PLATE TECTONICS By: Karl Quilligan

Map of U.S.A

SECTION 1 HISTORY OF PANGEA: -Pangaea or “all Earth” existed until about 300 million years ago during Carboniferous period -Scientist & geologist Alfred Wegener developed idea of Pangaea, he was ridiculed for his theory because they didn’t have much proof about Pangaea -Wegener was a meteorologist as well as a geophysicist and won many awards in both backgrounds -Arthur Holmes helped prove Wegener’s theory

Alfred Wegener Pangaea

SECTION 2 Convergent Boundaries: -an edge of a lithospheric plate tectonic, usually at the edge of a continent -Hazards of convergent boundaries are avalanches, mudslides, landslides, earthquakes, trenches, and volcanoes -The Rockies in North America lie on the North American and Juan de Fuca Plate

HAZARDS OF CONVERGENT BOUNDARIES Landslide – falling/sliding of a mass of soil or rock down a steep slope Mudslide – downward movement of wet/saturated Earth Volcanoes – vent in Earth’s crust through which lava, ash, and steam are expelled

Hazards of Convergent Boundaries (cont.) Earthquakes – series of vibrations that cause the Earth’s crust to move and or crack Mountains – natural elevation abruptly rising to a summit, larger than a hill Trenches (in black) – long steep-sided depression in the ocean floor Avalanche – mass of snow and ice sliding down a mountain

EARTH’S TECTONIC PLATES AND MOVEMENTS Boundary – where a plate ends or changes to another plate e.g. - end of North American plate – start of Atlantic plate

Section 3 Divergent Boundaries – locations where plates are moving away from each other, occurs above rising convection currents -Hazards include volcanic “leaks.” A volcanic leak is when lava runs down hills; it doesn’t erupt, it just leaks. You also have to be careful of rifts and rift valleys; they form from two faults pulling apart -Iceland is splitting right down the middle; it lies along the Mid-Atlantic Range, a divergent boundary

Rift Valleys

Section 4 Transform boundary - Transform Boundaries are locations where two plates slide past one another. The fracture zone that forms a transform plate boundary is known as a transform fault. Most transform faults are found in the ocean basins -Hazards are mainly earthquakes, mudslides, landslides, and avalanches (depending on climate) -A well-known transform fault/boundary is the San-Andreas fault on the west coast of the U.S; it lies on the North American plate

Section 5 We live on the North American plate. All of the U.S (except Hawaii) is located on this plate The Cocos, Pacific, Eurasian, Caribbean, and African plates border the North American plate In Ohio, we are nowhere near the edge of a plate, therefore, we don’t have to worry about any rifts, avalanches, earthquakes, or volcanic activity. However, in places like California where they have a fault, earthquakes can be a major problem. In the near future, I don’t think any major disasters will happen, (unless you believe in the 2012 apocalypse)

WORKS CITED ary_and_the_continental_plates_involved_in_that_boundary ary_and_the_continental_plates_involved_in_that_boundary