TEORI DASAR

PERKEMBANGAN
BUMI
Theory of Continental Drift
 In 1910 American geologist Frank B. Taylor
proposed that lateral (sideways) motion of
continents caused mountain belts to form on their
front edges. Building on this idea in 1912, German
meteorologist Alfred Wegener proposed a theory
that came to be known as Continental Drift: He
proposed that the continents had moved and were
once part of one, large supercontinent called
Pangaea. Wegener was attempting to explain the
origin of continents and oceans when he expanded
upon Taylors idea. His evidence included the shapes
of continents, the physics of ocean crust, the
distribution of fossils, and paleoclimatology data.
Continental drift helped to explain a major geologic
issue of the 19th century: the origin of mountains.
Theories commonly called on the cooling and
contracting of the earth to form mountain chains.
 The mountain-building theories of German
geologist Leopold von Buch and French
geologist Leonce Elie de Beaumont were
catastrophic in nature. American geologists
James Hall and James Dwight Dana proposed
the geosynclinal theory of mountain building
a theory based on the downward bending of
the earths crust (a geosyncline). Austrian
geologist Eduard Suess developed a related
theory. Hall, Dana, and Suess believed that
continents and ocean basins were ancient,
permanent features on earth and that
mountain belts formed at their edges
 Most geologists did not accept the theory of continental
drift in the 1920s and 1930s. British geologist Arthur
Holmes supported continental drift and proposed that
convection (a type of heat movement) inside the earth
drove continental drift. Others who favored the idea
included South African geologist Alex du Toit, who
studied geologic evidence for the southern continents of
Gondwanaland, part of the hypothetical
supercontinent Pangaea. Other scientists, such as
British geophysicist Harold Jeffreys, argued that
continental drift was physically impossible.
Paleontologists, such as American George Gaylord
Simpson, said that the distribution of fossils could be
explained by other means.
Theory of Seafloor Spreading
American marine geologists Robert S. Dietz and Harry H.
Hess proposed the seafloor spreading hypothesis, the
concept that the oceanic crust is created as the
seafloor spreads apart along midocean ridges.
American oceanographers Bruce C. Heezen, Marie
Tharp, and others prepared detailed maps of the ocean
floors and the mid-Atlantic ridge and rift system, a
mountainous chain found throughout the ocean. These
maps provided additional evidence that seemed to
support the continental drift theory. Further evidence
came from paleomagnetism, the record of the
orientation of earth's magnetic field recorded in rocks.
In the 1950s, British geophysicist S. Keith Runcorn
determined that this evidence indicated that the
continents had moved relative to the earths magnetic
poles and to each other.
 British marine geophysicists Fred J. Vine and
Drummond Matthews described the record of
changes in the earths magnetic field when they
discovered magnetic stripes formed at
spreading centers of the mid-ocean ridges,
leading to the Vine-Matthews hypothesis.
Magnetic stripes were also independently
described by Canadian geophysicist Lawrence
Morley and confirmed by American marine
geologist Walter Pitman and others. These stripes
indicated reversals of the direction of the earths
magnetic field recorded in rock as new ocean
crust was created at mid-ocean ridges. Scientists
used paleomagnetism and seafloor spreading to
determine that the continents had moved relative
to the magnetic poles and to each other.
 Theory of Plate Tectonics
 Canadian geophysicist J. Tuzo Wilson and
American geophysicist Jason Morgan, among
others, proposed the outline of the theory of plate
tectonics in the 1960s. This theory stated that the
earths lithosphere is made up of several rigid
plates. These plates slide and move over a less-rigid
layer called the asthenosphere. A plate may be
composed entirely of oceanic crust, like the Pacific
Plate, or of part ocean crust and part continental
crust, like the North American Plate. New ocean
crust is generated at ocean ridges (underwater
mountain chains formed by the young ocean crust).
Older ocean crust sinks down, or subducts, into the
earths mantle at subduction zones, which are found
at the deepest parts of the ocean, called trenches.
As the plates move, they collide and form
mountains.
 The plates recycle crust, generate volcanoes,
and move past each other along faults. Using
satellites, scientists can now measure
movement of the continental plates in
centimeters per year. Plate boundaries are the
sites of most of the earth's earthquakes and
the majority of earth's volcanoes. The
continents are made of remelted sediments
and partially melted oceanic crust, forming a
lower density layer that has collected through
time. The mechanism that drives the earths
crustal plates is still not known, but geologists
can use plate tectonics to explain most
geologic activity.
 Earth as a Planetary Body
The full recognition by scientists of earth as a
planetary body, combining the fields of solar-
system astronomy and geology, is perhaps the
latest revolution in the earth sciences.
Although scientists have recognized earth as a
planet for centuries, space exploration that
began in the 1960s created a new view of the
earth. Photographs of earth taken from space
had a profound effect on how people saw the
earth. The exploration of neighboring moons
and planets has led to a new understanding of
the earth as an evolving planet
Plate Tectonics
 Theory first proposed in late 1960's and early 1970's. A unifying
theory for all of geology. A revolution in the earth sciences. An
outgrowth of the old theory of continental drift, supported by
much data from many areas of geology.
Based on intensive geophysical data collection in Earth's oceans
following World War II, including "International Geophysical
Year," 1957-1958. Sea floor mapping discovered patterns of
midocean ridges and deep sea trenches. Magnetometers to detect
submarines also recorded differences in magnetic properties of
rocks on sea floor. Global network of seismometers was
established to monitor atomic explosions, and also provided
information on worldwide earthquake patterns
 Evidence in support of the Theory of Plate Tectonics

