1. Plate Tectonics
Geo Science

2. Lithosphere
Lithosphere- the crust and the upper mantle together. (The only cooled solid rock layer of Earth)

3. Asthenosphere
Asthenosphere- the area below the lithosphere which has started to cool and has a plastic-like consistency.

4. Continental Drift Theory
Continental Drift Theory- The early idea by Alfred Wegener that stated, the Earth’s land was once all together in a Super Continent called Pangea, which broke apart and drifted to their current positions.

5. Wegener’s Evidence
Fossils
Landforms
Climate

6. Fossils
Same species of land animals found on opposite sides of Atlantic Ocean
Mesosaurus and Glossopteris

7. Landforms
Similar mountain ranges on different continents now separated by water
Wegener found rocks of similar composition and age on Africa and S. America

8. Wegener’s Problem
He could not identify, “the mechanism that caused the Continents to plow through the Oceans”

9. Plates
Plates- broken pieces of the lithosphere

10. Tectonics
Tectonics- the forces that change the way the crust looks

11. Plate Tectonics
Plate Tectonics- the theory that the Earth’s lithosphere is broken into plates and float on the asthenosphere, causing deformation of the Earth’s surface.

12. Subduction
Subduction- when an ocean plate goes under another plate and melts back into the mantle

13. Plate Boundaries 3 types of plate boundaries Divergent Transform
Convergent

14. Divergent Boundary Plates move away from each other Creates: new crust
Example: Mid Ocean Ridge and a Rift Valley

15. Transform Boundaries Plates slide past each other Creates: Earthquakes
Example: San Andreas Fault

16. Convergent Boundary 3 Types of Convergent Boundaries
Plates come towards each other

17. Ocean-Ocean Convergent
Creates: an island arc (Volcanoes in the ocean)
Example: Japan
The denser ocean plate subducts

18. Ocean-Continent Convergent
Creates: Volcanoes on land (Volcanic Mountains)
Example: Andes Mountains
Ocean plate subducts under the continent

19. Continent-Continent Convergent
Creates: Mountains
Example: Himalayan Mountains
No subduction