PLATE TECTONICS THEORY

AND EARTH’S HISTORY

CHAPTER 3
EARTH’S HISTORY

 Over time, Earth has altered. It has gone through several processes and
extinctions, which are now understood to have contributed to its
development. These were all derived from the remains of extinct animals
that are now utilized as hints to comprehend how life could have existed in
the past.
 The rock cycle has been discussed, and it has been noted that the Earth's
surface is continually charging as a result of both internal and external
activities
 They believed that the locations of continents and ocean basins have remained
constant throughout history
Leonardo da Vinci

 Leonardo da Vinci initially proposed the theory that locations

where mountains are located may have once been oceans in
the 1500s after seeing fossil seashells in the high mountains of
Italy.
 The theory that mountains were uplifted and weathering
eroded them down through time was further confirmed by
further fossils of marine animals discovered well above the
present sea level.
 And since the 1800s, the majority of scientists have agreed
that the Earth's crust is experiencing significant vertical
motions or rising.
CONTINENTAL DRIFT THEORY

Alfred Wegener
• German polar researcher
CONTINENTAL DRIFT THEORY

 .In his theory of continental drift, Alfred Wegener asserts that the continents
have moved across the globe from where they formerly constituted Pangaea, a
massive landmass.
 The way the present continents fit together like a puzzle was one of Wegener's
geographical proofs. Despite being separated by the Atlantic Ocean, West Africa,
North America, Newfoundland, Ireland and Wales are all comprised of the same
folded rocks.
 Wegener found evidence of a glacial episode in Southern Africa, South America,
Australia, and India. This provided more evidence that the supercontinent was
actually close to the South Pole.
CONTINENTAL DRIFT THEORY

 Even with entrancing evidence, the Continental Drift Theory was unconvincing to
the scientific community because Wegener was unable to identify a credible
mechanism as to why and how the continents moved.
 Eventually though, the critics began to accept the theory when a new evidence
supporting the theory was formed. This was the tectonic plates theory.
SEAFLOOR SPREADING

 The tectonic plates theory was created with the idea of wandering poles.
Scientists were studying volcanic rocks to determine the location of the
magnetic poles. Volcanic material has magnetic properties and when it
crystallizes, they are pulled or aligned parallel to the Earth's magnetic
field. These findings allowed scientists to discover the polarity of the
Earth's magnetic field and the magnetic inclination that showed the
poles.
 Many people in the past believed that the ocean floor is flat but this idea
was scrapped after the Invention of sonar. With the use of sonar, the
ocean ridge system was discovered.
SONAR

 An instrument that uses

soundwaves to measure
distance
OCEANRIDGE SYSTEM

 A continuous range of mountain chains under the

surface of the ocean
Harry Hees

 was one of the first scientists to use sonar to study the mid-
ocean ridge system. He and his team believe that the oceanic
crust is moving away from the ridge and this hypothesis was
called the Seafloor Spreading Hypothesis.
Spreading Hypothesis

 This hypothesis showed that the ocean floor is split along the ridge where
magma rises to form the new ocean floor.
 New rock pushes old rocks far from the mid-ocean ridge equally on both
sides. This means that rocks near the ridge are younger that those located
further away.
EVIDENCE OF SEAFLOOR SPREADING

 When magma cools down, the magnetic polarity of the Earth is also
preserved in those rocks. Because of this, scientists were able to discover
the magnetic reversals in the ocean floor and determined that the ocean
floor is moving at the rate of 10 cm per year.
MAGNETIC REVERSAL

 is when the Earth's magnetic fields flip or switch over and over again.
When the field points to the North, it is the period of 'normal magnetism'
and when it points towards the South, it marks the point of 'reverse
magnetism'.
PLATE TECTONICS THEORY
-The tectonic plates theory

 Confirmation of the seafloor spreading hypothesis proved that continents are not
moving above the ocean floor. The lithosphere is the rigid layer that is composed
of the uppermost mantle and the crust that carry the continents and the oceans
basins along. These fragments of the lithosphere are called plates. Underneath
this crust is a weaker region known as asthenosphere, which behaves like a
fluid. This became the basis of plate tectonics theory.
Arthur Holmes

 Proposed the driving force for this plate movement

back in 1919. He suggested that the movement in the
mantle carries the plates along. The convection
currents produced in the asthenosphere are the ones
making them to Earth.
3 Types of plate boundaries

