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Sample Question Answer (300 Words)

Que. Plate tectonic has evolved as a grand framework for understanding
endogenic forces in long sequence of time. Elaborate
Ans. Plate tectonics provides us with a grand framework for understanding the
extensive crustal rearrangement that apparently has taken place during the
relatively recent history of Earth. Wegeners Pangaea is now generally accepted
as having existed. here is substantial evidence to indicate that! "#$ million
years ago! five continents existed% these continents sutured to form Pangaea. &or
the next '$$ million years or so! Earth had but a single ma(or continent and
single world ocean. )bout '#$ million years! Pangaea began to break up! first
into two massive pieces * +aurasia in the ,orthern -emisphere and
.ondwanaland in the /outhern -emisphere * and then into a number of smaller
bits. 0ne of the great triumphs of the theory of plate tectonics is that it explains
topographic patterns. 1t can account for the formation of many mountains!
midocean ridges! oceanic trenches! island area! and the associated earthquake
and volcanic 2ones. Where these features appear! there are usually plates either
colliding or separating. 3espite the correlation of mountain building with plate
convergence! the contemporary pattern of plates does not explain all mountain
belts. 4any of the ma(or mountain ranges of ,orth )merica and Europe are in
the middle of plates rather than in boundary 2ones. he genesis of such midplate
ranges is not fully understood but presumably is related to changing tectonic
conditions in the past. here is convincing evidence that during some past eras
there were fewer plates than there are today and during other eras there were
more plates than there are today. 1n addition! the si2es and shapes of past plates
different from the current si2es and shapes. &or example! there was no )tlantic
0cean '#$ million years ago! and yet today it is a ma(or feature of the planet!
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widening at a long5term average rate of about ' inches 6# centimeters7 per year.
/eafloor spreading is proceeding even faster in parts of the Pacific.
1ndeed! some geophysicists have postulated that oceans are being created and
removed by crustal rearrangement on about a 8$$5million5year cycle.
Modifications to the Original Theor! With each passing year! we learn more
about plate tectonics. wo examples of recently acquired knowledge are
accreted terranes and mantle plumes.
Accreted Terranes! ) terrane is a small5to5medium mass of lithosphere carried
a long distance by a drifting plate that eventually converges with another plate.
he terrace is too buoyant to be subducted in the collision and instead is fused
69accreted:7 to the other plate! often being fragmented in the process. erranes
are distinctive geologically because their lithologic complement 6types of rock7 is
generally quite different from that of the plate to which they are accreted. 1t is
generally believed that every continent has grown outward by the accumulation
of accreted terranes on one or more of its margins. ,orth )merica is a prominent
example. 4ost of )laska and much of western ;anada and the western <nited
/tates consist of a mosaic of several do2en accreted terranes! some of which
have been traced to origins south of the equator.
Mantle Plumes= here are many places on Earth where magma from deep in the
mantle comes either to or almost to the surface at locations that are not
anywhere near a plate boundary% these leaky spots in the interior of a plate are
referred to as mantle plumes or hot spots. hey are believed to be relatively
stationary over long periods of time 6tens to hundred of millions of years7. We do
not yet know the cause of these plumes! but more than 8$$ of them have thus far
been identified. )s the magma rises through the crust! it creates volcanoes
and>or hydrothermal 6hot water7 features on the crust surface. he plate
containing the hot spot is on the move! however! and so the volcanoes or other
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plume features appear to drift away from the plume generating a 9hot spot train.:
&rom a surface perspective! the hot spot appears to migrate in the direction
opposite the direction of plate movement! the volcanoes produced by hot spots
because younger in the opposite direction from that which the plate is moving.
hus these traits can be used to determine absolute plate motions.
0ne striking result of mantle plume is the -awaiian 1slands! where the ancient
volcanic remnants of 4idway 1sland are now 8?$$ miles 6'#$$ kilometers7
northwest of the presently active volcanoes on the big island of -awaii! although
both developed over the same mantle plume! separated in time by several million
years. he volcanoes of the -awaiian chain are progressively younger from west
to east! as the Pacific plate drifts northwestward and while new volcanoes are
produced on an 9assembly line: moving over one persistent hot spot.
4antle plumes help explain both topographic development and the rate and
direction of plate movement. @ecause the plumes are effectively fixed in position!
the 9traits: they produce indicate absolute plate motions. 3espite the intellectual
and scientific enrichment we have received from plate tectonics theory! we still
have many unanswered questions.
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