ENV203/GEO205: Introduction to Geography

Lecture 07-08

North South University ENV203/GEO205

About 4.6 billion years.
• The oldest rocks are
found on the north slope
of Canada, the Canadian
Shield.
• These rocks are 4.0
billion years old. These
were dated from the
radioactive decay of
uranium into lead.
• The other 0.6 billion
years is an estimate of
how long it took the
earth to form.
Continents seem to fit together like pieces of a puzzle
Pangaea
 The Lithosphere (Greek, Lithos for
Stone) is the rigid, outermost layer of Lithospheric plate
outer crust and uppermost mantle. This
makes up the “Plate” of Plate Tectonics.

• The ~100-km-thick
surface of the Earth;
• Contains crust and part
of the upper mantle;
• It is rigid and brittle;
• Fractures to produce
earthquakes
 Geology: Wegre’s theory of continental drift

• According to the theory the earth is divided into a

number of plates. These plates shift due to sea floor
spreading and sub-duction;

• The continental masses connected together, broke up

and reformed several times during the four and a half
billion years of earth history;

• In the early Triassic period (225 to 190 million years

ago) most of the earth’s lands formed a single
continental areas called Pangea and was surrounded
by one ocean, called Palanthalassa;
 Geology: Wegre’s theory of continental drift

• The latest continental break up occurred about 200

million years ago and the plates began moving in
different directions. Pangea split first into two masses:
Laurasia and Gondwana;

• Lurasia later broke into three: the western most

forming North America and the eastern two forming
most of the Asian-European land mass;

• In Jurassic Period (194 to 136 million years ago) the

Indian portion of the Gondwana mass split off and
began moving north, towards Asia. The Indian &
Australian portion of Gondwana were on the same
plate known as the Indo –Australian plate;
 Geology: Wegre’s theory of continental drift

• Due to continual movement in different directions of

the Indo –Australian plate, the Indian portion of the
Gondwana moved north relatively fast & collided
with the European-Asian and East Asian plates in
the Eocene period (54 to 38 million years ago);

• Due to this huge collision the Indian plate moved

some 2,000 km into the Cathaysian (East Asian)
plate, which resulted in the uplift of the Himalayan
system and the large Tibetan plateau and very
considerable faulting in china;
 Geology: Wegre’s theory of continental drift

• In the Oligocene Period (38 to 28 million years ago),

some time after the plates collided, a portion of the
northeastern part of India fractured and sank below
sea level;

• This portion was gradually filled by sediments washed

down from the Himalayan system to form the Bengal
Basin.
• Alfred Wegener designed this model.
• Presented research to professionals.
• Did not provide a plausible
mechanism to explain how continents
drifted.
Similar distribution of fossils such as the Mesosaurus.
Logic behind Continental Drift
Fossil
Evidence
• Continental drift reexamined in 1960’s with new information.
• New theory developed: Seafloor spreading.
• Supporting evidence for seafloor spreading…
• - World seismicity
• - Volcanism
• - Age of seafloor
• - Paleomagnetism
• - Heat flow.

Theory combining continental drift and seafloor

spreading termed Plate Tectonics.
 Earthquake distribution matches plate boundaries.

Department of Environmental Science and Management

Course No. ENV 203/GEO 205
North South University
Youngest seafloor is at mid-ocean ridge and oldest seafloor
away from mid-ocean ridge.
 • A scientific theory describing the large-scale motion
of the plates making up the Earth's lithosphere since
tectonic processes began on Earth between 3.3 and
3.5 billion years ago.
• The model builds on the concept of continental drift,
an idea developed during the first decades of the 20th
century.
Plate Tectonics
Tectonic Plates
The plates are around 100 km (62 mi) thickPlatesand are
consist
madeof
of rigid
two principal types of material: lithosphere.
•oceanic crust (also called sima from silicon and
magnesium)
•continental crust (sial from silicon and aluminium).
Earth’s outermost layer composed of thin rigid plates moving
horizontally.
Plates interact with each other along their edges (plate
boundaries).
Plate boundaries have high degree of tectonic activity
- Mountain building
- Earthquakes
- Volcanoes

Three Types of
Plate Boundaries…
- Transform
- Divergent
- Convergent
 Three Basic Types of Plate Boundaries

Divergent

Convergent

Transform
 Three Basic Types of Plate Boundaries

Divergent
Convergent
Transform
Examples…

East African Rift Mid-Atlantic Ocean Ridge

 Three Basic Types of Plate Boundaries

Divergent

Convergent
Transform
Examples…

Mount Fuji Mount Lassen Himalayas

 Three Basic Types of Plate Boundaries

Divergent

Convergent

Transform
Examples…

San Andreas Fault

Calexico, California Carrizo Plains, Central California