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 LECTURE NO. 1
EARTH SCIENCE PLATE TECTONICS
What are Plate Tectonics?
Vocabulary Words You Need to Know… • The Earth’s crust and upper mantle are broken into sections called plates
• Plates move around on top of the mantle like rafts
Define the words listed below using your textbook, a dictionary, the Internet, or
any other source you choose. Just get it done!!!

1. Oceanic Crust

2. Convection Current

What is the Lithosphere?

• The crust and part of the upper mantle = lithosphere
3. Plate Tectonics
– 100 km thick
– Less dense than the material below it so it “floats”
What is the Asthenosphere?
4. Continental Crust • The plastic layer below the lithosphere = asthenosphere
• The plates of the lithosphere float on the asthenosphere

5. Hot Spot

6. Faults

7. Subduction

2 Types of Plates
• Ocean plates - plates below the oceans
• Continental plates - plates below the continents
• EARTHQUAKES constitute one of the worst natural hazards which often turn into
disaster causing widespread destruction and loss to human life.
 • The effects of earthquake vary upon the magnitude and intensity. Earthquakes
occur every now and then all round the world, except in some places where
earthquakes occur rarely. The devastation of cities and towns is one of the effects of
earthquake
What is Earthquake?
• An Earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the earth’s crust that
creates seismic waves.
• The seismic activity of an area refers to the frequency, type and size of earthquake
experienced over a period of time.
CAUSES OF EARTHQUAKE
The primary cause of an earthquake is FAULTS on the crust of the earth.
“ A Fault is a break or fracture b/w two blocks of rocks in response to stress”
This movement may occur rapidly, in the form of an earthquake or may occur slowly, in the
form of creep.
TYPES OF PLATE BOUNDARIES

BOUNDARY PICTURE DEFINITION EXAMPLES EFFECTS

TERMS RELATED TO EARTHQUAKE A. DIVERGENT PLATE BOUNDARY
FOCUS (HYPOCENTER) Divergent Type of plate 1. mid 1. submarine mountain
• Focus is the point on the fault where rupture occurs and the location from which boundary boundary occurs Atlantic range
seismic waves are released. oceanic beneath the ridge 2. volcanic activity in the
EPICENTER: ocean, the rising form of fissure eruption
convection current 3. shallow earthquake
• Epicenter is the point on the earth’s surface that is directly above the focus, the
below lifts the activity
point where an earthquake or underground explosion originates.
lithosphere 4. creation of new
producing a mid seafloor
ocean ridge 5. widening of ocean
basin
Divergent a type of plate 1. east 1. rift valley occupied by
boundary boundary occurs Africa rift long linear lakes or
continenta beneath a thick 2. red sea shallow arm of oceans
continental plate 2. normal faults
FAULT LINE 3. shallow earthquake
A fault line is the surface trace of a fault, the line of intersection between the earth’s activity
4. volcanic activity within
surfaces.
the rift
FAULT PLANE
B. CONVERGENT PLATE BOUNDARY
Fault planes are the cracks or sudden slips of the land. Convergent a type of plate 1. 1. zone of earthquake
FAULT SCRAP plate boundary wherein Washingto activity.
A fault scrap is the topographic expression of faulting attributed to the displacement of the boundary continental and n Oregon 2. line of volcanic
land surface by movement along faults. oceanic – oceanic plates 2.Andes eruptions
continental collide, the thinner mountain 3. destruction of oceanic
and denser range lithosphere
oceanic plate is
overridden by the
thicker and less
dense continental
plate.
Convergent a type of 1.Aleutian 1. zone of progressively
plate convergent island deeper earthquakes
boundary boundary occurs 2.Eastern 2. oceanic trench
oceanic – between two Caribbean 3. a chain of volcanic
oceanic oceanic plates one island island
of those plates will 3.St. 4. destruction of oceanic
sub duct beneath Vincent lithosphere
the other. 4.St. Lucia
5.Gredanin
es
Convergent a type of 1. intense folding and
plate convergent 1.Appalachi faulting
boundary boundary wherein an island 2. broad mountain range
continental – two thick 2.Himalaya 3. shallow earthquake
continental continental plates n island activity
collide and both of 4. shortening and
them have a thickening of plates
density that is within the collision zone
much lower than
the mantle, which
prevents
subduction
C. TRANSFORM PLATE BOUNDARY
Transform a type of boundary 1.Alpine 1. volcanic activity is not
plate where two plates fault present because the
boundary slide past one san magma sources of an
another. 2.Andreas upwelling convection
fault current or a melting sub
ducting plate are not
present
2. earthquakes are
shallow
 LABELLING WAVES

1. The highest point on a wave is the __________, while the lowest point is the
IN MY OPINION…. __________.

2. The __________ of a wave is a measure of the amount of energy it carries.

3. The distance from one crest to the next crest is the __________.
1. Explain how Plate Tectonics are related to earthquakes and volcanoes. How
4. The __________ is a measure of the number of waves that pass a point in a given
do these events affect our planet and human civilization? amount of time.

