Plate Tectonics Hypothesis - UW Courses Web...
Transcript of Plate Tectonics Hypothesis - UW Courses Web...
Earth’s crust is broken into about 12 rigid plates Plates move ~ cm/year 3 types of plate boundaries:
divergent creation of new seafloor convergent return of crust to Earth’s interior transverse
Plate Tectonics Hypothesis
Spreading Subduction Plate motion
transform
Earth’s Tectonic Plates
East Pacific Rise Topography
Divergent plate boundary
opening at 15 cm/yr
East-African Rift
opening at 6 mm/yr
Convergent Plate Boundaries: Ocean-Ocean
Kavachi, Soloman Islands March 26, 2002
Convergent Plate Boundaries: Ocean-Continent
Andes
Convergent Plate Boundaries: Continent-Continent
Himalayas
Examples of Plate Boundaries
O-O convergent
O-O divergent
O-C convergent
O-C convergent
O-O divergent
C-C divergent
O-O divergent
San Andreas Fault
Transform Boundaries
Mid-Atlantic Ridge
San Andreas Fault
Transform Boundaries
Mid-Atlantic Ridge