Unit 6.

5
Tectonic plates
Continental drift
Examples
Fossil Record
Magnetic Striping
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Convergent Boundaries:

Description: At convergent boundaries, tectonic plates move toward each

other and collide or converge.

Resulting Features: When two plates collide, one may be forced beneath the
other in a process called subduction. This can lead to the formation of deep
ocean trenches, volcanic arcs, and mountain ranges.

Example: The collision between the Indian Plate and the Eurasian Plate has
formed the Himalayan mountain range.

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Divergent Boundaries:

Description: At divergent boundaries, tectonic plates move away from each other.

Resulting Features: As the plates separate, magma rises from below the Earth's
surface to fill the gap, creating new crust. This process is known as seafloor spreading.
Divergent boundaries are often found along mid-ocean ridges.

Example: The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is a divergent boundary where new oceanic crust is
formed as the Eurasian and North American plates move apart.

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Transform Boundaries:

Description: At transform boundaries, tectonic plates slide past each other

horizontally.

Resulting Features: The movement along transform boundaries is

characterized by earthquakes. There is no creation or destruction of crust at
these boundaries; instead, the plates grind against each other.

Example: The San Andreas Fault in California is a well-known transform

boundary where the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate slide past
each other.

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 Plate tectonics is a relatively

“Continental new theory. It was first
proposed in 1912 by Alfred

drift." Lother Wegener as a theory

called "continental drift."

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FOSSIL RECORD
Evidence he found included similar plant and animal
fossils on the west coast of Africa and the east coast of
South America. Other fossil evidence for plate tectonics
includes tropical plant fossils found in the Antarctic and
glacial deposits in the arid Vaal River Valley in Africa. If
the continents hadn't moved, what could explain this
evidence?
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Seafloor provide strong evidence for

tectonic theory
 Stripes of magnetic material in the seafloor provide strong
evidence for tectonic theory. The stripes alternate between those
with magnetic material orientated toward magnetic north, and
those oriented in the opposite direction.
 The Earth’s magnetic field flips every few hundred thousand
years, and the stripes on the ocean floor show a record of those
changes. By estimating when the flips occurred and pairing that
with the distance the strips have moved from the spreading zone,
scientists can estimate how fast the continents are moving.

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Different Continents, Same Fossils

One example is an extinct reptile called Mesosaurus,
which flourished 275 million years ago. This fossil is
found in two localized areas, in southern Africa and
near the southern tip of South America. Today, these
areas are separated by almost 5,000 miles of Atlantic
Ocean. Although Mesosaurus was a sea-dwelling
creature, it inhabited shallow coastal waters and was
unlikely to have crossed such a huge expanse of
ocean.
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More Fossil Evidence

For example the fern-like plant Glossopteris,
which flourished almost 300 million years ago,
is found in Antarctica, Australia and India as
well as Africa and South America. This indicates
that Glossopteris lived at a time when all of
these continents were joined in a single super-
continent, which geologists refer to as Pangaea.

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Earth has a magnetic field

The Earth's magnetic field is primarily
generated by the movement of molten iron
and nickel in its outer core, a process known
as the geodynamo. This movement is driven
by the heat escaping from the Earth's interior.

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Earth has a giant magnetic field

Ever wondered why a compass points north? Well,
that's because our Earth has a giant magnetic field.
It's like a giant invisible magnet, with one end near
the North Pole and the other near the South Pole.
Now, here's the cool part – scientists have noticed
something interesting about this magnetic field. It's
not constant; sometimes it flips! Imagine if your
compass suddenly pointed south instead of north.
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Reversal of magnetic field

 This flipping of the magnetic field is linked to our Earth's tectonic
plates – these are like puzzle pieces that make up the Earth's surface.
When these plates move around, it can cause the magnetic field to do a
little dance, changing direction over time.
 So, our Earth has this magnetic field, and its occasional flips are
connected to the movements of these tectonic plates. It's like a
magnetic story happening right under our feet!

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Molten iron and nickel in its outer core.

The magnetic field of the Earth, and of other planets
that have magnetic fields, is generated by
dynamo action in which convection of molten iron in the
planetary core generates electric currents which in turn
give rise to magnetic fields.
Don’t forget: The Earth has a magnetic field because of the
movement of molten iron and nickel in its outer core. This
movement generates a geodynamo, creating a magnetic
field around the planet.
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Geomagnetic reversal
A geomagnetic reversal is a change in
a planet's magnetic field such that the
positions of magnetic north and
magnetic south are interchanged (not to
be confused with geographic north and
geographic south)

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Earth as a bar magnet

The overall configuration and behavior of this
magnetic field are similar to what one would expect
from a bar magnet. The North Pole of the Earth's
magnetic field is roughly aligned with the
geographic South Pole, and the South Pole of the
magnetic field is aligned with the geographic North
Pole. This alignment is consistent with the behavior
of a bar magnet.

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Reversal / Flip
There have been at least 183
reversals over the last 83 million
years (on average once every
~450,000 years).

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Volcanic Rocks:
 In the early 20th century, geologists such as Bernard Brunhes first
noticed that some volcanic rocks were magnetized opposite to the
direction of the local Earth's field.
 Volcanic Rocks: When lava flows and solidifies, it can trap the
magnetic orientation of the Earth's field at that time. Studying the
magnetic properties of volcanic rocks helps in understanding the
magnetic history.
 At the time, the Earth's polarity was poorly understood, and the
possibility of reversal aroused little interest.

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Magnetic striping
 Magnetic striping on the sea floor is a phenomenon observed along
mid-ocean ridges, which are underwater mountain ranges where new
oceanic crust is formed through volcanic activity. This process plays a
crucial role in the theory of plate tectonics. Magnetic striping provides
evidence for the seafloor spreading hypothesis proposed by Harry Hess
and Robert Dietz in the early 1960s.

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Magnetic striping
Magnetic Stripes on Ocean Floors: Mid-ocean
ridges are areas where new oceanic crust is
formed. As the molten rock solidifies, it records
the prevailing magnetic field. Alternating
magnetic stripes parallel to the ridges have been
observed, indicating periods of normal and
reversed magnetic fields. This is known as
magnetic striping.
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Consequences
 Hypotheses have also advanced toward linking reversals to
mass extinctions.
 Earth's field disappears entirely during reversals. [5 1 ] They argue
that the atmosphere of Mars may have been eroded away by the
solar wind because it had no magnetic field to protect it. They
predict that ions would be stripped away from Earth's atmosphere
above 100 km.

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Earthquakes
 Earthquakes are more likely to occur on the boundaries of
tectonic plates. Imagine the Earth's outer layer, called the
crust, being made up of big puzzle pieces called tectonic
plates. These plates are constantly moving, but they don't
just slide smoothly past each other; sometimes they crash
into each other, pull apart, or slide against one another.
 Now, when these plates interact, they create what we call
earthquake zones. It's like when two pieces of a puzzle rub
against each other or collide – it can cause things to shake.
This shaking is what we feel as an earthquake.
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