Plate Tectonics

Theory
Common Scientific
Body of thoroughly-
Guess or suggested tested and verified
explanation explanations for a
set of observations
of the natural world
 Plate tectonics

Theory and study of plate formation, movement, interaction

and destruction
States that lithosphere is broken into numerous plates
Combination of Wegener’s continental drift theory, Hess’
seafloor spreading mechanism and Wilson’s work about
transform fault.
History Of Plate
Tectonics
 CONTINENTAL DRIFT
- first introduced by German
meteorologist, Alfred Lothar
Wegener in his book ‘Die
Entstehung der Kontinente(The
Origin of Continents) in 1912.
CONTINENTAL DRIFT
 Why did people rejected Wegener’s
idea?
• Continents do not move, tectonic plates does
• Wegener can’t explain the mechanism of the drifting
• “He’s a meteorologist, he doesn’t belong in the field”
• He’s German
SEAFLOOR SPREADING
-first introduced by Harry
Hammond Hess in 1962.
SEAFLOOR SPREADING
 Abraham Ortelius
- first suggested in 1596 that
Americas were torn away from
Europe and Africa…by quakes and
floods.
 Arthur Holmes
-Scottish geologist who explained
that the driving force in Wegener’s
idea is the convection
current(1928).
 Alexander du Toit
-published “Our Wandering
Continents” in 1937
-drifter
 Maurice Ewing and Bruce
Heezen
-the mid-Atlantic ridge ran a deep
canyon and the rift outlined the
later named tectodiscovered that
through nic plates.
 John Tuzo Wilson
-”Father of Plate Tectonics”
-Canadian geophysicist who
repackaged the continental drift and
seafloor spreading hypotheses and
added the concept of transform fault
in 1965.
Tectonism
-deformation of the lithosphere
Tectonic
-deformation of the crust as a result of plate interaction
-from Latin “tectonicus” which means building
Plate
-large section of crust and rigid upper mantle that moves
around on the asthenosphere
• Lithospheric plate- large section of the crust and upper mantle that moves
around the asthenosphere.
-generally 60 miles(100 km) thick.
-they are not flat, but curved and fractured into curved
section
-might be composed of any of the following or both:
1. Continental crust-thicker, less dense at about 2.7 g/cm³ and is
felsic(granitic).
2. Oceanic crust-thinner,denser at about 2.9 g/cm³ and is mafic(basaltic).
• Lithospheric plates move at a rate of 1-2 inches per
year or 2-5 cm per year.
• We can use GPS to track plate movements
• Distance=velocity(or rate)/time
• Rate of movement=island distance/island age
Forces that affect Plate Tectonics

o Ridge Push
o Slab Pull
o Basal Drag
The Tectonic
Plates
 1. MAJOR PLATES
-any plates with an area greater than 20 million km
2

- There are 7 of these plates.

- These seven major plates account for 94% of the
surface area of Earth.
 PACIFIC PLATE
-Largest plate
-an oceanic tectonic plate
-underlies the Pacific Ocean.
-stretches all the way along the west coast of North America to the
east coast of Japan and Indonesia.
-103,300,000 km2 in area
forms most of the Pacific Ring of Fire .
And smack dab in the middle are the islands that make up Hawaii.
 NORTH AMERICAN PLATE
• contains the continent of North America and part of the Atlantic
Ocean.
• 75,900,000 km2 in area
• extends all the way over the North pole and even contains Siberia
and the northern island of Japan. It also includes Greenland, Cuba
and the Bahamas.
• Its interior contains a giant granitic craton. It’s believed that the
North American (Laurentian) craton is 4 billion years old.
 EURASIAN PLATE
• consists of most of Europe, Russia and parts of Asia.
• 67,800,000 km2 in area
• sandwiched between the North American and African Plate on the north and
west sides.
• The west side has a divergent boundary with the North American plate.
• The south side of the Eurasian plate neighbors the Arabian, Indian and Sunda
plates.
On average, the Eurasian plate moves about one-quarter to half an inch per year.
 AFRICAN PLATE
- contains the whole continent of Africa as well as the surrounding
oceanic crust of the Atlantic Ocean.
• 61,300,000 km2 in area
-looks like a larger boundary of the African continent.
-The west side of the African major plate diverge with the North
American plate. These divergent plate boundaries forms the mid-
oceanic ridges or rift valley.
 ANTARCTIC PLATE
• holds the entire continent of Antarctica including its surround oceanic
crust.
• 60,900,000 km2 in area
• This plate is surrounded by parts of the African, Australian, Pacific and
South American plates.
• once grouped as part of the supercontinent Gondwana with Australia and
India. But about 100 million years ago, Antarctica broke apart to its
current location at the south pole.
• It’s estimated that the Antarctica major plate moves about 1 cm per year.
 AFRICAN PLATE
- contains the whole continent of Africa as well as the surrounding
oceanic crust of the Atlantic Ocean.
• 61,300,000 km2 in area
-looks like a larger boundary of the African continent.
-The west side of the African major plate diverge with the North
American plate. These divergent plate boundaries forms the mid-
oceanic ridges or rift valley.
 INDO-AUSTRALIA PLATE
• major plate combining the Australian and Indian Plate.
• 58,900,000 km2 in area
• stretches from Australia to India.
• also includes the oceanic crust from the Indian Ocean.
• The north-east side of the Australian plate converges with the Pacific Plate.
• often considered as two plates:
-Australian Plate – 47,000,000 km2
-Indian Plate– 11,900,000 km2
 SOUTH AMERICAN PLATE
• major plate that includes the continent of South America and a large portion
of ocean from the Atlantic Ocean.
• 43,600,000 km2 in area
• At the west side of South America, it experiences devastating earthquakes
due to the convergent plate tectonic boundaries.
• But the eastern edge lies in the Atlantic Ocean at a divergent plate boundary.
• Alongside the African Plate, these two plate boundaries pull apart from each
other creating some of the youngest oceanic crust on the planet.
 2. MINOR PLATES
• any plates with an area less than 20 million
km but greater than 1 million km .
2 2

• usually remnants of larger plates from the past

that have largely been subducted over time.
• There are ten of these types of plates.
• Juan de Fuca plate -a remnant of the Farallon plate
-MOST NOTORIOUS
• Somali Plate – 16,700,000 km2

• Nazca Plate – 15,600,000 km2

• Philippine Sea Plate – 5,500,000 km2

-also called Filipino Plate

• Arabian Plate – 5,000,000 km2

• Caribbean Plate – 3,300,000 km2

• Cocos Plate – 2,900,000 km2

-fastest moving minor plate

• Caroline Plate– 1,700,000 km2

• Scotia Plate– 1,600,000 km 2

• Burma Plate– 1,100,000 km2

• New Hebrides Plate – 1,100,000 km 2

 3. MICROPLATES
• is any plate with an area less than 1 million km2.
• North American Plate
– Explorer Plate
• Pacific Plate
– Galapagos Microplate
• Philippine Sea Plate
– Mariana Plate
– Philippine Microplate
• South American Plate
• African Plate
-Madagascar Plate
Antarctic Plate
South Sandwich Plate
Caribbean Plate
Panama Plate
Cocos Plate
Rivera Plate
Eurasian Plate
-Aegean Sea Plate
Australian Plate
Capricorn Plate
North Andes Plate
 Did you knowwwwww?
Cocos and nazca plates (in the pacific
ocean) are right now the quickest, moving
at over 10 cm/yr.
 WHAT ARE THE PROBLEMS IN PLATE
TECTONICS?
1. How do we explain earthquakes that occur in
the middle of plates?
2. What drives the whole system?