PLATE TECTONICSBy: Kayla Bevis

WHAT ARE PLATE TECTONICS

Plate tectonics is the study of how the Earth's plates are driven and shaped by geological forces that keep them in constant motion.

THE CREATOR OF PLATE TECTONICS

Born on November 1, 1880, Alfred Lothar Wegener earned a Ph.D in astronomy from the University of Berlin in 1904. However he had always been interested in geophysics and also became fascinated with the developing fields of meteorology and climatology.

THE CREATOR OF PLATE TECTONICS PT 2

During his life, Wegener made several key contributions to meteorology: he pioneered the use of balloons to track air circulation, and wrote a textbook that became standard throughout Germany.

WHAT EFFECTS DID PLATE TECTONICS HAVE Plate tectonics can cause a number of things. This includes

earthquakes when two plates grind together. Earthquakes

occur along fault line. Which is why California gets a lot of

earthquakes. It is along the San Andreas Fault. Plate tectonics

can also cause mountains and volcanoes when one plate goes

under another one. Volcanoes have caused more casualties than

other types of volcanoes. Probably because there are more of

them, and also because they form steep piles of ash and lava,

where landslides and mudslides can occur frequently.

ALFRED WEGENER AFFECTED THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

In the course of Pangaea's formation, what is now North

America smashed into northwestern Africa, forming a vast

mountain range. Traces of these mountains still can be

found on a belt stretching from the southern United

States to northern Europe, including the Appalachians.

ALFRED'S DISCOVERY

Alfred Wegener was also accomplished in Meteorology. Usually, meteorologists start out as geologists. Alfred Wegener needed knowledge of meteorology to come up with his pengae theory because in geology the whole purpose is to study rocks and minerals to determine the earth’s history and future. But our earth survives from the sun, and the weather.

ALFRED'S DISCOVERY PT 2

But our earth survives from the sun, and the weather.

In Meteorology, all the energy that reaches earth

comes from the sun, and then it is distributed by

different atmospheric processes. Without the rain

and the energy from the sun the earth would

eventually die. We depend on it to grow our crops.

This is why it is important to know and understand

the weather.

ALFRED'S DISCOVERY PT 3

Alfred Wagner needed knowledge of meteorology so he could look at past and current records on the atmospheric changes in order to scientifically back up his Pangaea theory without this knowledge. He would have no way to know what atmospheric changes occurred that could have caused Pangaea breaking into pieces.

CONVERGENT BOUNDARIES

Convergent Boundaries is a suture marking lithosphere plates that have been joined by plate tectonics to make a major geologic discontinuity . Earthquakes and volcanoes are common characteristics of convergent boundaries.

CONVERGENT BOUNDARIES PT 2

In plate tectonics a convergent boundary also known as a destructive plate boundary because of seduction is an actively deforming region where two or more tectonic plates or fragments of lithosphere move toward one another and collide.

DIVERGENT BOUNDARY

Divergent boundaries are places where plates are moving away from each other. When a divergent boundary occurs beneath oceanic lithosphere, the rising convection current below lifts the lithosphere producing a mid-ocean ridge. Extensional forces stretch the lithosphere and produce a deep fissure.

DIVERGENT BOUNDARY PT 2

When the fissure opens, pressure is reduced on the super-heated mantle material below. It responds by melting and the new magma flows into the fissure. The magma then solidifies and the process repeats itself.

HAZARDS OF DIVERGENT BOUNDARY

The hazards that the divergent boundaries cause are shield volcano's and earthquakes. When tectonic plates start to diverge, the linear feature formed is called a rift. Sometimes, the gap widens and sometimes it stops.

HAZARDS OF DIVERGENT BOUNDARY PT 2

When the gap eventually widens, it then evolves into a rift valley. Divergent boundaries that occur between oceanic plates produce mid-oceanic ridges.

TRANSFORM BOUNDARIES

Transform Boundaries are locations where two plates slide past one another transform plate boundary is known as a transform fault. Most transform boundaries are found in the ocean basin and in the mid-ocean ridges.

TRANSFORM BOUNDARIES PT 2

transform boundaries is formed between two different plates, each moving away from the spreading center of a divergent plate boundary Transform boundaries are locations of recurring earthquake activity and faulting. The earthquakes are usually shallow because they occur within and between plates that are not involved in seduction.

TRANSFORM BOUNDARIES PT 3

Volcanic activity is normally not present because the typical magma sources of an upwelling convection current or a melting sub ducting plate are not present. A smaller number of transform faults cut continental lithosphere.

HAZARDS OF TRANSFORM BOUNDARIES

In transform boundary the tectonic plates will slip in side ways only. These types of earthquakes even if the magnitude is more than 7 in Richter scale and the epicenter in sea will not create Tsunami. But it will damage the buildings in it neighbor islands.

TRANSFORM BOUNDARIES & CONTINENTAL PLATES

In plate tectonics, a convergent boundary can also be known as a destructive boundary because of seduction, is an actively deforming region where two or more tectonic plates or fragments of lithosphere move toward one another and collide.

EARTH (:

North American Plate Caribbean Plate We are in some danger because 15

earthquakes have caused damage in Ohio witch means that we could or we are in danger here.

EARTH 2 (:

I think that there might be a earthquake because of the history with them and that plates. The United States probably will become a dangerous and cause a few earthquakes .

WEBSITES USED

http://scign.jpl.nasa.gov/learn/plate2.htm

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/pangaea

http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/geology/techist.html

http://

academic.emporia.edu/aberjame/histgeol/wegener/weger (imag

e)

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=divergent+boundaries&F

ORM=BIFD&adlt=strict# (image)

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=transform+boundaries&F

ORM=BIFD&adlt=strict# (image)