Plate TectonicsCasey Ferranti

Central Michigan UniversityEDU 290: Technology in Education

Alfred Wegener’s hypothesis

The continents were once a single landmass

He called this landmass Pangaea

Continental Drift

Continents fit together like pieces of a puzzle

Two million years ago Pangaea broke apart

The continents slowly drifted to their current locations

PangaeaThe Supercontinent

http://wordrogue.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/pangaea1.jpg

Present Dayhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/europeanspaceagency/5017629700/

Wegener’s ideas evolved into

The Theory of Plate Tectonics

Earth is made up of plates

Plates float on the asthenosphere•Made of molten rock•Flows like a liquid

• Results in constant motion

Three Types of Plate Boundaries

1. Convergent Boundaries

2. Divergent Boundaries

3. Transform Fault Boundaries

Two plates move towards each other

Convergent Boundaries

http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/5-8/features/F_Earth_Has_Faults.html

Two plates move apart

Divergent Boundaries

http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/5-8/features/F_Earth_Has_Faults.html

Two plates slip and slide past each other

Transform Fault Boundaries

http://www.gweaver.net/techhigh/projects/period1_2/Yellowstone/Plate%20Tectonics.html

Plate Interactions

Neither plate submerges

Collision rumples the Earth’s surface

Produces mountain ranges

Continental-Continental Convergence

Himalaya Mountainshttp://www.flickr.com/photos/dainismatisons/3488357818/

The denser oceanic plate will sink

Results in volcanic activity

Oceanic-Continental Convergence

http://tmp.kiwix.org:4201/A/Plate_tectonics.html

One plate usually submerges

Results in an oceanic trench

Oceanic-Oceanic Convergence

Mariana Trenchhttp://unheardnomore.blogspot.com/2010/02/hearing-on-marianas-trench-marine.html

When oceanic plates separate molten rock from beneath fills the gap

Creates new ocean floor

Oceanic-Oceanic Divergence

This phenomenon is called

Seafloor Spreading

http://www.passmyexams.co.uk/GCSE/physics/plate_tectonics.html

The land separates

Surrounding water fills the space

Creates a new ocean basin

Continental-Continental Divergence

The End

Plate Tectonicshttp://www.cotf.edu/ete/modules/msese/earthsysflr/plates1.html

Continental Drift and Plate-Tectonics Theoryhttp://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0001765.html

Plate Tectonicshttp://www.platetectonics.com/book/page_5.asp

References