Plate Tectonics

1. Plate Tectonics By Charlotte Prior

2. History of the Pangaea • The theory of Pangaea is that million of years age all of the continents were joined together that formed one large mass from many different plate tectonics, this theory was originated by Alfred Wegener • “Pangaea” means all land • The theory of this super continent was not first excepted by scientists, but soon after Wegner proved it by using his science in Paleontological the observation or the study of fossils, fossils originated on one continent could not have traveled across the ocean to another continent where he had found them • One person that helped the theory was Eduard Suess, who discovered before the continents separated there was a land bridge connecting the continents

3. Convergent Boundaries • Convergent boundaries are boundaries that are found at the edge of the lithosphere plates, there are wide zones of deformation because of interaction seduction zones • Convergent boundaries cause earthquakes, because of down going slabs with another overlapping slab, they also cause volcanoes, because as the plates dig deeper they start to get hotter so the plate melts and forms magma then the magma moves up to the crust and forms into a volcano, and they can also cause mountains from the over lapping plates • Convergent boundaries are all over the world, one example is the ring of fire and a cause is the Aleutian Islands

4. Divergent Boundaries • Divergent boundaries are boundaries that spread apart and often create mid ocean ridges from the plates breaking • Divergent boundaries cause trenches, because the plate breaks into more than one plate so there is a large gap in between them, then the bottom the plates form magma so it all creates a trench, they also cause mountains form two plates pushing together • One great example of a trench is the largest in the world and very well known, it is called the mid-Atlantic ridge This trench is involved in the North American plate, Eurasia plate, and African plate

5. Transform Boundaries • A transform boundary is a boundary that is neither created nor destroyed, it is when the plates slid past each other • Since the plates are just moving past each other they different effects that they can cause are earthquakes, because all the land on top of the plate is moving also so earthquakes are caused, they also create mudslides and landslides because of all the mud and land moving on top of the plates • One example of a divergent boundary is the San Andres fault in California, this boundary is involved in the North American plate and the Pacific plate

6. Real World Connections • People in Ohio live on the North American plate but that is just one of many different plates around the world, the North American plate has many plates boarding it, those plates are the South American, Caribbean, African, Eurasia, Pacific, Cocas, Juan De Fuca, and Philippines plates • Ohio is not in any danger from any kind of plate movement, but in the U.S the west coast could be in danger because the coast is along the boarder of the Pacific plate so the two plates could separate, cause earthquakes, volcanoes, mudslides, and landslides • I predict that in the future the west coast will encounter many earthquakes and volcanoes

7. Work cited • http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/astronomy/http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/ge • http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/geology/techist.html • http://geology.com/plate-tectonics.shtml

8. The End