Earths Crust in

Motion
Chapter 2 Section 1
Pages 54-61

Stress in the Crust

Stress
Forces that squeeze or pull on the crust
Adds Energy to the rock
Stored in rock until rocks breaks or changes shape

3 different types
Shearing
Tension
Compression

Shearing
Pushes rock in two opposite directions
Cause rocks to break and slip apart or change
shape

Example: Ripping a sheet of paper

Tension
Pulls on the rock, causing it to get thinner in the
middle

Occurs when plates move apart

Example: Pulling your gum apart from both
ends

Compression
Squeezes rock until it folds or breaks
Pushes rock together
Example: Like a trash compacter

Deformation
Changes in the volume or shape of crust
Occur too slowly that you cant see
Causes Earths Crust to bend, stretch, break, tilt,
fold, and slide

Faults
Break in Earths crust where plates slip past
each other

Rocks can move up or down or sideways

Usually occur at plate boundaries
3 main types
Strike-slip faults
Normal faults
Reverse faults

Strike-Slip Faults
Caused by shearing
Rocks slip past each other with little up and
down movements

San Andreas Fault is an example

Normal Faults
Caused by Tension
Fault that is at an angle
One block of rock lies above the fault
Called a hanging wall

One block of rock lies below the fault

Called a footwall

Reverse Faults
Caused by compression
Same structure as normal fault
Blocks are moving in opposite directions
Hanging wall will be higher that footwall

Faults and Friction

How the rocks slide past each other will depend
on the friction

Low Friction
Slide past each other with out sticking

Moderate Friction
Rocks slide past and jam until small earthquake

High Friction
Lock together and do not move

Mountain Building
Fault movement can change a flat plain into a
towering mountain range
Will take millions of years to happen

Mountains formed by
Faults
Normal faults can create a fault-block mountain
Occurs when normal faults form parrallel to each
other

The two outside blocks move downward while the

inside piece moves upward

If the inside piece moves downward you would get

a valley

Mountains formed by
Folding
Plate movements can cause crust to fold
Folds are bends in rock that form when
compression shortens and thickens part of the
crust
Like a rug on floor that wrinkles up

Some of worlds largest mountains are formed

from folding

Anticlines and Synclines

Anticlines
Folds in the crust that go upward
Your mountains

Synclines
Folds in the crust that go downward
Your valleys

Homework
Page 61
1-3
Due tomorrow

Vocab is due Thursday (32 Words)