Lecture 3

DYNAMIC EARTH
Continental Drift Theory
Plates Tectonics
Isostasy

Engr. Irfan Ahmad

(Lecture CED UOL)
• Earth is a dynamic planet!
• If we could go back in time a few hundred
million years, we would find the face of our
planet dramatically different from what we
see today.
• There would be no Mount St. Helens, Rocky
Mountains, or Gulf of Mexico.
• Moreover, we would find continents having
different sizes and shapes and located in
different positions than today’s landmasses.
CONTINENTAL DRIFT THEORY
 Continental Drift
• Geologist Alfred Wegener noticed similar rocks &
fossil remains were found on continents which
seemed to fit together
• Also east cost of south America fits like a jigsaw
puzzle into the west cost of Africa.
• He therefore suggested that all the continents of
the world were together and formed a huge
single continent named Pangaea
• Pangaea broke into small pieces which drifted
away under differential gravitational forces.
PANGAEA
the large landmass that included all of Earth’s
present day continents
Support for Continental Drift
1. SHAPE OF THE CONTINENTS
Continents fit together like puzzle pieces
 Support for Continental Drift
2. FOSSIL EVIDENCE
SAME FOSSILS: DIFFERENT CONTINENTS

Mesosaurus was incapable of swimming across a large ocean.

 Support for Continental Drift
3. ROCK EVIDENCE – Mountain ranges
 SAME ROCK:
DIFFERENT RANGE
Existing mountain
ranges separated by
vast oceans contain
rocks of identical
mineral content.

 A prime example are the

Appalachian
Mountains in the
eastern U.S and the
Caledonian Mountains
in the British Isles.
 Support for Continental Drift
4. GLACIAL SCARS
SAME SCARS:
DIFFERENT CONTINENTS
 Support for Continental Drift
5. LOCATION OF COAL DEPOSITS
Coal deposits have been found in temperate and polar
regions; however, coal is formed in tropical regions.
 CONTINENTAL DRIFT IN DOUBT
Why didn’t people believe in continental drift?
• People couldn’t image how the earth could be
millions of years old
• People couldn’t image a force great enough to
move the continents

BUT by the 1960’s evidence would prove

continental drift is TRUE and…. The story
continues (as does all good science!)
Theory of Plate Tectonics
• According to the plate tectonics model, Earth’s rigid
outer shell (lithosphere) is broken into numerous slabs
called lithospheric plates or simply plates, which are in
continual motion .
• Seven major lithospheric plates are recognized. They are
the North American, South American, Pacific, African,
Eurasian, Australian, and Antarctic plates.
• Intermediate size plates include the Caribbean,
Nazca, Philippine, Arabian, Cocos, and Scotia plates.
• In addition, over a dozen smaller plates have been
identified.
• Several large plates include an entire continent plus a
large area of seafloor . However, none of the plates is
defined entirely by the margins of a single continent.
• The lithospheric plates move relative to each
other at a very slow but continuous rate that
averages about 5 centimeters (2 inches) a year.
• This movement is ultimately driven by the
unequal distribution of heat within Earth. Hot
material found deep in the mantle moves slowly
upward and serves as one part of our planet’s
internal convective system. Concurrently, cooler,
denser slabs of lithosphere descend back into the
mantle, setting Earth’s rigid outer shell in motion.
• Ultimately, the titanic, grinding movements of
Earth’s lithospheric plates generate earthquakes,
create volcanoes, and deform large masses of
rock into mountains.
 What are tectonic plates made of?

• Plates are made

of rigid
lithosphere.
The lithosphere is made up
of the crust and the upper
part of the mantle.
 What lies beneath the tectonic plates?

