Global Expressions of Plate Tectonics

Through Time

Plates = Crust + Lithospheric Mantle

Testing Plate Tectonics

This model is consistent with a large number of detailed
tests, including:
* sea floor spreading
* paleomagnetic paths
* locations and focal depths of earthquakes
* seismic tomography
* age structure of the continents
* hotspot tracks

DIVERGENT BOUNDARY

Divergent boundary
* Shallow earthquake
* basalt
* normal fault thining crust
Oceanic crust:
ridgesactiv volkanism & seismicity, closed by ocean
Continental crust:
rift valleys (Great Basin of W.US; East Africa)
Closed lake/basin (evaporation)
Rapid clastic sediment

Divergent
Process

Speed:
Slow ~ 1 cm/yr
Fast ~ 10 cm/yr

Continental
Extension
The north-south ridges
of the Basin and
Range Province of the
western US come from
crust-scale extension.
With continued
extension this could
develop into an ocean
basin.
Buy your beachfront
property in
central Utah now!

CA

NV

AZ

Extension in the Red Sea

Red
Sea

Gulf of
Aqaba
Africa

Arabian
Pen.
Gulf of
Suez

Nile R.

The East Africa Rift

A triple-junction is an unstable
plate join where one arm usually
fails, forming a single divergent
plate boundary.
In the not too distant future (geologically) the eastern part of
Africa will rift off, becoming a big brother for Madagascar.

Continental Leftovers -- Passive Margin

This is what the edge of the North American continent looks like
as it slopes into the Atlantic.
The normal faults are all that remain from the tearing apart of
Pangaea and the opening of the ocean, ~200 Myr ago.

The Atlantic Record

180 Myr

Looking for old ocean crust? You can find it as far as

possible from divergent plate boundaries. Some of the
oldest borders the US East coast and the African northwest.

Ocean Crust of the Globe

Where else on Earth is there old ocean crust?

Plate Tectonics: Transform Margins

Transforms exist to accommodate movement of other plate
margins on the globe of the Earth. Plate motion can never be
entirely convergent or divergent: somewhere there needs to be
places where plates slide past one another.
Hence the orientations of transforms will parallel the direction
of motion of the plates involved.
* most common in ocean crust
* abundant intense but shallow earthquakes
* essentially no volcanism
* strike-slip faulting

Transform
Margins

Transforms were the

last plate tectonic
margin to become
well understood.
These boundaries, where plates slide horizontally past one
another, typically are not volcanically active.
Do you see why that is?

Transforms Under the

Sea

Transforms became obvious when high-resolution views of the

sea floor showed their spectacular offsets of the mid-ocean ridges.

Continental
Transforms
Transforms are rarely seen
on land. Unfortunately for
Californians, the best natural
example is the
San Andreas Fault.
Motion on this fault will
eventually send southern
California as an island up
toward Alaska.
At a rate of ~1 cm/yr, how
long will this take?

Divergent and Transform

Margin Earthquakes

The similarity between

earthquakes at these kinds
of margins is that all of the
foci will be shallow
(in the upper <60 km).

The difference between

earthquakes at these kinds
of margins is that transform
(strike-slip) margins will have
much greater forces
involved, and so the quakes
will be much stronger.

Divergent and Transform Plate Margin

Earthquakes
On both the normal
(divergent margin)
and strike-slip
(transform margin)
faults, earthquakes
are shallow-focus.

in this image
E-W = transform
N-S = divergent

Within-Plate
Earthquakes
Earthquakes occurring
away from active
convergent plate
boundaries are also
always shallow focus.
The devastating
earthquakes in Turkey
in the last few
decades, for instance,
all originate within the
shallow crust.

Plate Tectonics: Convergent Margins

* deep focus earthquakes
* seismic tomographic evidence for subduction
* positions of oceanic trenches
* island arcs
* nature and age of volcanic rocks
* orogenic belts (granite batholiths, high pressure
rocks, fold/thrust belts)
* ophiolites
* microplate terranes

Development of a Subduction Zone

Convergent Margin
Earthquakes

Convergent margin
earthquakes have lots of
energy, given the forces
and masses involved, but
are there differences
between continental and
oceanic collisions?

The Wadati-Benioff Zone

The only place where there are deepfocus earthquakes is at subduction

zones, where foci align on a plane called
the Wadati-Benioff zone.

Subduction Zones
sites of deep-focus
earthquakes

Kuril-Kamchatka,
eastern Russia
(ocean-ocean)

Subduction Zones
sites of deep-focus
earthquakes

western
South
America
(oceancontinent)

Contrast: Divergent and Intraplate Earthquakes

v. Convergent Margins

Subduction
in the
Pacific
Northwest
Most of the U.S.
west coast is a
transform margin,
but subduction
goes on beneath
WA, OR and N. CA.
This has produced
the volcanoes of
the Cascade
Range, including
Mt. Saint Helens.

Seismic
Tomography
This image
shows the track
of a cold
(seismically fast)
subducting slab
beneath North
America, a
process going
Note that the slab appears to penetrate deep
into the mantle, to the boundary of the core.

on for >140 Myr.

