Plate Tectonics By : Kelly Vogt

-History of Pangaea- The theory of Pangaea was originated in 1912 by a man named Alfred Wegener. The word Pangaea means “all lands” in Greek. The theory stated that continents were once together and collectively known as one supercontinent. It occurred in the Carboniferous Period.The theory didn’t have enough information to explain it, so scientists did not accept it. Alfred Wegener was a German geologist who came up with this theory of continental drift. He was born on November 1st, 1880 and died at the age of 50. He was also a meteorologist, which could have helped him come up with this theory because the weather could have had a major impact on the continental drift. Around the same time, the Contraction Theory was also being discussed, and it suggested that the planet was once a molten ball. Arthur Holmes proposed that the Earth's mantle contained convection cells that dissipated radioactive heat and moved the crust at the surface, which later assisted in the recognition of the continental drift theory. http://library.thinkquest.org/17701/high/pangaea

-Convergent Boundaries- Two plates push against each other, and one is forced down beneath the other.  A plate is a large block of the lithosphere that reacts to tectonic forces. When this happens near land, the earth starts to rise, forming mountain ranges. An oceanic trench, a long valley on the ocean floor, usually forms just off the shore, as one plate goes deep into the Earth’s core. These convergent boundaries commonly cause volcanoes, openings in the Earth's crust where molten lava, ash, and gases are ejected, as old crust melts. As two plates rub against one another, earthquakes, a sudden movement of the Earth’s crust, can occur near the convergent boundaries. http://www.kidsgeo.com/geology-for-kids/0046-convergent-boundaries.php

-Divergent Boundaries- Most commonly at ocean ridges, a tectonic boundary where two plates move away from each other and new crust is formed from magma sometimes occurs. This is called a Divergent Boundary. Divergent boundaries can cause mudslides, landslides, and sea floor spreading. Mudslides are slow-moving mudflows and landslides are downward slidings of earth and rock. http://en.wikipedia.org/Divergent_Boundary

-Transformation Boundary- When two plates are sliding along each other in opposing directions and due to friction when the plates buckle, they can cause earthquakes. are called transform boudaries. When these occur, an effect of them are mountains. Mountains are natural elevations of the earths surface.

-Real World Connections- There are fourteen major plates on Earth. There’s the African Plate, Antarctic Plate, Arabian Plate, Australian Plate, Caribbean Plate, Cocos Plate, Eurasian Plate, Indian Plate, Juan de Fuca Plate, Nazca Plate, North American Plate, Pacific Plate, Philippine Plate, Scotia Plate, South American Plate. We live on the North American Plate. Around us are the Caribbean Plate, Juan De Fuca Plate, Cocos Plate and the Pacific Plate. We could be in danger of hazards related to plate tectonics because of all the different plates pushing together causing different earthquakes, mudslides, volcanoes and more. I do anticipate that the United States will face these potential problems. www.wisegeek.com/how-many-tectonic-plates-are-there.htm