C o n ti n en t al D r i f t

Alfred Lothar Wegener developed an idea that he called continental drift, which proposed that Earths

continents had once been joined as a single landmass that broke apart and sent the continents adrift. He called this supercontinent Pangaea (pan JEE uh), a Greek word that means all the earth, and suggested that Pangaea began to break apart about 200 mya. Since that time, he reasoned, the continents have continued to slowly move to their present positions, as shown in Figure

200 mya

135 mya

present

Of the many people who had suggested that continents had moved around, Wegener was the first to base his ideas on more than just the puzzle like fit of continental coastlines on either side of the Atlantic Ocean. For Wegener, these gigantic puzzle pieces were just the beginning. He also collected data to support his hypothesis, such as Evidence from rock formations, Evidence from fossils, Climatic evidence, Coal deposits and Glacial deposits. In the early 1900s, many people in the scientific community considered the continents and ocean basins to be fixed features on Earths surface. The theory of continental drift was never accepted by the scientific community. Continental drift had two major f laws that prevented it from being widely accepted. First, it did not satisfactorily explain what force could be strong enough to push such large Imasses over such great distances. Wegener thought that the rotation of Earth might be responsible, but physicists were able to show that this force was not nearly enough to move continents. Second, scientists questioned how the continents were moving. Wegener had proposed that the continents were plowing through a stationary ocean floor, but it was known that Earths mantle below the crust was solid. So, how could continents move through something solid? These two unanswered questions what forces could cause the movement and how continents could move through solids were the main reasons that continental drift was rejected. It was not until the early 1960s that new technology revealed more evidence about how continents move that scientists began to reconsider Wegeners ideas. Advances in seafloor mapping and in understanding Earths magnetic field provided the necessary evidence to show how continents move, and the source of the forces involved.

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Mapping the Ocean Floor Oceanic crust forms at ocean ridges and becomes part of the seafloor. Until the mid-1900s, most people, including many scientists, thought that the ocean floors were essentially flat. Many people also had misconceptions that oceanic crust was unchanging and was much older than continental crust. However, advances in technology during the 1940s and 1950s showed that all of these widely accepted ideas were incorrect. One technological advance that was used to study the ocean floor was the magnetometer. A magnetometer is a device that can detect small changes in magnetic fields. Towed behind a ship, it can record the magnetic field generated by ocean floor rocks. Another advancement that allowed scientists to study the ocean floor in great detail was the development of echo-sounding methods. One type of echo sounding is sonar. Developments in sonar technology enabled scientists to measure water depth and map the topography of the ocean floor. Ocean-Floor Topography The maps made from data collected by sonar and magnetometers surprised many scientists. They discovered that vast, underwater mountain chains called ocean ridges run along the ocean floors around Earth much like seams on a baseball. These ocean floor form the longest continuous mountain range on Earth. When they were first discovered, ocean ridges generated much discussion because of their enormous length and heightthey are more than 80,000 km long and up to 3 km above the ocean floor. Later, scientists discovered that earth-quakes and volcanism are common along the ridges. Maps generated with sonar data also revealed that underwater mountain chains had counterparts called deep-sea trenches. Trenches can be thousands of kilometers long and many kilo-meters deep. The deepest trench, called the Marianas Trench, is in the Pacific Ocean and is more than 11 km deep. Mount Everest, the worlds tallest mountain, stands at 9 km above sea level, and could fit inside the Marianas Trench with six Empire State buildings stacked on top. These two topographic features of the ocean floor ocean ridges and deep-sea trenches puzzled geologists for more than a decade after their discovery. Ocean Rocks and Sediments In addition to making maps, scientists collected samples of deep-sea sediments and the underlying oceanic crust. Analysis of the rocks and sediments led to two important discoveries. First, the ages of the rocks that make up the seafloor varies across the ocean floor, and these variations are predictable. Rock samples taken from areas near ocean ridges were found to be younger than samples taken from areas near deep-sea trenches. The samples showed that the age of oceanic crust consistently increases with distance from a ridge. The second discovery involved the sediments on the ocean floor. Measurements showed that ocean-floor sediments are typically a few hundred meters thick. Large areas of continents, on the other hand, are blanketed with sedimentary rocks that are as much as 20 km thick. Scientists knew that erosion and deposition occur in Earths oceans but did not understand why seafloor sediments were not as thick as their continental counterparts. Scientists hypothesized that the relatively thin layer of ocean sediments was related to the age of the ocean crust. Observations of ocean-floor sediments revealed that the thickness of the sediments increases

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with distance from an ocean ridge The pattern of thickness across the ocean floor was symmetrical across the ocean ridges.