Convergent Margins

ocean crust v.
continental crust

ocean crust v.
ocean crust

continental crust v. continental crust

Convergent Margins

Of note:
island arc, oceanic trench, accretionary wedge,
age of volcanic rocks and intrusive equivalents

Convergent Margins
ocean-continent convergence

Of note:
continental arc, oceanic trench, accretionary wedge,
age of volcanic rocks and intrusive equivalents,
granite batholiths, thrust fault belt

Orogenic
Belts

Orogeny is the
process of
mountain
building by plate
collision.
Orogenic belts
comprise high
grade
metamorphic
rocks, fold-andthrust provinces,

fold and thrust belt of the

Appalachian orogen, central PA

and granite batholiths. These belts separate more ancient

blocks of cratonic crust.

Convergent Margins

continent-continent convergence

What kinds of faults are these?

Age Structure of the

Continents
Continents are collections of material that get put together and
torn apart through time. The cratons are the old, stable (interior)
portions of continents.

Cratons
Cratons are the old, stable
interior portions of the
continents.
Like continents themselves,
cratons are frequently
agglomerations of old
terranes that have been
sutured together by the
accretion process through
geologic time.
In this figure orogenic belts
suture the older cratonic
blocks together.

Ophiolites
An ophiolite is a fragment of the
ocean crust that has been
tectonically obducted (accreted,
uplifted) onto continental crust.
Ophiolites occur as
conspicuous but narrow belts of
mantle rock in orogenic belts.
Part of the Appalachian
ophiolite belt (metamorphosed
and deformed) crops out in and
around Baltimore.

Microplate Terrane Accretion

* During plate convergence, material on the ocean floor can
be swept up and attached (accreted) to the leading edge
of a continent.
Materials:
-- seamounts (oceanic volcanoes)
-- sediments
-- small continents & island arcs
How are microplate terranes recognized?
differences in:
-- ages of rocks
-- igneous history
-- structural (deformation) history
-- fossil assemblages/paleoenvironment
-- paleomagnetism

Large Microplates

Continents grow by
adding real estate :
some chunks are big
(other continents)...

Small Microplates
... some chunks are small
(seamounts, accreted
sediment, island arcs,
continental fragments, etc.).

Accreted Terranes of
Western North America
All of these elongate belts are
packages of ocean basin sediments,
seamounts, island arcs and small
continents that were at one time
adrift in the Pacific.
Millions of years of subduction on the
western continental margin lead to
their accretion.
Plate tectonics:
the natural empire-builder.

The New England Appalachians

The Maryland
Appalachians

Orogenic (mountain) belts preserve

extended histories of plate tectonic
processes. In the Appalachians, we have
records of island arc formation, continental
collision, and eventual divergence and
ocean basin formation.

Mantle Plumes
When plumes pierce continents they produce volcanic
eruptions called
flood basalts for their massive volumes.

Plumes originate deep in the mantle, some at the coremantle boundary.

Large Igneous Provinces

At various points in Earth history massive basaltic eruptions
have taken place, producing what are sometimes called
flood basalts, or large igneous provinces.
These eruptions have left lasting marks of the Earths surface
and may have had significant effects on global climate.
Why these massive eruptions occur is
poorly understood, but they are
fundamentally like hot spot
activity on Hawaii, except
that much greater volumes
are involved and eruptions
last for much shorter time
periods.

Columbia River Ontong-Java plateau

16 Myr
120 Myr
Deccan Traps
65 Myr

Hotspot Tracks: Trails of Mantle Plumes

-- plumes are responsible for the only volcanic activity

not associated with plate margins

-- hotspot tracks provide an independent means

of determining the direction and velocity of tectonic plates

Hot Spots

Hot spots do not occur exclusively

at divergent plate boundaries.
Here is a hot spot
track that traces
back into the
South American
continent.
Similarly, the
source of
volcanism in
Yellowstone, WY,
is a hot spot.

Hot Spots and Ridges

Many hot spots are

found in close
proximity to divergent
plate boundaries (as in
the case of Iceland, a
hot spot at the MidAtlantic Ridge).
Plumes may play a
significant role in
initiating spreading, but
this remains difficult to
test rigorously.

Global Tectonics

Global Tectonics

Plate Reconstructions: Ancient Earth

Using the direction and inclination of magnetized rocks (that

can be preserved through at least 500 Myr), the paths
charted the continents can be charted and we can
reconstruct plate positions of the past.

Plate Reconstructions: Ancient Earth

Plate Reconstructions: 200 Myr

Plate Reconstructions: 140 Myr

Plate Reconstructions: 65 Myr

Plate Reconstructions: 50 Myr

Plate Reconstructions: Future Earth?

Notes: So. California

Australia
E. Africa

Plate Tectonics on Other Planets?

To determine if plate tectonics were active on other
planets, what would we look for?
Volcanic activity alone does not require plate tectonics,
but it is a sign of geological activity. Extinct volcanoes
abound on both Mars and Venus.

Plate Tectonics on
Other Planets?
Patterns of fractures and
ridges like these have
suggested past plate
tectonic activity.
Venus

Even so, Earth-style

plate tectonics on
other planets cannot
be verified.
Mars