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Plate Tectonics and the Ocean Floor. Continental Drift. Theory proposed by Alfred Wegener in 1912 Continents once formed a single landmass. Early Evidence. Age of Oceanic Crust. Courtesy of www.ngdc.noaa.gov. Paleomagnetism. Plate Tectonics – 1960’s. Explains HOW the plates moved. - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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Plate Tectonics and
the Ocean Floor
Continental Drift
• Theory proposed by Alfred Wegener in 1912• Continents once formed a single landmass
Early Evidence
Age of Oceanic Crust
Courtesy of www.ngdc.noaa.gov
Paleomagnetism
Plate Tectonics – 1960’s
• Explains HOW the plates moved
The Crust
Continental Crust- thick (10-70km)
- buoyant (less dense than oceanic crust) - mostly old
Oceanic Crust- thin (~7 km)- dense (sinks under continental crust)- young
Plate Movement
• “Plates” of lithosphere are moved around by the underlying hot mantle convection cells
• Divergent
• Convergent
• Transform
Three types of plate boundary
• Spreading ridges– As plates move apart new material is erupted to fill
the gap
Divergent Boundaries
Mid-Ocean Ridge• Underwater mountain
ranges• Due to plates pulling
away from each other• A Rift Valley forms in
the middle where magma comes out
• Have many fracture zones which break the ridge up
• Black smoker at a mid-ocean ridge hydrothermal vent in the Atlantic.
Close up at the mid-ocean ridge
• Iceland has a divergent plate boundary running through its middle
Iceland: An example of continental rifting
• There are three styles of convergent plate boundaries– Continent-continent collision– Continent-oceanic crust collision– Ocean-ocean collision
Convergent Boundaries
• Forms mountains, e.g. European Alps, Himalayas
Continent-Continent Collision
Himalayas
• Called SUBDUCTION
Continent-Oceanic Crust Collision
TRENCH
• Oceanic lithosphere subducts underneath the continental lithosphere
• Oceanic lithosphere heats and dehydrates as it subsides
• The melt rises forming volcanism
• E.g. The Andes
Subduction
Trenches• Due to one plate
subducting (going below) another plate
• Earthquakes • Many volcanoes and
volcanic island arcs form here
• When two oceanic plates collide, one runs over the other which causes it to sink into the mantle forming a subduction zone.
• The subducting plate is bent downward to form a very deep depression in the ocean floor called a trench.
• The worlds deepest parts of the ocean are found along trenches. – E.g. The Mariana Trench is 11 km deep!
Ocean-Ocean Plate Collision
• Where plates slide past each other
Transform Boundaries
Above: View of the San Andreas transform fault
Volcanism is mostly focused at plate margins
Pacific Ring of Fire
Other Ocean Features
Continental Shelf
• Part of a continent covered by water
• Gentle slope• Average depth is 60
m• Amount exposed
changes with sea level
Continental Slope
• Steep • May be cut by
submarine canyons• Sediment piles up at
the bottom and forms continental rise
Abyssal Plains
• Flattest area on earth• Cover ½ of deep ocean• Covered with fine
sediment
Seamounts
• Submerged volcanic mountains
• Called oceanic island if they rise above water
Guyot
• Seamounts that have been eroded and are now flat on top