Transcript Plate Tectonics - Historical Development

Carrie Armstrong, Erin Rickert, Lydia Nguyen, Emmy Penquite
•German Scientist
•First to actively
pursue the idea of a
super-continent
•Also came up with
the theory of
continental drift
How he got started:
•The first clue Wegener had was
the matching coast lines
• he said they were almost like
pieces of a jigsaw puzzle
•Then noticed that other continents
seemed to fit together to
Lithosphere
• outer part of the Earth
•Includes the crust and
the mantle
• about 100 km thick
lithosphere
Asthenosphere
•The ductile part of the
earth just below the
lithosphere
•Includes the lower mantle
•Referred to as hot plastic
•About 180 km thick
asthenosphere
Tectonic Plates
•The tectonic plates glide over the
asthenosphere at relates ranging from
1-16cm per year
•Movement resembles ice drifting
across a pond
Continental Drift
•The continents and ocean basins make up
the upper parts of the plates
•As the plates glide the ocean and
continents move with it
•link
Geological activity
• Most of this activity occurs at plate
boundaries
• Three types of plate boundaries
exist
1. divergent
2. convergent
3. transform