Plate Tectonics

• What Are Tectonic Plates?

• Pieces of the lithosphere that move around on top
of the asthenosphere are called tectonic plates.
• STRUCTURE OF A TECTONIC PLATE
• The tectonic plates that make up the lithosphere
are
like pieces of a giant jigsaw puzzle. The figure below
shows what a single plate might look like it if were
sepa-
rated from the other plates. Notice that the plate
contains
both continental and oceanic crust. It also contains
some
mantle material.
How Do Scientists Study Earth’s
Interior?
Much of what scientists know about Earth’s layers
comes from studying earthquakes. Earthquakes
create
vibrations called seismic waves. Seismic waves travel
at different speeds through the different layers of
Earth.
Their speed depends on the density and composition
of
the material that they pass through.
What Is Continental Drift?
In the early 1900s, a German scientist named Alfred
Wegener made this same observation. Based on his
obser-
vations, Wegener proposed the hypothesis of
continental
drift. According to this hypothesis, the continents
once
formed a single landmass. Then, they broke up and
drifted to
their current locations.
BREAKUP OF PANGAEA
About 245 million years ago, all of the continents were
joined into a single supercontinent. This supercontinent
was called Pangaea. The word Pangaea means “all Earth”
in Greek. About 200 million years ago, Pangaea began
breaking apart. It first separated into two large landmasses
called Laurasia and Gondwana. The continents continued to
break apart and slowly move to where they are today.
As the continents moved, some of them collided.
These collisions produced many of the landforms that we
see today, such as mountain ranges and volcanoes.
 What Is Sea-Floor Spreading?
At a mid-ocean ridge, melted rock rises through
cracks
in the sea floor. As the melted rock cools and
hardens,
it forms new crust. The newly formed crust pushes
the
older crust away from the mid-ocean ridge. This
process
is called sea-floor spreading.
What Is the Theory of Plate
Tectonics?
The theory of plate tectonics states
that Earth’s lithosphere is broken into many pieces—
tectonic
plates—that move slowly over the asthenosphere.
There are three types of plate boundaries:
• divergent boundaries, where plates move apart;
• convergent boundaries, where plates move
together; and
• transform boundaries, where plates slide past each
other.
DIVERGENT BOUNDARIES
A divergent boundary forms where plates are mov-
ing apart. Most divergent boundaries are found
beneath
the oceans. Mid-ocean ridges form at these
divergent
boundaries. Because the plates are pulling away from
each other, cracks form in the lithosphere. Melted
rock
can rise through these cracks. When the melted rock
• Continent-Continent Boundaries These form when
continental lithosphere on one plate collides with conti-
nental lithosphere on another plate. Continent-continent
convergent boundaries can produce very tall mountain
ranges, such as the Himalayas.
• Continent-Ocean Boundaries These form when con-
tinental lithosphere on one plate collides with oceanic
lithosphere on another plate. The denser oceanic litho-
sphere sinks underneath the continental lithosphere in
a process called subduction. Subduction can cause a
chain of mountains, such as the Andes, to form along
the plate boundary.
• Ocean-Ocean Boundaries These form when oceanic
lithosphere on one plate collides with oceanic litho-
sphere on another plate. One of the plates subducts
beneath the other. A series of volcanic islands, called an
island arc, can form along the plate boundary.
DEFORMATION
Like the spaghetti, rocks can bend or break under
stress. When a rock is placed under stress, it
deforms, or
changes shape. When a small amount of stress is put
on a
rock slowly, the rock can bend. However, if the stress
is
very large or is applied quickly, the rock can break.
Folding happens when rock layers bend under stress.
Folding causes rock layers to look bent or buckled.
The
bends are called folds.