
• the idea that internal and external Earth processes
operated in the geologic past slowly.
THE THEORY OF CONTINENTAL DRIFT
THE THEORY OF CONTINENTAL DRIFT

• Alfred Wegener
• A German climatologist who proposed the theory of
continental drift.
• Continental Drift
• The idea that continents and other landmasses have
shifted their positions during Earth history.
THE THEORY OF CONTINENTAL DRIFT
• Pangaea
• A hypothetical supercontinent from which all the other
continents came.
• Gondwana
• The southern hemisphere where the continents of
South America, Africa, Australia, Antarctica and India
came from.
• Laurasia
• The northern hemisphere where North America,
Europe and Asia came from.
EVIDENCE IN SUPPORT OF
CONTINENTAL DRIFT
EVIDENCE IN SUPPORT OF CONTINENTAL DRIFT

• Paleomagnetism
• A phenomenon where iron-bearing minerals in rock
record the magnetic field of Earth as it existed when
the rock solidified.
• Paleogeographic Reconstructions
• Makes use of the latitudinal movement of
landmasses to explain why different locations have
different climates.
SEAFLOOR SPREADING AND
SUBDUCTION
SEAFLOOR SPREADING AND SUBDUCTION
• Seafloor Spreading
• The phenomenon where new oceanic crust forms
along the midoceanic ridges and move slowly away
from the ridges.
• Polarity Reversals
• When the north and south poles switch location.
• Subduction
• The process by which Earth material moves down to
the subsurface.
THE THEORY OF PLATE TECTONICS
THE THEORY OF PLATE TECTONICS
• Lithospheric Plates
• Large segments of the Earth’s lithosphere.
• Tectonics
• Involve large-scale forces originating within Earth.
• Diverge
• When plates pull away from each other
• Converge
• When they push towards each other
• Lateral Movement
• Plates moving alongside each other.
TECTONIC PLATE MOVEMENT
TECTONIC PLATE MOVEMENT
• Plate Divergence
• The pulling apart of plates.
• Constructive Plate Margins
• Spreading centers where new crust forms.
• Plate Convergence
• The pushing together of plates.
• Island Arcs
• Created when volcanoes form where oceanic crust lies
on either side of a convergent plate boundary.
TECTONIC PLATE MOVEMENT
• Continental Collision
• Also known as Continental Suturing, this is when
continental crusts converge with each other.
• Transform Movement
• Lateral sliding along plate boundaries.
• Transform Faults
• Plate boundaries along which lateral movement
takes place.
HOT SPOTS IN THE MANTLE
HOT SPOTS IN THE MANTLE

• Hot Spots
• Masses of molten rock in the mantle which gets
passed over as the Pacific plate moves toward the
northwest.
GEOLOGIC TIME AND
PALEOGEOGRAPHY
GEOLOGIC TIME AND PALEOGEOGRAPHY
• Paleogeography
• The study of past geographic environments
• Era
• Long units of time which divide the calendar of Earth
history.
• Period
• Units of time which divide eras.
• Epochs
• Smaller units of time which further subdivide the periods
of eras.
THE END