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processes that lead to the creation of ocean basins and continental drainage systems

processes that lead to the creation of ocean basins and continental drainage systems . Bethany Goodine and Brittany Hood November 2010 Science. OCEAn basins and continental drainage systems. What is a continental drainage system?

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processes that lead to the creation of ocean basins and continental drainage systems

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  1. processes that lead to the creation of ocean basins and continental drainage systems Bethany Goodine and Brittany Hood November 2010 Science

  2. OCEAn basins and continental drainage systems. • What is a continental drainage system? - in North America, the continuous ridge of mountain summits dividing the continent in to two main drainage systems. On one side rivers and streams go to the pacific and on the other they go to Hudson’s Bay or the Gulf of Mexico. • What is an Ocean Basin? - Ocean basins are deep wide depressions in the Earth’s surface that contain the oceans.

  3. Wilson cycle • In the late 60’s , J. Tuzo Wilson realized that if continents rift apart to create ocean basins, then other oceans must have been closed in the process. This has happened in Earth’s history and might be repeated in the future. • For example. The Iapetus ocean between England & Scotland closed in the Caledonian and later it opened as the Atlantic Ocean in almost the exact same place. • This process is called the Wilson cycle.

  4. Steps of the wilson cycle. • According to http://www.le.ac.uk/geology/art/gl209/lecture3/lecture3.html, there are 4 steps in the process: • (1) Rifting of continents by mantle diapirism. • (2) Continental drift, seafloor spreading & formation of ocean basins. • (3) Progressive closure of ocean basins by subduction of ocean lithosphere. • (4) Continental collision and final closure of ocean basin.

  5. How ocean basins are formed. • Ocean basins are formed by tectonic forces and processes. • In history, tectonic plates moved and created large basins which filled with water and now hold the worlds oceans and seas.

  6. Drainage Systems • These systems develop so that water can efficiently run off land. • Drainage Systems are created so water from small drainage basins surrounded by land empties into the ocean. • Drainage basins empty into streams, which empty into more streams etc. until the empty into the ocean. http://www.tulane.edu/~sanelson/geol111/streams.htm

  7. Theories of how Continental Drainage Systems are formed. • Plate Tectonics. -These are moving because of currents in the magma and affects the drainage patterns of the continents. • Glaciers. - They melt because of climate change and the water has to flow out into the ocean and creates paths that create new drainage systems.

  8. definitions • Rift: an opening made by splitting, cleaving, etc.

  9. Sources • Streams and drainage systems. (2010, November 15). Retrieved from http://www.tulane.edu/~sanelson/geol111/streams.htm • http://www.edquest.ca/component/content/article/122 • http://www.tulane.edu/~sanelson/geol111/streams.htm

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