1 / 8

Understanding Plate Tectonics and Continental Drift: Earth’s Dynamic Crust

Plate tectonics is the theory that describes the movement of Earth’s rigid crustal plates on the semi-fluid asthenosphere beneath. Composed of around a dozen major and several smaller plates, these tectonic slabs average 100 km in thickness and can support both continental and oceanic regions. The movement of plates is driven by convection currents in the mantle caused by heat from within the Earth. This dynamic process not only explains continental drift but also results in various geological features around the world. Understanding these mechanisms helps us comprehend Earth's evolving landscape.

orpah
Télécharger la présentation

Understanding Plate Tectonics and Continental Drift: Earth’s Dynamic Crust

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Plate Tectonics and Continental Drift

  2. Plate Tectonics • The surface of the Earth is composed of about a dozen major rigid, moving crustal plates and several smaller plates • Plates • a. Slabs of Earth’s lithosphere (crust and upper mantle) • b. Average thickness is 100 km (62 miles) • c. Most plates support both continent and ocean

  3. Continental Drift states that the continents have drifted and still are drifting apart

  4. Why do the plates move? • Due to tremendous heat, rock in the asthenosphere is like hot taffy • This allows plates to ride on top of hot, flowing rock. • 3. Plates move because heat is being released from deep inside the earth. • 4. Convection currents causes hot material to rise and expand (plates diverge) and cooler material to sink and contract (plates converge).

  5. Continental Drift _________ proposed the theory that the crustal plates are moving over the mantle. This was supported by fossil and rock type evidence; also matching of coastline shapes. Wegener

  6. Convection Currents The force responsible for plate movement is __________.

  7. Plate Boundaries • The following two slides show maps of the current major plate boundaries and their relative motions. • You should be able to describe various landforms created by different plate movements.

More Related