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Plate Tectonics

Plate Tectonics. Earth’s Layers. The Earth's rocky outer crust solidified billions of years ago, soon after the Earth formed. This crust is not a solid shell; it is broken up into huge, thick plates that drift atop the soft, underlying mantle. The Crust. Outermost layer 5 – 100 km thick

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Plate Tectonics

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  1. Plate Tectonics

  2. Earth’s Layers The Earth's rocky outer crust solidified billions of years ago, soon after the Earth formed. This crust is not a solid shell; it is broken up into huge, thick plates that drift atop the soft, underlying mantle.

  3. The Crust • Outermost layer • 5 – 100 km thick • Made of O, Si, Al and Mg

  4. The Mantle • Layer of Earth between the crust and the core • Contains most of the Earth’s mass • Has more Mg and less Al and Si than the crust • Is more dense than the crust

  5. The Core • The center of the Earth • Believed to be mostly Fe and Ni, almost no O, Si, Al, or Mg

  6. Tectonic Plates

  7. Plate Tectonics • Greek – “tektonikos” of a builder • Pieces of the lithosphere that move around • Each plate has a name • Fit together like jigsaw puzzles • Float on top of mantle similar to ice cubes in a bowl of water

  8. Continental Drift Alfred Wegener 1900’s Continents were once a single land mass called Pangea that split and drifted apart. Fossils of the same plants and animals are found on different continents Split again – Laurasia & Gondwana 180 million years ago http://members.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/astronomy/planets/earth/Continents.shtml

  9. Evidence of Pangea

  10. Sea Floor Spreading

  11. Sea Floor Spreading • Mid Ocean Ridges – underwater mountain chains that run through the Earth’s Basins • Magma rises to the surface and solidifies and forms new crust • Older Crust is pushed farther away from the ridge

  12. How Plates Move http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/dynamic/unanswered.html

  13. Different Types of Boundaries http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/dynamic/understanding.html

  14. Divergent Boundary -Arabian and African Plates Arabian Plate Red Sea African Plate

  15. Divergent Boundary – Iceland http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/dynamic/understanding.html

  16. Divergent Boundary - Oceanic http://www.geology.com

  17. Divergent Boundary - Continental http://www.geology.com

  18. Convergent Boundary – Indian and Eurasian Plates Eurasian Plate Indian Plate

  19. Convergent Boundary – Oceanic & Continental http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/dynamic/understanding.html & http://www.geology.com

  20. Convergent Boundary – Oceanic & Oceanic Note – plates are reversed http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/dynamic/understanding.html & http://www.geology.com

  21. Convergent Boundaries - Continental http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/dynamic/understanding.html & http://www.geology.com

  22. Transform Boundary – San Andreas Fault www.geology.com

  23. Review • Name the 3 main layers of the Earth • What is a tectonic plate? • What was Pangea? • What is Sea-Floor spreading? • Name the three different types of plate boundaries and one location on Earth for each one

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