Unit 1 plate tectonics
- 1. EARTH AND SPACE PREPARED BY: REY JOSEPH B. VILLARIN
- 2. UNIT 1 : PLATE TECTONIC
- 3. • Is about 4.5 billion years old • According to the Nebula Theory, it was formed at the same time as the other members of the solar system by accretion from the solar nebula. EARTH
- 6. • Hydrosphere – water sphere, includes all the water found in the oceans, seas, lakes, glaciers, groundwater, and even the vapor in the air. • 70.8 percent of the planet is covered with water while the remaining 29.2 percent is composed of land. • Cryosphere – the part of the Earth’s hydrosphere in the form of ice and permanent snow cover in mountainous regions, the Antarctic and Arctic regions. • Geosphere – is the layer of Earth that we are most knowledgeable. This portion of the Earth includes the planet’s interior structure, rocks, minerals, landforms, and the processes that shape its surface.
- 8. • Raisin Theory – according to this theory, Earth is like a grape that contracted into a raisin due to the cooling process that occurred on Earth after the Big Bang billion of years ago.
- 9. Theory of Isostasy – states that wherever equilibrium exists on Earth’s surface, equal mass must underlie equal surface areas; meaning, a great continental mass must be formed of lighter materials than that supposed to constitute the ocean floor. - Clarence Edward Dutton
- 10. • Tectonic – derived from the Greek word “tekton” or carpenter/builder. • Tectonic Plates – (also called lithospheric plate) are massive, irregular slabs of solid rock that envelope the surface of the Earth. • Asthenosphere – he upper layer of the earth's mantle, below the lithosphere, in which there is relatively low resistance to plastic flow and convection is thought to occur. • 1 to more than 15 cm per year.
- 11. THEATRUM ORBIS TERRARUM • By Abraham Ortelius
- 13. CONTINENTAL DRIFT THEORY • Proposed by Alfred Wegener • Pangaea or “All Earth” • Divided into two smaller supercontinent • Laurasia • Gondwanaland
- 14. OCEANIC CRUST VS. CONTINENTAL CRUST
- 15. CONTINENTAL CRUST • Lighter than oceanic crust as it is composed of lower-density materials such as granitic rock. Basement rock – oldest foundation Craton – platforms that are connected with Basement rocks.
- 16. OCEANIC CRUST • Is made up of heavier basalt and gabbro rocks. • Thinner than continental crust.
- 18. MANTLE PLUMES • Is a mountain that opens downward to a reservoir of molten rock called magma below the surface of the Earth. VOLCANO HOTSPOTS • Are areas or columns where heat or rocks in the mantle are rising toward Earth’s surface. • Are locations on Earth’s surface that have experienced active volcanic activities for a long period of time.
- 20. VOLCANISM • It refers to the processes and phenomena associated with the surficial discharge of molten rock and other materials into the surface of Earth and other heavenly bodies such as the moon and other planets in the solar system.
- 21. EARTHQUAKE •Is a natural phenomenon that is characterized by sudden, violent shifting of massive plates underneath Earth’s surface. •Are forms of wave energy that are transmitted through bedrocks. •Epicenter – the point on the Earth’s surface directly above the focus.
- 22. FAULT • Is a crack across which the rocks have been offset first. • Fault plane – the first part of the area where the fault occurs. • Fault trace – a line, that may be visible or not, which occurs on Earth’s Surface. • Hanging wall – refers to the block of crust above the fault • Footwall – which is the block of crust below the fault.
- 26. END