Plate Tectonics Shake, Rattle, & Roll!

Key Vocabulary Plate tectonics Continental drift Asthenosphere Sea floor spreading Lithosphere Continental rift Mantle Earthquake Continental Crust Tsunami Oceanic Crust Volcanic activity Pangaea Oceanic trench Convergent Oceanic ridge Divergent Rift valley Transform Mountain building Subduction Island arc Collision Convection

Plate Tectonics a scientific theory that describes the large scale motions of the Earth's plates which make up the lithosphere. These plates rest on the asthenosphere.

Layers of the Earth

Plate Movement It is believed that tectonic plates are moved by several different forces: Rotation of the earth Tidal forces of sun & moon Gravitational pull Convection cell

Alfred Lothar Wegener Developed the theory of Pangea & Continental Drift.

Pangea

The Case for Pangea

Continental Drift Direction of plate drift

Types of Plate Motion Convergent Divergent Transform Tectonic Plate Motion http://www.passmyexams.co.uk Under the Earth & Beyond – Plate Tectonic Motion

Convergent Boundaries- Where two tectonic plates come together There are 3 types of convergent boundaries, all 3 cause earthquakes. Oceanic>Continental Volcanoes Oceanic trenches Oceanic>Oceanic Tsunamis Island arcs Continental>Continental Mountain building

Oceanic Continental

Andes Mountains- The main cause of the rise of the Andes is the compression of western rim of the South American Plate due to the subduction of the Nazca Plate and the Antarctic Plate.

Oceanic Oceanic

Philippine Islands- Oceanic to oceanic convergence- located near the edge of the Pacific Ring of Fire

Continental Continental

Himalayan Mountains- Formed by the collision of the Eurasian Plate and the Indian Plate.

Divergent Boundaries- where two tectonic plates pull apart There are 2 types of divergent boundaries. Sea Floor Spreading Oceanic Ridges Continental Rift Rift Vallies

Sea Floor Spreading

Age of the Ocean Floor- Red is the newest – Blue is the oldest

Continental Rift

Rifting earth of Ethiopia three plates are pulling away from one another: the Arabian Plate, and the two parts of the African Plate(the Nubian and the Somalian)

Transform Boundaries- where two tectonic plates grind past each other. A transform boundary is just that, a transform boundary. Transform boundaries can have jagged edges that get caught on each other, when this happens massive pressure builds up which releases in an: Earthquake.

Transform Boundary

Transform Boundary Arial photo of the San Andreas Fault Border of the Pacific & North American plate, 810 miles long. Arial photo of the San Andreas Fault