Seafloor Spreading Using all the topographic, sedimentary, and paleomagnetic data from the seafloor, seafloor spreading was proposed. Seafloor spreading is the theory that explains how new ocean crust is formed at ocean ridges and destroyed at deep-sea trenches.

During seafloor spreading, magma, which is hotter and less dense than surrounding mantle material, is forced toward the surface of the crust along an ocean ridge. As the two sides of the ridge spread apart, the rising magma fills the gap that is created. When the magma solidifies, a small amount of new ocean floor is added to Earths surface. As spreading along a ridge continues, more magma is forced upward and solidifies. This cycle of spreading and the intrusion of magma continues the formation of ocean floor, which slowly moves away from the ridge. Of course, seafloor spreading mostly happens under the sea, but in Iceland, a portion of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge rises above sea level.

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Magnetism Earth has a magnetic field generated by the flow of molten iron in the outer core. This field is what causes a compass needle to point to the North. A magnetic reversal happens when the flow in the outer core changes and Earths magnetic field changes direction. This would cause compasses to point to the South. Magnetic reversals have occurred many times in Earths history. a magnetic field that has the same orientation as Earths present field is said to have normal polarity. A magnetic field that is opposite to the present field has reversed polarity. Paleomagnetism is the study of the history of Earths magnetic field. When lava solidifies, iron-bearing minerals such as magnetite crystallize. As they crys-tallize, these minerals behave like tiny compasses and align with Earths magnetic field. Data gathered from paleomagnetic studies of continental lava flows allowed scientists to construct a magnetic polarity time scale. Scientists knew that oceanic crust is mostly basaltic rock, which contains large amounts of iron-bearing minerals of volcanic origin. They hypothesized that the rocks on the ocean floor would show a record of magnetic reversals.By matching the patterns on the seafloor with the known pattern of reversals on land, scientists were able to determine the age of the ocean floor from magnetic recording. This method enabled scientists to quickly create isochron maps of the ocean floor. An isochron is an imaginary line on a map that shows points that have the same agethat is, they formed at the same time. In the isochron map shows that relatively young ocean-floor crust is near ocean ridges, while older ocean crust is found along deep-sea trenches.

Theory of Plate Tectonics

The evidence for seafloor spreading suggested that continental and oceanic crust move as enormous slabs, which geologists describe as tectonic plates. Tectonic plates are huge pieces of crust and rigid upper mantle that fit together at their edges to cover Earths surface. There are about 12 major plates and several smaller ones. These plates move very slowlyonly a few centimeters each yearwhich is similar to the rate at which fingernails grow. Plate tectonics is the theory that describes how tectonic plates move and shape Earths surface. They move in different directions and at different rates relative to one another and they interact with one another at their boundaries. Each type of boundary has certain geologic characteristics and processes associated with it. A divergent boundary occurs where tectonic plates move away from each other. A convergent boundary occurs where tectonic plates move toward each other. A transform boundary occurs where tectonic plates move horizontally past each other.

____________________________________________________________________________ **Plate Boundaries: Volcanoes, mountains, and deep sea trenches form at the boundaries between the plates.

