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Plate Tectonics

Plate Tectonics. Cornell Notes. Who is Alfred Wegener?. A German scientist who hypothesized the theory of continental drift. What is the Theory of Continental Drift?. A hypothesis that all the continents were once joined together in a single landmass called

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Plate Tectonics

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  1. Plate Tectonics Cornell Notes

  2. Who is Alfred Wegener? A German scientist who hypothesized the theory of continental drift.

  3. What is the Theory of Continental Drift? A hypothesis that all the continents were once joined together in a single landmass called Pangaea and has since drifted apart.

  4. What evidence supports this hypothesis? 1. Land Features: -mountain ranges of Africa and South America line up. 2. Fossils: -Fossils-trace of an ancient organisms that has been preserved in rock. -Dinosaur fossils have been found in landmasses separated by oceans. 3. Climate: -Tropical plants fossils found in the Arctic Ocean and glacier evidence in South Africa.

  5. Why wasn’t Alfred Wegner’s Theory Accepted? -Alfred Wegner had a lot of evidence to support his theory. -Couldn’t explain how the plates moved, so scientists didn’t believe him

  6. What is the Theory of Plate Tectonics? -Pieces of Earth’s lithosphere are in slow, constant motion -Movement is caused by convection currents in the mantle. -Plates move in three main ways -Tectonic plates are made of continental and oceanic crust

  7. What is convection? The circulation of a material (i.e.: mantle rock). Molten rock is heated by the core and rises. The molten rock cools and is pushed aside by more molten rock. Mantle rock cools and sinks back toward the core.

  8. What is a convergent boundary and where does it occur? -Place where two plates come together, or converge. -A “collision” -Forms mountains and volcanoes -When oceanic crust slips under continental crust: SUBDUCTION -Subduction forms volcanoes

  9. What is a divergent boundary and where does it occur? -Place where two plates spread apart; or diverge. -Molten material moves up between the plates and forms new ocean floor, rift valleys, ocean trenches.

  10. What is a transform boundary and where does it occur? Where two plates slide past each other in opposite directions. Earthquakes occur when two plates slide past each other.

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