Sofía Tovar Figueroa

Listening and Speaking V

PLATES TECTONICS

220 years ago.

Over 220 million years ago the earth was formed by a unique structure

called "Pangea" , Pangea was the supercontinent that existed at the end

of the Paleozoic and Mesozoic that grouped most of the land surface of

the planet. It was formed by the movement of plates tectonic, some 300

million years ago joined all previous continents into one, then, about

200 million years ago, began to fracture and disintegrate up, it has been

fragmented to form the continents known in the XXI century.

WHAT ARE PLATES TECTONICS?

structure Igneous rock

the plates tectonics are structures that make up the earth.

A plate is a rigid block of solid rock that forms the Earth's

surface (lithosphere), this plate floats on molten igneous

rocks that are part of the Center of the Earth.

tectonic plates do not sink, as compared with metals that

form the core of the earth are relatively light. The plate

material is quartz and silicates primarily.

MATERIALS

silicate quartz

MOVEMENT

The plates are moved relative to each other driven movements of

the rock layers which are heated inside the planet. This movement

produced fractures that resulted in the formation of the continents.

Plates move on average, between 2 and 3 inches in a year, this may

sound slow. But over millions of years, these small plate movements

change the face of the earth.

HOW FAST DO PLATES MOVE?

2 and 3 inches

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN PLATES COLLIDE?

Products of the movement of the plates are earthquakes and

tsunamis. These phenomena occur when plates collide violently,

releasing large amounts of energy and produce strong movements

in the earth's surface or in the sea. As a result of internal movement

of the earth plates collide. This impact causes that the lithosphere

create a mountain range.

Collision has raised the terrain of Mount Everest

THE MOVEMENTS OF THE PLATES CREATE THREE TYPES OF BOUNDARIES

Divergent boundary- when plates are moving apart and new crust is

created by liquid rock pushing up from the mantle

Convergent boundaries -When the plates are moving relative to

each other and sometimes when one plate sinks or is adapted under

another

Transform boundary -When plates are moving pass each other and

cause friction.

The Knowledge of the displacements, scratches, shocks and

separations of the plates have been used to explain many

geological phenomena such as (earthquakes, volcanism, mountain

building and continental drift)

The major plates are: Pacific, the Americas, Eurasia,

India, Africa and Antarctica.

Small plates are :Nasca, Cocos, Philippines, Caribbean,

Arabia, Somalia and Juan de Fuca

Colombia is located in The South American Plate

The Nazca plate and the Caribbean plate