Plate Tectonics: An Essay By: Grace Park Science 9 Mr. Achor 11-22-11 In the early 1900’s‚ scientists began to ask questions about the earth and it’s continents. Why are the same fossils found on opposite sides of the globe? Why do South America and Africa seem to fit together like two pieces of a jigsaw puzzle? Some scientists went to rather extreme measures to explain these strange phenomenons. Others took the time to come up with detailed theories
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CONSERVATIVE PLATE MARGINS (TRANSFORM FAULTS): When two plates slide past each other they create a conservative plate margin. The relative movement is horizontal‚ and classified as either sinistral (moving to the left) or dextral (moving to the right). Along these margins crust (lithosphere) is not being destroyed by subduction‚ neither is it being created. There is no melting of rock‚ and‚ therefore‚ no volcanic activity or formation of new crust. Despite the absence of volcanic activity‚ these
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The plate tectonic theory is the theory that describes large amounts of movements in the Earths lithosphere‚ whereby Continental and Oceanic crust is moved‚ destroyed and made from this. The idea of plate tectonics builds on other concepts such as continental drift‚ where continental plates over millions of years move‚ however the concept of continental drift was not accepted for some time‚ and there were many other theories to suggest that something else took place‚ as the idea of the earth moving
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Volcanic and seismic events are major pieces of evidence towards proving that the plate tectonics theory is valid. The theory of tectonic plates was first posed by Alfred Wenger in 1912. Is the theory of how the earth lithosphere is made up of many separate pieces of the earth’s crust known as tectonic plates. He put forward the idea that all the earth’s continents were once conjoined in one supercontinent called Pangaea‚ and that these continents were moved by convection currents over a period
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“The extent to which tectonic processes represent hazards depends on when and where they are experienced.” Tectonic hazards are dangers caused by the movement of the earth’s plates. The majority of hazards represent by plate tectonic occur at plate margins where two plates meet. These natural processes become hazardous when they affect people and cause material losses such as the destruction of infrastructure as this inhibits sustainable development. These hazards can be reduced depending on when
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Continental drift is the idea that the earth’s continents are drifting away‚ relative to each other across the ocean bed suggested by Alfred Wegner as part of his wider theory on plate tectonics. The plate tectonic theory suggested by Alfred Wegner in 1915 was that millions of years ago all the continents were joined together in one mass of land called ‘Pangaea’‚ the evidence for this was that coal was found on Antarctica‚ the shape of Africa and south America fit together and same fossils were
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‘Evaluate how plate tectonics theory helps our understanding of the distribution of seismic and volcanic events’ In 1912‚ Alfred Wegener published his theory that a single super continent named Pangaea once existed about 300 million years ago. He proposed that Pangaea then later split into two continents of Laurasia in the north and Gondwanaland in the south and that today’s continents were the result of further splitting of these two land masses. Where the plates split are known as plate boundaries
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Explain how plate tectonics can help our understanding of the distribution of either earthquakes or volcanic eruptions. Plate tectonics can help us understand the distribution of earthquakes and volcanoes very easily‚ it is recorded that main earthquake and volcanic zones are clustered along plate boundaries and more powerful ones are near destructive and conservative plate boundaries. Over time we have learnt that earthquakes that occur on a constructive plate boundary cause little hazard to
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events are major pieces of evidence towards proving that plate tectonics theory is valid (40 marks) The theory of plate tectonics states that the Earth’s lithosphere (top layer of the Earth’s crust) is split up into rigid sections called plates that are moving relative to one another as they move on top of the underlying semi-molten mantle. These plates are either continental‚ The North American Plate‚ or oceanic‚ The Nazca Plate. Tectonic plates are powered by convection currents‚ which is the circular
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about the Earth and the physical processes‚ which take place within it. My favourite area of geophysics is tectonic movement. Whilst visiting the Himalayan mountain range in 2015 I had first-hand experience of a 7.5 magnitude earthquake in the Gilgit area of Pakistan. This harrowing experience sparked my interest in the formation of the mountain range and the challenges of measuring tectonic movement using a variety of techniques‚ including GPS from satellites to track rock movements and seismometers
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