5. The illustration to the right shows a wave. Label each part in the space below:

a. ____________________

b. ____________________

c. ____________________

d. ____________________
 LECTURE NO. 2
S WAVES (SECONDARY WAVE)
 Also known as shear wave
 It is a pulse energy that travels slower than a P wave through earth and solids.
WAVES PRODUCED DUE TO EARTHQUAKE  Move as shear or transverse wave, and force the ground to sway from side to side, in rolling
motion that shakes the ground back and forth perpendicular to the direction of a wave.
SEISMIC WAVES produced due to earthquake are basically divided into two major types:  The idea that S waves cannot travel through any liquid medium led seismologists to conclude
1. Body waves that the outer core is liquid.
2. Surface waves
In 1909, Yugoslavian seismologist ANDRIJA MOHOROVICIC (moh-haw-roh-vu-chich) found out that
the velocity of seismic waves changes and increases at a distance of about 50 km below the Earth’s
surface.
This led to the idea that there is a difference in density between the Earth’s outermost layer
(crust) and the layer that lies below in (mantle).
The boundary between two layers is called MOHOROVICIC DISCONTINUITY.

BODY WAVES
BODY WAVES travels through the interior (body) of earth as they leave the focus. Body waves are
further divided into following types.
1. Primary (P) Waves
2. Secondary (S) Waves

P waves can travels through liquids while S waves cannot.

During an earthquake, the seismic waves radiate from the focus. Based on the figure, the
waves bend due to the change in density of the medium. As the depth increases, the density also
increases.

P WAVES (PRIMARY WAVE) SURFACE WAVES

 It is a pulse energy that travels quickly through the earth and through liquids. Surface waves travel parallel to the earth’s surface and these waves are slowest and most
 It travels faster than S waves. damaging. Surface wave are divided into following types:
 It reaches the detector first. 1. Love Waves
 It is also called compressional waves, travel by particles vibrating parallel to the direction 2. Rayleigh Waves
the wave travel.
 They force the ground to move backward and forward as they are compressed and
expanded.
 They travel through solids, liquids, and gases.
 LOVE WAVE
 Named after A.E.H Love, a British mathematician.
 It is faster than Rayleigh wave and it moves the ground in a side-to-side horizontal motion,
like that of a snake’s causing the ground to twist. This is why LOVE waves cause the most
damage to structures during an earthquake.

RAYLEIGH WAVE

 Named after John William Strutt, Lord Rayleigh.

 A Rayleigh wave rolls; it moves the ground either up or down or side-to-side similar to the
direction of the waves movement.
 Most of the shaking felt from an earthquake is due to this wave.
 LECTURE NO. 3
INTERNAL STRUCTURE OF THE EARTH
One ingenious way scientists learn about Earth’s interior is by looking at how energy travels
from the point of an earthquake. These are seismic waves. Seismic waves travel outward in all
directions from where the ground breaks at an earthquake. These waves are picked up by
seismographs around the world. Two types of seismic waves are most useful for learning about
Earth’s interior.
P WAVE AND S WAVE SHADOW ZONE
1. P-waves (primary waves)
 are fastest, traveling at about 6 to 7 kilometers (about 4 miles) per second, so they arrive
first at the seismometer.
 move in a compression/expansion type motion, squeezing and unsqueezing earth materials
as they travel. This produces a change in volume for the material.
 bend slightly when they travel from one layer into another. Seismic waves move faster
through denser or more rigid material.
 As P-waves encounter the liquid outer core, which is less rigid than the mantle, they slow
down. This makes the P-waves arrive later and further away than would be expected. The
result is a P-wave shadow zone. No P-waves are picked up at seismographs 104° to 140°
from the earthquakes focus.
2. S-waves (secondary waves)
 are about half as fast as P-waves, traveling at about 3.5 km (2 miles) per second, and arrive
second at seismographs.
 move in an up and down motion perpendicular to the direction of wave travel. This produces
a change in shape for the earth materials they move through. Only solids resist a change in
shape, so S-waves are only able to propagate through solids.
 cannot travel through liquid.
THE COMPOSITION OF THE EARTH’S INTERIOR
Core, mantle, and crust are divisions based on composition:
1. The crust is less than 1% of Earth by mass. The oceanic crust is mafic; while continental
crust is often more felsic rock.
2. The mantle is hot, ultramafic rock. It represents about 68% of Earth’s mass.
3. The core is mostly iron metal. The core makes up about 31% of the Earth.
Lithosphere and asthenosphere are divisions based on mechanical properties:
1. The lithosphere is composed of both the crust and the portion of the upper mantle that
behaves as a brittle, rigid solid.
2. The asthenosphere is partially molten upper mantle material that behaves plastically and can
flow.
Crust and Lithosphere
 Earth’s outer surface is its crust; a cold, thin, brittle outer shell made of rock. The crust is
very thin, relative to the radius of the planet. There are two very different types of crust,
each with its own distinctive physical and chemical properties.
 the mantle, the material travels horizontally and is heated by the core. It reaches the location
where warm mantle material rises and the mantle convection cell is complete.
1. Oceanic crust is composed of mafic magma that erupts on the seafloor to create basalt lava flows
or cools deeper down to create the intrusive igneous rock gabbro. Sediments, primarily muds and the
shells of tiny sea creatures, coat the seafloor. Sediment is thickest near the shore where it comes off
the continents in rivers and on wind currents.

