If you look at a map of the world, you may notice that some of

the continents could fit together like pieces of a puzzle.

 Alfred
Wegener
Young German
Scientist who noticed
that the African and
South American
coastlines seemed to
fit.
Formulated the term
Pangea, Laurasia, and
Gondwanaland.
Lines of evidence:

The fits of the continents.

The similarity of fossils in
different continents.
The similarity of rock type and
age along the matching
coastlines.
The continuity of geologic
features from continent to
continent.
The presence of coal seams in
Antarctica.
Tillites.
Continental Layers of the
Drift Earth
 The Earths
Layers
The Earth is
made up of 3 Mantle

main layers: Outercore

Core Innercore

Mantle
Crust
The
Crust
Outermost and
thinnest layer.
Coolest layer
Comprised of
hard, strong rock

Continental Crust Oceanic Crust

-thick(10-70km) -thin(7km)
The
Mantle
Layer underneath the crust.
Makes up eighty percent of
Earths volume
Temperature changes with depth
The
Core
Innermost layer of the Earth.

Composed of Iron and Nickel.

 Lithosphere?
The crust and part of the
upper mantle = lithosphere
100 km thick
Composed of plates
Less dense than the material
below it so it floats
 Asthenoshere?
The plastic layer below
the lithosphere =
asthenosphere
The plates of the
lithosphere float on the
asthenosphere
Plate Tectonics
The Earths crust and
upper mantle are broken
into sections called plates
Plates move around on
top of the mantle like
rafts
The Earths crust is divided into
12 major plates which are moved
in various directions.
This plate motion causes them
to collide, pull apart, or scrape
against each other.
The word, tectonic, refers to the
deformation of the crust as a
consequence of plate interaction.
 2 Types of
Plates
Ocean plates - plates below
the oceans
Continental plates - plates
below the continents
 Plate
Boundaries
Fracturethatseparatesone
platefromanother.
 Threetypesofplateboundary
Divergent

Convergent

Transform
 Divergent
Boundaries
Boundary between two
plates that are moving
apart or rifting

Asthenosphere moves up
Features of
Divergent
Boundaries
Mid-ocean ridges
rift valleys
fissure volcanoes
 Convergent
Boundaries
Boundaries between two
plates that are colliding

Denser plate sinks
Subduction zone is
a long narrow belt
whre a plate is
sinking into the
mantle.
Andes Mountains,
South America
 Transform Fault
Boundaries

Boundary between two

plates that are sliding
past each other
EARTHQUAKES along
faults
San Andreas Fault,
CA
Causes of Plate
Tectonics
 Movements of
Plates
Convection refers
totheupwardand
Tectonic plates downward flow of
fluid material in
response to
Hot rocks heating and
cooling.