The Shifting Crust Chapter 3 Continental Drift Alfred Wegener -1912 – large “supercontinent” (Pangea) existed and then split into pieces – fossil & glacial deposit evidence Wegener not able to provide MECHANISM for his theory Major mechanism later found in the OCEANS Seafloor Spreading & Plate Tectonics Harry Hess - 1960s – new ocean basins form from volcanism – ocean floor forms IN BETWEEN pieces that have split – SEAFLOOR SPREADING Seafloor Spreading & Plate Tectonics Theoretical breakthrough – PLATE TECTONICS – surface of earth composed of “plates” (LITHOSPHERE) that move on a “conveyor belt” (ASTHENOSPHERE) Evidence for Continental Drift Fit of the continents Correlation of mountain belts Diversity of species – correlation of dinosaur species (Pangea) – isolation of mammal species (after breakup) Glaciers Important Quote “Relationships known since early in the century yet the validity of continental drift was not generally recognized until the late 1960’s” It took ocean floor data to solidify ideas and convince scientific community! The oceans rule! One Mechanism seafloor-spreading lithosphere asthenosphere Another Mechanism subduction world’s most explosive volcanos are formed over subduction zones Oregon’s Cascades Mtns. over Cascadia Subduction Zone – Juan de Fuca plate under N. American plate “Munch and Crunch” “MUNCH” - subduction of oceanic plate under continent or ocean – oceanic crust is thin and dense – dives “CRUNCH” - collision of continental plates – India into Tibet and China – continental crust is thick and light Sliding By Tranforms faults – plates neither created nor destroyed Transform faults are active Fracture zones are inactive extensions of transforms – “fossil transforms” Young & Old ocean floors - 200 million years land - billions of years With seafloor spreading is the earth expanding? Why is seafloor so young relative to continents? SUBDUCTION “law of conservation of ocean floor” Driving Forces “Slab Slab pull” versus “ridge push” Pull - gravity pulls cooled, dense plates back down into mantle at subduction zone Ridge Push - rising, hot rock pushes plates apart at spreading center Proof for Seafloor Spreading What made people believe in seafloor spreading? (poor Wegener!) changes in inclinations of magnetic field Earth’s magnetic field a mystery currents in liquid core one hypothesis SF Spreading Proof - 2 Earth’s magnetic field flips back & forth magma freezes magnetic minerals minerals lines themselves up w/ prevailing field of earth anomaly in field is the key - normal (positive) or reversed (negative) Vine and Matthews noted this in the ‘60s and flagged this as PROOF for seafloor spreading Grocery bar code Calibrated by agedating of rocks Last reversal 200 Ka Divergent Plate Boundaries Divergent - seafloor spreading – mid-ocean ridges or rises – Mid-Atlantic RIDGE, East Pacific RISE Convergent Convergent - subduction – trenches – Tonga Trench, Cascadia Subduction Zone Translational Translational - strike-slip faulting – transform faults (active) - San Andreas Fault – fracture zones (inactive) - Mendocino FZ Plate Boundaries How do we know where these boundaries are? bathymetry earthquakes deepest earthquakes at CONVERGENT boundaries (subduction zones/trenches) slab breakage causes earthquake like potato chip breaking off in bean dip