2. Continental crust is made up of many different types of igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary
rocks. The average composition is granite, which is much less dense than the mafic rocks of the
oceanic crust (figure 6). Because it is thick and has relatively low density, continental crust rises
higher on the mantle than oceanic crust, which sinks into the mantle to form basins. When filled with
water, these basins form the planet’s oceans.

The lithosphere is the outermost mechanical layer, which behaves as a brittle, rigid solid. It is
the about 100 kilometers thick. The definition of the lithosphere is based on how earth materials
behave, so it includes the crust and the uppermost mantle, which are both brittle. Since it is rigid and
brittle, when stresses act on the lithosphere, it breaks. This is what we experience as an earthquake.

THE MANTLE

The two most important things about the mantle are: (1) it is made of solid rock, and (2) it is
hot. Scientists know that the mantle is made of rock based on evidence from seismic waves, heat
flow, and meteorites. THE CORE

The properties fit the ultramafic rock peridotite, which is made of the iron- and magnesium-
rich silicate minerals (figure 7). Peridotite is rarely found at Earth’s surface.
Scientists know that the mantle is extremely hot because of the heat flowing outward from it
and because of its physical properties.
Heat flows in two different ways within the Earth:
1. Conduction: Heat is transferred through rapid collisions of atoms, which can only happen if
the material is solid. Heat flows from warmer to cooler places until all are the same
temperature. The mantle is hot mostly because of heat conducted from the core.
2. Convection: If a material is able to move, even if it moves very slowly, convection currents can
form.
Convection in the mantle is the same as convection in a pot of water on a stove. Convection
currents within Earth’s mantle form as material near the core heats up. As the core heats the
bottom layer of mantle material, particles move more rapidly, decreasing its density and causing it
to rise. The rising material begins the convection current. When the warm material reaches the
surface, it spreads horizontally. The material cools because it is no longer near the core. It
eventually becomes cool and dense enough to sink back down into the mantle. At the bottom of
At the planet’s center lies a dense metallic core. Scientists know that the core is metal because:
1. The density of Earth’s surface layers is much less than the overall density of the planet, as
calculated from the planet’s rotation. If the surface layers are less dense than average, then
the interior must be denser than average. Calculations indicate that the core is about 85% iron
metal with nickel metal making up much of the remaining 15%.
2. Metallic meteorites are thought to be representative of the core. The 85% iron/15% nickel
calculation above is also seen in metallic meteorites (figure 9).
If Earth’s core were not metal, the planet would not have a magnetic field. Metals such as iron are
magnetic, but rock, which makes up the mantle and crust, is not.
Scientists know that the outer core is liquid and the inner core is solid because:
1. S-waves stop at the inner core.
2. The strong magnetic field is caused by convection in the liquid outer core. Convection currents
in the outer core are due to heat from the even hotter inner core.
The heat that keeps the outer core from solidifying is produced by the breakdown of radioactive
elements in the inner core.
  Subdivided into 2 layers: the inner core and the outer core.

A. OUTER CORE
 2900 km below the earth’s surface.
 2250 km thick
 Made up of iron and nickel.
 Temperature reaches up to 20000C, at this temperature, iron and nickel melt.
 It is mainly made up of iron and nickel moving around the solid inner core, creating Earth’s
magnetism.

B. INNER CORE
 Radius of 1300 km.
 Temperature reaches to about 50000C.
 The extreme temperature could have molten the iron and nickel but it is believed to have
solidified as a result of pressure freezing, which is common to liquids subjected under
tremendous pressure.

