Environmental

Management
 Continental drift
Continental driftis the movement of the
Earth'scontinents.
This is due to the mantles movements
which causes the tectonic plates to move
 Plate tectonics is the scientific theory
that attempts to explain the movements
of the Earth's lithosphere that have
formed the landscape features we see
across the globe today.
By definition the word "plate" in
ABOUT TECTONIC

geologic terms means a large slab of

solid rock. "Tectonics" is a part of the
Greek root for "to build" and together
the terms define how the Earth's surface
is built up of moving plates.
So basically the earth's lithosphere is
made up of many individual plates (8
major plates and other minor ones) of
PLATES

solid rock that floats upon the hot

mantle.
Churning currents in the molten rocks
below propel them along like a jumble of
conveyor belts.
How tectonic plates move
Plate Boundries
Convergent Boundries

Divergent boundries

Transform-fault boundries
 Convergent Boundries
The plates basically m,ove towards
each other and destruct land

Basic movement of plates (in convergent boundrie

s)
Oceanic-continental convergence
Oceanic-oceanic convergence
Continental-continental convergence
Imagine these are two plates
 Oceanic-continental
convergence
When an
oceanic plate
pushes into and
subducts* under
a continental
plate, the
overriding
continental plate
is lifted up and a
mountain range
*forced sideways and downwards into the mantle is created.
Oceanic-oceanic
convergence
When two oceanic
plates converge one is
usually subducted
under the other and in
the process a deep
oceanic trench is
formed.

For example -
Marianas Trench is a
deep trench created
as the result of the
Phillipine Plate
 Continental-continental
convergence
When two continents meet
head-on, neither is
subducted because the
continental rocks are
relatively light and, like
two colliding icebergs,
resist downward motion.
Instead, the crust tends to
buckle and be pushed
upward or sideways.
The collision of India into Asia 50 million years ago caused the
Eurasian Plate to crumple up and override the Indian Plate.
After the collision, the slow continuous convergence of the two
plates over millions of years pushed up the Himalayas and the
Tibetan Plateau to their present heights.
 Divergent Boundries
Basic movement of divergent boundries
Detailed information
 Divergent Boundries
At divergent boundaries new
crust is created as two or
more plates pull away from
each other.
Oceans are born and grow
wider where plates diverge
or pull apart.
when a diverging boundary
occurs on land a 'rift', or
separation will arise and over
time that mass of land will
break apart into distinct land
masses and the surrounding
water will fill the space
between them
 Transform-fault boundries
Basic movement
Detailed information
Extra information
 Transform-fault boundries
Transform-Fault Boundaries are where two
plates are sliding horizontally past one
another. These are also known as transform
boundaries or more commonly as faults.
Most transform faults are found on the ocean
floor. They commonly offset active
spreading ridges, producing zig-zag plate
margins, and are generally defined by
shallow earthquakes.
A few, however, occur on land.
 Extra Information
The San Andreas fault zone in California is a transform
fault that connects the East Pacific Rise, a divergent
boundary to the south, with the South Gorda -- Juan de
Fuca -- Explorer Ridge, another divergent boundary to
the north. The San Andreas is one of the few transform
faults exposed on land. The San Andreas fault zone,
which is about 1,300 km long and in places tens of
kilometers wide, slices through two thirds of the length
of California. Along it, the Pacific Plate has been
grinding horizontally past the North American Plate for
10 million years, at an average rate of about 5 cm/yr.
Land on the west side of the fault zone (on the Pacific
Plate) is moving in a northwesterly direction relative to
the land on the east side of the fault zone (on the
North American Plate).
 Earthquakes
Though the oceanic plate as a whole
sinks smoothly and continuously into the
subduction trench (convergent
movement), the deepest part of the
subducting plate breaks into smaller
pieces. These smaller pieces become
locked in place for long periods of time
before moving suddenly and generating
large earthquakes. Such earthquakes are
often accompanied by uplift of the land
by as much as a few meters.
 epicenter
the point on Earth's
surface directly above
the focus point of an
earthquake
focus
the point below Earth's
surface where rock
breaks under stress and
causes an earthquake
(occurs at convergent
and transform
boundaries)
 Volcanoes
A volcano is a place on the Earth's surface
(or any other planet's or moon's surface)
where molten rock, gases and pyroclastic
debris erupt through the earth's crust.
Volcanoes vary quite a bit in their
structure - some are cracks in the earth's
crust where lava erupts, and some are
domes, shields, or mountain-like structures
with a crater at the summit.
Caused by divergent plates pulling apart
 Volcano-tectonic
earthquakes
Earthquakes produced by stress changes in solid rock
due to the injection or withdrawal ofmagma(molton
rock) are calledvolcano-tectonic earthquakes.
These earthquakes can cause land to subside and can produce
large ground cracks. These earthquakes can occur as rock is
moving to fill in spaces where magma is no longer present.
Volcano-tectonic earthquakes don't indicate that the volcano
will be erupting but can occur at anytime.
The second category of volcanic earthquakes arelong period
earthquakeswhich are produced by the injection of magma
into surrounding rock. These earthquakes are a result of
pressure changes during the unsteady transport of the magma.
When magma injection is sustained a lot of earthquakes are
produced. This type of activity indicates that a volcano is about
to erupt. Scientists use seismographs to record the signal from
these earthquakes. This signal is known asvolcanic tremor.
 Volcano-tectonic
earthquakes
The second category of volcanic
earthquakes arelong period
earthquakeswhich are
produced by the injection of
magma into surrounding rock.
These earthquakes are a result
of pressure changes during
the unsteady transport of the
magma. When magma
injection is sustained a lot of
earthquakes are produced.
This type of activity indicates
that a volcano is about to
erupt. Scientists use
seismographs to record the
signal from these
earthquakes. This signal is
known asvolcanic tremor.
A quick pic
A quick pic
 Bibliography
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plate_tectonics
http://geography.about.com/od/physicalgeog
raphy/a/Plate-Tectonics.htm
http://science.nationalgeographic.co.in/scien
ce/earth/the-dynamic-earth/plate-tectonics-
article/
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/
volcano/
http://www.platetectonics.com/book/page_5.
asp