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Earths crust and rigid upper mantle are broken into enormous slabs called tectonic plates that interact at their boundaries. Regions where two tectonic plates are moving apart are called divergent boundaries. Most divergent boundaries are found along the seafloor, where they form mid-ocean ridges. The actual plate boundary is located in a fault-bounded valley called a rift, which forms along a ridge. It is in this central rift that the process of seafloor spreading begins. The formation of new ocean crust at most divergent boundaries accounts for the high heat flow, volcanism, and earthquakes associated with these boundaries. Throughout millions of years, the process of sea-floor spreading along a divergent boundary can cause an ocean basin to grow wider. When continental crust begins to separate, the stretched crust forms a long, narrow depression called a rift valley. At convergent boundaries, two tectonic plates are moving toward each other. When two plates collide, the denser plate eventually descends below the other, less-dense plate in a process called subduction. Continental crust is composed mostly of minerals such as feldspar and quartz, which form less-dense, lighter-colored granitic rocks. The differences in density of the crustal material affects how they converge. The three types of tectonic boundaries and their associated landforms: In the oceanic-oceanic convergent boundary, a subduction zone is formed when one oceanic plate, which is denser as a result of cooling, descends below another oceanic plate. The process of subduction creates a deep-sea trench. Some examples of trenches and island arcs are the Marianas Trench and Marianas Islands in the West Pacific Ocean and the Aleutian Trench and Aleutian Islands in the North Pacific Ocean. Oceanic-continental Subduction zones are also found where an oceanic plate converges with a continental plate. Note that it is the denser oceanic plate that is subducted. Oceanic-continental convergence also produces a trench and volcanic arc. However, instead of forming an arc of volcanic islands, oceanic-continental convergence results in a chain of volcanoes along the edge of the continental plate. The result of this type of

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subduction is a mountain range with many volcanoes. The Peru-Chile Trench and the Andes mountain range, which are located along the western coast of South America, formed in this way. Continental-continental, the third type of convergent boundary forms when two continental plates collide. Continental-continental boundaries form long after an oceanic plate has converged with a continental plate. The continental crust that it pulls behind it cannot descend because continental rocks are less dense, and will not sink into the mantle. As a result, the edges of both continents collide, and become crumpled, folded, and uplifted. This forms a vast mountain range, such as the Himalayas Transform boundaries, a region where two plates slide horizontally past each other is a transform boundary. Transform boundaries are characterized by long faults, sometimes hundreds of kilometers in length, and by shallow earthquakes. Transform boundaries were named for the way Earths crust changes, or transforms, its relative direction and velocity from one side of the boundary to the other. Recall that new crust is formed at divergent boundaries and destroyed at convergent boundaries. Crust is only deformed or fractured somewhat along transform boundaries.

Causes of Plate Motions One of the main questions about the theory of plate tectonics has remained unanswered since Alfred Wegener first proposed continental drift. Convection is the transfer of thermal energy by the movement of heated material from one place to another. As in a lava lamp, the cooling of matter causes it to contract slightly and increase in density. The cooled matter then sinks as a result of gravity. Warmed matter is then displaced and forced to rise. This up-and-down flow produces a pattern of motion called convection current. Convection currents aid in the transfer of thermal energy from warmer regions of matter to cooler regions. Earths mantle is composed of partially molten material that is heated unevenly by radioactive decay from both the mantle itself and the core beneath it. Radioactive decay heats up the molten material in the mantle and causes enormous convection currents to move material throughout the mantle.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________ **Cause of movement: Convection currents in the mantle cause plates to move.

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Convection currents in the mantle, illustrated in figure are thought to be the driving mechanism of plate movements. Recall that even though the mantle is a solid, much of it moves like a soft, pliable plastic. The part of the mantle that is too cold and stiff to flow lies beneath the crust and is attached to it, moving as a part of tectonic plates. In the convection currents of the mantle, cooler mantle material is denser than hot mantle material. Mantle that has cooled at the base of tectonic plates slowly sinks downward toward the center of Earth. Heated mantle material near the core is then displaced, and like the wax warmed in a lava lamp, it rises. Convection currents in the mantle are sustained by this rise and fall of material which results in a transfer of energy between Earths hot interior and its cooler exterior. Although convection currents can be thousands of kilometers across, they flow at rates of only a few centimeters per year. Scientists think that these convection currents are set in motion by subducting slabs. How are convergent and divergent movements of tectonic plates related to mantle convection? The rising material in the convection current spreads out as it reaches the upper mantle and causes both upward and sideways forces. These forces lift and split the lithosphere at divergent plate boundaries. As the plates separate, material rising from the mantle supplies the magma that hardens to form new ocean crust. The downward part of a convection current occurs where a sinking force pulls tectonic plates downward at convergent boundaries.

To be continued

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