OTHER KEY CONCEPTS

 In 1909, Yugoslavian seismologist ANDRIJA MOHOROVICIC (moh-haw-roh-vu-chich) found
out that the velocity of seismic wave’s changes and increases at a distance of about 50 km
below the Earth’s surface.
 This led to the idea that there is a difference in density between the Earth’s outermost layer
(crust) and the layer that lies below in (mantle).
The boundary between two layers is called MOHOROVICIC DISCONTINUITY.
 P waves can travels through liquids while S waves cannot.
 During an earthquake, the seismic waves radiate from the focus. Based on the figure, the
waves bend due to the change in density of the medium. As the depth increases, the density
also increases
 The existence of a shadow zone according to BENO GUTENBERG, could only explained if the
Earth contained a core composed of a material different from that of the mantle causing the
bending of P waves. The mantle – core boundary is called GUTENBERG DISCONTINUITY.
 S waves are detected until 1030, from that point S waves are no longer detected. This
observation tells us that the S waves do not travel all throughout the Earth’s body. There is a
portion inside the Earth that does not conduct the propagation of S wave. Knowing that S
waves cannot travel through liquids, this portion must be made of liquids, thus the outer
core.
 The innermost layer of the Earth was predicted by INGE LEHMANN. He discovered that Earth
has a core within.
 LECTURE NO. 4
THE EARTH’S MECHANISM

In 1912, Alfred Wegener (vey-guh-nuh r), a German meteorologist, proposed that

about 200 million years ago, the continents were once one large landmass.
He called this landmass PANGAEA, a Greek word which means “All Earth”.
1. Put the layers of earth in order from most dense to least dense? This Pangaea evolved into two smaller super continents called Laurasia and Gondwanaland.

2. What happens to the temperatures of the Earth as i get closer to the core?

3. Name the thickest layer .

Name the thinnest layer .

Continental Drift Theory
4. The border between the crust and the mantle is called the
. Theory that continents were once part of a single landmass that broke apart and has
moved to their present locations.
5. How the inner core is solid if it is the hottest layer?
Wegener searched for evidences to support his claim.

1. Evidence: The Continental Jigsaw Puzzle

.
 5. Climate Change
2. Evidence from fossils

Fossils are preserved remains or traces of organism (plants and animals) from the remote
past. Fossilized leaves of an extinct plant Glossopteris were found in 250 million year old
rocks.

Amazing Facts: Did you know...

3. Evidence from Rocks ...that India was once in the Southern Hemisphere connected to Antarctica?
...that North America was once surrounded by warm, tropical seas?
...that Africa was once covered by glaciers, which were kilometers in thickness?
... that the Sahara desert was once a tropical rain forest?

An example of the proof for changing climate:

4. Coal Deposits

At one time, the area that is New Mexico was below the equator!

As North America has drifted to different latitudes, changing climates were

experienced. This shows the changes in the state of New Mexico.
 Wegener's problem

He could not find the force that was causing the continents to drift.
Because of this, he could not convince anyone that continents could move.
He died in Greenland on an expedition.
At the time of his death, no one believed his hypothesis!

THE SEAFLOOR SPREADING

Findings that support Seafloor Spreading Theory
In 1960’s scientist Harry Hess with Robert Deitz, suggested the Seafloor Spreading
Theory. 1. Rocks are younger at the mid-ocean ridge.
2. Rocks far from the mid ocean ridge are older.
According to this theory, hot, less dense material from below the earth’s crust rises 3. Sediments are thinner at the ridge.
towards the surface at the midge ocean ridge. This material flows sideways carrying the 4. Rocks at the ocean floor are younger than those at the continents.
seafloor away from the ridge, and creates a crack in the crust. The magma flows out of the
crack, cools down and become the new seafloor. Overtime, the new oceanic crust pushed
the old oceanic crust far from the ridge. The process of seafloor spreading allowed the
creation of new bodies of water. Magnetic Reversal
The Earth’s magnetic field is generated in the very hot molten outer core and has
already existed since the birth of our planet. The Earth’s magnetic field is a dipole, one that
has a North Pole and a South Pole.

Magnetic reversal is also called magnetic “flip” of the Earth. It happens when the
North Pole is transformed into a South Pole and the South Pole becomes the North Pole.
This is due to the change in the direction of flow in the outer core.

Subduction Zone

If subduction is faster than seafloor spreading, the ocean shrinks. (Pacific Ocean)
When the seafloor spreading is greater than the subduction, then the ocean gets wider.
(Atlantic Ocean)
Question……

1. Explain the Continental Drift Theory.

2. Why was Wegener’s idea of continental drift rejected?

3. What was lacking from Wegener’s hypothesis?