Essay on Plate Tectonics: A Look at the African Plate

This lab uses earthquake data to construct profiles of two convergent boundaries: the Tonga Trench and the Peru-Chile Trench. Where two tectonic plates converge, if one or both of the plates is an oceanic lithosphere, a subduction zone will form. When crust is formed at a mid-ocean ridge, it is hot and buoyant meaning it has a low density. As it spreads away from the ridge and cools and contracts, or becomes denser, it is able to sink into the hotter underlying mantle. When two oceanic plates collide, the younger of the two plates, because it is less dense will ride over the edge of the older plate. The density of the

The theory of plate tectonics states that the Earth’s lithosphere (top layer of the Earth’s crust) is split up into rigid sections called plates that are moving relative to one another as they move on top of the underlying semi-molten mantle. These plates are either continental, The North American Plate, or oceanic, The Nazca Plate.

Plate Tectonics is a scientific theory which study how the Earth’s plates are driven and shaped by geological forces to keep them in constant movement. The theory explains the present-day tectonic behavior of the Earth, particularly the global distribution of mountain building, earthquake activity, and volcanism in a series of linear belt. (Pitman, W.C., 2007)

Plate tectonics is a theory that Earth’s crust is broken up into plates that float along the mantle. The plates act like a broken egg shell around the yolk or mantle, outer core, and inner core. Scientist Alfred Wegener didn’t have a scientific reason to explain how the continents moved. These plates are moving very slowly and in a very, very, very long time, Earth will look different than what the continents look like now. The Nazca Plate is moving southeast and will cause a collision with the South American Plate.

The theory of plate tectonics states that Earth’s outer shell is divided into plates. The crust and upper mantle is broken into plates that move around on the mantle, changing in size throughout time. The lithosphere makes up the crust and upper mantle and the asthenosphere a plastic like layer beneath the lithosphere. There are three types of plate boundaries. Divergent boundaries where two plates move away from each other. The ocean widens and new crust forms at the mid-oceanic ridge. Convergent boundaries has three types of converging, moving two plates towards each other. First we have an ocean floor plate that collides with a less dense continental plate. Next an ocean floor plate collides with another ocean floor plate. Finally a continental plate collides with another continental plate. Transform boundaries were two plates slide past one another. The resulting effects of plate tectonics is landforms such as rift valleys,

12. List the three types of plate boundaries and describe the relative motion at each of them.

Plate tectonics is the scientific theory that attempts to explain the movements of the Earth's lithosphere that have formed the landscape features we see across the globe today” (Briney). Geology defines “plate” as a large slab of solid rock, and “tectonics” is part of the Greek root word for “to build.” Together the words define how the Earth’s surface is built up of moving plates. The theory of plate tectonics dictates that individual plates, broken down into large and small sections of rock, form Earth’s lithosphere. These fragmented bodies of rock move along each other atop the Earth’s liquid lower mantle to create the plate boundaries that have shaped Earth’s landscape. Plate tectonics originated from meteorologist Alfred Wegener’s theory, developed in the early 20th century. In 1912, he realized that the east coast of South America and the west coast of Africa appeared to piece together like a jigsaw puzzle. He further examined the globe and deduced that all of Earth’s continents could somehow be assembled together and proposed the idea that the continents had once been linked in a single supercontinent called Pangaea. To explain today’s position of the continents, Wegener theorized that they began to drift apart approximately 300 million years ago. This theory

Evaluate how Plate Tectonic Theory helps our Understanding of the Distribution of Seismic and Volcanic Events (40 marks)

The three major types of tectonic plates are divergent, subduction and transform. Divergent plates tend to move apart from each other. Subduction plates are when oceanic plate moves under a continental plate. This can cause volcanos to erupt and large sized earthquakes. Transform plates slide back and forth against one another. The Lithosphere consists of the Earths crust and uppermost mantle. The North American plate and the South American plate are the major plates of the lithosphere. The lithosphere also consists of the Pacific plate, the African plate and the Eurasian plate. The Pacific plate is the only major plate that is mainly underwater and is also the largest plate in the lithosphere. The Earth was once one large continental body called Pangea, before the plates started

On our home planet, there are eight major tectonic plates- African, Indo-Australian, Eurasian, Antarctic, North American, South American, Nazca and the Pacific. These plates are all separate and floats completely independently upon the Earth's mantle, which is much hotter than the crust of the planet. The locations where these plates meet each other are usually places that are extremely prone to large earthquakes and volcanic

The seven major tectonic plates comprise mostly on continental plates and the Pacific plate. The seven major plates from greatest to least are called: the Pacific Plate stretching 103,300,000 km2, North American Plate being 75,900,000 km2, Eurasian Plate being 67,800,000 km2, African Plate stretching 61,300,000 km2, Antarctic Plate being 60,900,000 km2, Australian Plate being 47,000,000 km2, and the South American Plate being 43,600,000 km2. With different tectonic plates, there are different ways they can move: divergent, convergent, and transform. Divergent plate movement is when both plates moving away from each other, creating a canyon that has magma pushing out from the bottom, forming new ground. Convergent is usually an oceanic plate and a continental plate are moving into one another, causing the oceanic plate to subducts into the mantle. This causes move active volcanos and earthquakes. Even though all of the plates are in the lithosphere, it's only the where Earth is flexible enough to move rather than flow. The lithosphere flexes when loads of weight are placed on it or

The different tectonic plates rest on the mantle, a very hot layer of earth that is directly beneath the crust. There are seven major tectonic plates, their names are The Pacific Plate, The North American Plate, The Eurasian Plate, The African Plate, The Antarctic Plate, The Australian Plate, and The South American Plate. In addition to these major plates there are also many smaller tectonic plates that make up parts of the Earth's crust. When the boundaries between plates shift, this causes earthquakes. There are three types of movements that cause earthquakes. Divergent is when the plates move away from each other, Subduction is when one plate moves underneath another, and Transform is when the plates grind against each other. The lithosphere is another name for earth's crust and mantle, it is made up of all the tectonic

The continent of Africa is mainly a vast plateau, separated by a few mountain ranges and some areas bordered by a narrow coastal plain(1). Each area of Africa is ever so diverse and striking. From the tall towering treetops of the Western and Central African rainforest, to the world's largest desert The Sahara in Northern Africa and even the world's longest river the Nile river in east Africa. Africa is a immense continent

Ironically, most of the greater civilizations were clustered along the seismogenic tectonic boundaries and succumbed to their wrath. The environmental characteristics of different civilizations varies depending upon the water resources available, soils, topography and shores. The distribution of ancient sites (Mycenaean, Greek, Aegean, Corinth and Rome) along the African-Eurasian plate boundary were associated with the southern shore of Mediterranean and other north-eastern shores. Interestingly the trade routes that connects the civilizations from east to west mimics the tectonic boundaries. The reason could be the civilizations located near to the tectonic boundaries offer different cultural character than those which were far away and also

The theory of plate tectonics explains how forces within the planet create landforms. This theory views Earth’s crust as divided into more than a dozen, rigid, slow-moving plates. Some plates are as large as a quarter of the planet, but others are only a few hundred miles across. The plates slowly move across the upper mantle, usually less than an inch per year.