 Convergent
 Divergent
 Transform
CONVERGENT

 A Convergent boundary is also known as destructive margin

since this is where the collision between two plates
occurs.Oceanic-oceanic, oceanic-continental, and continental-
continental are all types of convergence.
 An oceanic crust collides with a continental crust, causing
denser oceanic material to sink beneath the continental crust
and subduction zones to form volcanic arcs. At the subduction
zone, partial melting occurs, leading to the formation of
volcanic arcs.
 Trenches are features of the ocean floor that are
present in both oceanic-oceanic boundary and oceanic 'de
-continental boundary/Subduction occurs at the trenches,
therefore, these are characterized as the deepest parts of
Earth, according to a study by the US Geological Survey.
OCEANIC-OCEANIC

 In oceanic-oceanic convergence, two oceanic

crusts collide; one crust sinks underneath the
other.
 This triggers melting, leading to the formation of
volcanic island are
OCEANIC CONTINENTAL

 An oceanic crust collides with a continental

crust, causing denser oceanic material to
sink beneath the continental crust and
subduction zones to form volcanic arcs. At
the subduction zone, partial melting occurs,
leading to the formation of volcanic arcs.
CONTINENTAL-CONTINENTAL

 In continental continental two continental

plates collide but instead of one plate sinking
beneath the other, folding occurs, and mountain
ranges are formed.
DIVERGENT

 A Divergent boundary is the opposite of convergent

boundary: two plates move away from each other.
20 Divergent boundaries create new crust; thus, they
are also known as constructive
margins/Subduction occurs at the trenches,
therefore, these are characterized as the deepest
parts of Earth.
TRANSFORM

 Transform boundary is also known as

conservative plate margin since two plates
just move past each other neither Creating
nor destroying land.
 The evolution of the ocean basins started during the time when Pangaea was still present. Along
convergent boundaries, the ocean floor is being destroyed. Continued movement of the plates
created the Himalayas at one side and the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Ocean at the other side.
 Geological oceanographers are those who study all the features of the ocean floor and how
these were 2223 formed they hypothesize how the ocean basins were formed through different
processes, such as plate tectonics./Panthalassa is also called the Paleo-Pacific or "old Pacific".
 Continents do not end at the point where the ocean meets the land. They may extend slightly
into the oceans, called continental margin/There are two types of continental margin: passive
and active An active continental margin only has a continental shelf and a continental
slope. while A passive continental margin consists of a continental shelf, continental
slope, and continental rise.
The different features of a continental margin are the
following:

 1. The continental shelf is the gently-sloping submerged portion of the continent. 24

 2.The continental slope is the steep slope after the continental shelf. It is still part of the
continent.
 3. The continental rise is the gently-sloping area after the continental slope and before
the ocean floor.
 4. The trenches are the deepest parts of the ocean. These are narrow depressions
caused by the subduction of the ocean floor along the convergent boundaries.
 5. The mid-oceanic ridge is the mountain range system in the ocean. It is responsible for
the production of new ocean floor.
QUIZ
• IDENTIFICATION

• MODIFIED TRUE OR FALSE

IDENTIFICATION
-Identify the correct answer of each statement

1. He was a German Polar Researcher, Geophyscist, and

Meteorologist ?
2. It is consist of a continental shelf, Continental slope, and
Continental rise?
3. It is showed that the ocean floor is split along the ridge where
the magma rises from the new ocean floor?
MODIFIED TRUE OR FALSE
-Write TRUE if the statement is true, if the statement is false change the
underlined word to make it true

1. Divergent boundaries are boundaries where two plates move

towards each other
2. Boundaries are features of the ocean floor that are present in
both oceanic-oceanic boundary and oceanic-continental
boundary.
3. In transform boundary two plates just moves past one
another, neither creating or destroying land
 7-10 Give atleast four features of continental
margin
ANSWERS
1. Alfred Wegener
2. Passive Continental Margin
3. Seafloor Spreading

4. Convergent boundary
5. Trenches
6. True

7-10. Continental Slope, Continental Shelf, Continental, Continental Rise, Trenches, and Mid-oceanic
Ridge
THANK YOU FOR
LISTENING
GROUP 3