1. Shape of the coastlines (jigsaw puzzle fit)

2. Fossil evidence implies once continuous land
connections between now-separated areas
Distribution of Glossopteris flora (plant fossils)
Late Paleozoic seed fernsGondwanaland (India, Africa,
Australia, S. America, Antarctica)
Distribution of Mesosaurus (fish-eating freshwater reptile)
Distribution of Lystrosaurus (plant-eating freshwater reptile)
Distribution of Cynognathus (small carnivorous reptile
transitional to mammals)
Distribution of Paleozoic fishes and amphibians
3. Distribution of present-day organisms indicates that they
evolved in genetic isolation on separated continents
4. Geologic similarities between South America, Africa, and India
Same stratigraphic sequence (i.e., same sequence of layered
rocks of same ages in each place)

Mountain belts and geologic structures (trends of folded and

faulted rocks line up)
Precambrian basement rocks are similar in Gabon (Africa)
and Brazil
5. Geologic similarities between Appalachian Mountains and
Caledonian Mountains in British Isles and Scandinavia
6. Paleoclimatic (=ancient climate) evidence
(ancient climatic zones match up when continents are moved to
their past positions)
Layers of glacial deposits (tillites) are found at same place in
sequence of rocks
Note directions of glacial ice movement as indicated by
striations or grooves in the rock
Coal seams with logs from tropical (low latitude) trees found
at high latitudes
Distribution of carbonate deposits (including reefs) and
evaporite deposits
7. Rift Valleys of East Africa indicate continent breaking up
8. Youth of ocean basins and sea floor
Thin layer of sediment on basalt
Basalt dates to less than 200 million years (most less than 150
million years)
9. Evidence for subsidence in oceans
Guyots - flat-topped sea mounts (erosion when at or above
sea level)
Chains of volcanic islands that are older away from site of
current volcanic activity -
Hawaiian Islands and Emperor Sea Mounts
(also subsiding as they go away from site of current volcanic
activity)
10. Mid-ocean ridges located near ocean centers are sites of sea
floor spreading
High heat flow
Seismic wave velocity decreases due to high temperatures
Valley along center of ridge (graben)
Volcanoes along ridge
Earthquakes along ridge
11. Benioff Zones - inclined zone of earthquake foci (plural of focus)
near deep sea trenches
12. Magnetic stripes on the sea floor
Symmetrical about mid-ocean ridge
 Contributions to plate tectonic theory from
paleomagnetism

Recently magnetized rocks show alignment of magnetic field

consistent with Earth's current magnetic field
Magnetization in older rocks has different orientations (as
determined by magnetometer towed by ship).
Can determine direction to north magnetic pole and distance to
north magnetic pole from inclination and declination of
magnetic field in the rock
Polar wandering curves
Different polar wandering paths seen in rocks of different
continents.
Put continents "back together" and the polar wandering curves
are superimposed (match up)
 test of the hypothesis of sea floor spreading (Vine and
Matthews, 1963)
Magnetic reversal "stripes" are SYMMETRICAL about
the ridge.
Magnetic reversal time scale -
Pattern of reversals in sea floor basalts matches known
reversal time scale as determined from rocks exposed
on land.
Width of magnetic stripes on sea floor is related to
time.
(Wide stripes = long time; narrow stripes = short time)
 Basic Terminology of Plate Tectonics

The Earth's surface or lithosphere is divided into plates (about

7 large plates and 20 smaller ones).
Lithosphere consists of the rigid, brittle crust and uppermost
mantle.
Asthenosphere is partially molten part of mantle. Below
lithosphere.
Rigid lithospheric plates rest (or "float") on flowing
asthenosphere.

Two types of crust are present in the upper part of the

lithosphere:
thin, dense, basaltic oceanic crust
thick, low density, granitic continental crust
 Types of plate boundaries:
Divergent - where plates move apart from one another
(tensional stress).
Rifting or spreading or "pull-apart" occurs. Rift ing
may occur in either oceanic or continental crust.
Rift zones tend to have normal faults and intrusions of
igneous rock coming up from below (commonly basalt
- rich in Mg and Fe).
Examples: mid-ocean ridges, East African Rift Valley
Convergent - where plates move toward one another (compressional stress).
Continental collisions form mountain belts
Examples: Himalaya Mountains, Ural Mountains, Appalachian Mountains
Subduction - where one plate is pushed beneath another plate, forming
a submarine trench.
Ocean-to-ocean subduction - A plate topped by oceanic crust (or
"oceanic plate") may be subducted beneath another plate topped by
oceanic crust, forming a deep sea trench with an associated basaltic
volcanic island arc.
Examples: Java Trench adjacent to Java, Sumatra, and Sunda Islands in the
Indonesian region.
Ocean-to-continent subduction - An oceanic plate may also be
subducted beneath a continental plate, forming a trench adjacent to a
continent, with volcanic mountains along the edge of the continent.
Example: Peru-Chile Trench adjacent to the western coast of South America with
the Andes Mountains. Note that the volcanic rocks in this setting tend to be
andesite (named for Andes Mountains).
 Transform - where two plates slide past one another (shear
stress).
Transform faults cut across and offset the mid-ocean ridges.
Transform faults are a natural consequence of horizontal
spreading of the seafloor on a curved globe.
Many examples can be seen cutting the Mid-Atlantic Ridge or
East Pacific Rise.
The San Andreas Fault is also a transform fault, occurring where
the North American Plate has overridden the East Pacific Rise
(part of the oceanic ridge-system).