Plate Tectonics Notes

Notes

http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Imgs/Gif/PlateTectonics/Maps/map_plate_tectonics_world.gif

Plate Tectonics• Theory of Plate Tectonics – • explains the way that

continents separated into today’s land masses from Pangea

• The study of plate movement and the features that they affect.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/tryit/tectonics/images/convectioncurrent.gif

Major Plates

The lithosphere is broken into 8 major plates

•Eurasian•African•Indo-Australian•Pacific•North American•South American•Antarctic•Nazca

Find the 7 Major Plates

When plates move they cause:

• Ocean basins – (anywhere on Earth covered by ocean water)

• Mountain Ranges

• Islands

• Volcanoes

• Earthquakes

Ocean Basin

5 Major Oceans-

Pacific OceanAtlantic OceanIndian OceanSouthern OceanArctic Ocean

All Ocean water

http://www.belmont.sd62.bc.ca/teacher/geology12/photos/tectonics/Plate%20Boundaries.jpg

What features do you think are formed at each of the following boundaries?

Types of Plate Boundaries

http://www.n-d-a.org/images/tectonic-plate-boundaries.jpg

Convergent Boundary

•Subduction – When the denser plate slides under the less dense plate•Volcanoes and frequent earthquakes occur at the boundaries

http://tasaclips.com/illustrations/Convergent_Boundary.jpg

Convergent Boundary

•Folded Mountains occur when 2 continental plates collide

http://tasaclips.com/illustrations/Convergent_Boundary.jpg

Divergent Boundaryc

• Plate move away from each other

• Form ocean basins

• Rift Valleys

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ejqMoM1Uaa4/Sh6ZE5I2tiI/AAAAAAAAADU/7jMa6rVEIXU/s320/db.jpg

Rift Valley formed

Transform Boundary

• Plates slide past one another

• causes earthquakes• It doesn’t destroy or

build Earth’s crust.• San Andreas Fault

is an example of this boundary.

http://www.nature.nps.gov/geology/usgsnps/pltec/SAtransform244x201.gif

SAN ANDREAS FAULT

Find the Plate Boundaries

Seismic Activity