Plate Tectonics

RAKESH ROSHAN RANA

Structure of the Presentation

Interior of Earth Plate Evolution of Plate Tectonic Theory Type of Plate Margins Evidence Cause Post-Pangea Tectonics Supercontinent Cycle Discussions & Remarks

Interior of the Earth

One of the earliest discoveries of seismology was a discontinuity at a depth of 2900 km where the velocity of P-waves suddenly decreases. This boundary is the boundary between the mantle and the core and was discovered because of a zone on the opposite side of the Earth from an Earthquake focus receives no direct P-waves because the P-waves are refracted inward as a result of the sudden decrease in velocity at the boundary. This zone is called a P-wave shadow zone.

This discovery was followed by the discovery of an S-wave shadow zone. The S-wave shadow zone occurs because no S-waves reach the area on the opposite side of the Earth from the focus. Since no direct S-waves arrive in this zone, it implies that no S-waves pass through the core. This further implies the velocity of S-wave in the core is 0. In liquids m = 0, so S-wave velocity is also equal to 0. From this it is deduced that the core, or at least part of the core is in the liquid state, since no S-waves are transmitted through liquids. Thus, the S-wave shadow zone is best explained by a liquid outer core.

Have a Look
Distribution of Continents Mid-ocean Ridges Trenches Orogenic Belts Deformation Metamorphism Volcanism Earthquakes

Plate

Development of Continental Drift

Lots of people had noticed that the coastlines of Africa and South America are similar Frank Taylor (1910) Alfred Wegener (1912) Die Entstehung Der Kontinente Und Ozeane

1. How we know plate tectonics happens

Fit of Continents Across the Atlantic

The Permian Ice Age Problem

1. How we know plate tectonics happens

Wegeners Theory

1. How we know plate tectonics happens

Dating the Breakup

1. How we know plate tectonics happens

Frank Taylor
In some respects, Taylors ideas were more modern than Wegeners Taylor always thought Wegener had stolen credit from him
1. How we know plate tectonics happens

Frank Taylor
Recognized role of MidAtlantic Ridge Never reconstructed the continents like Wegener did

1. How we know plate tectonics happens

Confirmation of Continental Drift

World War II technology International Geophysical Year (IGY) 1957-58 Worldwide Standardized Seismic Network 1963-

1. How we know plate tectonics happens

The Geomagnetic Reversal Time Scale

1. How we know plate tectonics happens

Discovery of Sea-Floor Spreading

1. How we know plate tectonics happens

Sea-Floor Spreading

1. How we know plate tectonics happens

Where Does Ocean Crust Go?

Hugo Benioff, 1954

1. How we know plate tectonics happens

Benioffs Interpretation

1. How we know plate tectonics happens

Benioffs Interpretation Updated

1. How we know plate tectonics happens

PLATES
Plate Pacific North American Eurasian African Antarctic Australian South American Somali Nazca Indian Philippine Arabian Caribbean Cocos Caroline microplate Area (km2) 103,300,000 75,900,000 67,800,000 61,300,000 60,900,000 47,000,000 43,600,000 16,700,000 15,600,000 11,900,000 5,500,000 5,000,000 3,300,000 2,900,000 1,700,000 Plate Area (km2) Scotia 1,600,000 Burma microplate 1,100,000 Fiji microplates 1,100,000 Tonga microplate 960,000 Mariana microplate 360,000 Bismark microplate 300,000 Juan de Fuca 250,000 Solomon microplate 250,000 South Sandwich 170,000 microplate Easter microplate 130,000 Juan Fernandez 96,000 microplate Rivera microplate 73,000 Gorda microplate 70,000 Explorer microplate 18,000 Galapagos microplate 12,000

What Drives It: Convection

Pea-soup analogy

Other Causes
Differential rate of motion Earth Slope Heat Gradient

How Plates Move

The Plate Tectonics Model

The Plate Tectonics Model

Plate motions

Plate Motions

Divergent boundary

Magnetic Stripes in the FAMOUS Area

Anatomy of a Mid-Ocean Ridge

Convergent boundary

Subduction

Terrane Accretion

Transform boundary

Mass Construction and Destruction

Relationship between plate tectonic setting and structural style:

Tectonic Setting Stress State extension Types of Structures Examples North Sea, Red Sea, Basin and Range Andes, Zagros Mts (Iran), Canadian Rockies

Divergent plates

normal faults, roll over anticlines, tilted blocks

Convergent plates

compression

thrust faults, folds, faulted folds

Transform plate boundaries

strike-slip

strike-slip faults, compressional and extensional flower structures

San Andreas fault, Alpine Fault (New Zealand).

Terranes in Western North America

Archean Tectonics
Archean Crust formed 4.4 to 2.5 billion years ago. The formation of these cratonic nucleii marks the transition from an early Earth that was so hot and energetic that no remnants of crust were preserved, to a state where crustal preservation became possible. Most of the cratons are attached to a high velocity mantle root that extends to depths of at least 200 km (King, 2005). These cratonic roots are composed of stiff and chemically buoyant mantle material (Section 11.3.1) whose resistant qualities have contributed to the long-term survival of the Archean continental lithosphere (Carlson et al., 2005).

 The beginning of the Archean Eon approximately coincides with the age of the oldest continental crust. A conventional view places this age at approximately 4.0 Ga, which coincides with the age of the oldest rocks found so far on Earth: the Acasta gneisses of the Slave craton in northwestern Canada (Bowring & Williams, 1999). However, >4.4 Ga detrital zircon minerals found in the Yilgarn craton of Western Australia (Wilde et al., 2001) suggest that some continental crust may have formed as early as 4.44.5 Ma, although this interpretation is controversial (Harrison et al., 2005, 2006; Valley et al., 2006).

PRECAMBRIAN HEAT FLOW

The majority of terrestrial heat production comes from the decay of radioactive isotopes dispersed throughout the core, mantle, and continental crust. Heat flow in the past must have been considerably greater than at present due to the exponential decay rates of these isotopes. For an Earth model with a K/U ratio derived from measurements of crustal rocks, the heat flow in the crust at 4.0 Ga would have been three times greater than at the present day and at 2.5 Ga about two times the present value (Mareschal & Jaupart, 2006). For K/U ratios similar to those in chondritic meteorites, which are higher than those in crustal rocks, the magnitude of the decrease would have been greater.

Heat Flow with Time

Fig. Variation of surface heat flow with time. Solid line, based on a chondritic model; dashed line, based on a K/U ratio derived from crustal rocks (McKenzie & Weiss, 1975).

 In Many of the cratons includes an abundance of high temperature/low pressure metamorphic mineral assemblages and the intrusion of large volumes of granitoids, suggest relatively high (500700 or 800C) temperatures in the crust during Archean times, roughly similar to those which occur presently in regions of elevated geotherms. By contrast, geophysical surveys and isotopic studies of mantle nodules suggest that the cratonic mantle is strong and cool and that the geotherm has been relatively low since the Archean Some of the most compelling evidence of cool mantle lithosphere comes from thermobarometric studies of silicate inclusions in Archean diamonds, which suggest that temperatures at depths of 150 200 km during the Late Archean were similar to the present-day temperatures at those depths (Boyd et al., 1985; Richardson et al., 2001).

Proterozoic Tectonics

Supercontinent Cycle