• Below the
lithosphere
(which makes up
the tectonic
plates) is the
asthenosphere.
The plates of the lithosphere float on the
asthenosphere
 Plate Boundaries
• Plates are bounded by three
distinct types of boundaries,
which are differentiated by the
type of relative movement they
exhibit.
– Divergent Boundaries where the
plates moves away from each other
– Convergent Boundaries where the
plates moves towards each other
– Transform Boundaries where the
two plates slide past each other
 Divergent Boundaries
• In plate tectonics, a divergent boundary is a
linear feature that exists between two
lithospheric plates that are moving away from
each other. The underlying asthenosphere then
oozes upward to fill the gap between the
separating plates, cools down and form New
Lithosphere.
• These areas can form in the middle of continents
(Rift Valleys) or on the ocean floor (Mid Oceanic
Ridges).
 Mid Oceanic Ridge: Rifting in Oceans
• A spreading center lies directly above the hot, rising
asthenosphere. The newly formed lithosphere at an oceanic
spreading center is hot and therefore of low density.
Consequently, the sea floor at a spreading center floats to a
high elevation, forming an undersea mountain chain called
the mid-oceanic ridge

Rift Valleys: Rifting in Continents

• A divergent plate boundary can rip a continent in half in a
process called continental rifting. A rift valley develops in a
continental rift zone because continental crust stretches,
fractures, and sinks as it is pulled apart.
 Convergent Boundaries
• There are three styles of convergent plate
boundaries
– Continent-continent collision
– Continent-oceanic crust collision
– Ocean-ocean collision
Differences in density determine what happens where
two plates converge.
• When two plates converge, the denser plate dives
beneath the lighter one and sinks into the mantle.
This process is called subduction.
• A subduction zone is a long, narrow belt where a
lithospheric plate is sinking into the mantle.
 Continent-Continent Collision
• When continental crust pushes against continental crust
both sides of the convergent boundary have the same
properties . Neither side of the boundary wants to sink
beneath the other side, and as a result the two plates
push against each other and the crust buckles and cracks,
pushing up (and down into the mantle) high mountain
ranges. e.g. European Alps, Himalayas
 Continent-Oceanic Crust Collision
At a convergent boundary where continental crust pushes
against oceanic crust, the oceanic crust which is thinner and
more dense than the continental crust, sinks below the
continental crust.
•This is called a Subduction Zone.
•The oceanic crust descends into the mantle at a rate o
centimetres per year. This oceanic crust is called th “Subducting
Slab”
 Ocean-Ocean Plate Collision
• Density of oceanic lithosphere increases with its age.
• When two oceanic plates converge, the denser one sinks
into the mantle.
• Oceanic subduction zones are common in the
southwestern Pacific Ocean.
• The subducting plate is bent downward to form a very
deep depression in the ocean floor called a trench.
• The worlds deepest parts of the ocean are found along
trenches.
– E.g. The Mariana Trench is 11 km deep!
 Transform Boundaries
• The third type of boundary are transform
boundaries, along which plates slide past each other.
• The San Andreas fault, adjacent to which the US city
of San Francisco is built is an example of a transform
boundary between the Pacific plate and the North
American plate.
CONSEQUENCES OF MOVING PLATES

• Volcanoes
• Earthquakes
• Mountain building
• Oceanic Trenches
• Migrating continents and oceans
Isostasy
 Isostasy…Vertical movement of
lithosphere
• The concept that the lithosphere is in floating
equilibrium on the asthenosphere is called
isostasy, and the vertical movement in
response to a changing burden is called
isostatic adjustment
• If a large mass is added to the lithosphere, it
sinks and the underlying asthenosphere flows
laterally away from that region to make space
for the settling lithosphere.
 How is weight added to or subtracted
from the lithosphere?
• One process that adds and removes weight is the growth
and melting of large glaciers. When a glacier grows, the
weight of ice forces the lithosphere downward.
– For example, in the central portion of Greenland, a 3000-meter-
thick ice sheet has depressed the continental crust below sea
level.
• Conversely, when a glacier melts, the continent rises—it
rebounds.
– Geologists have discovered Ice Age beaches in Scandinavia tens of
meters above modern sea level. The beaches formed when
glaciers depressed the Scandinavian crust. They now lie well
above sea level because the land rose as the ice melted.