Developed in the 1950’s through to the 1970’s, plate tectonics is the scientific theory first proposed and elaborated by scientist, Alfred Wegener in 1912. The theory explains that the lithosphere is divided up into multiple plates that are moving constantly. (Cloos, 2018). This theory is regularly being adapted and developed as it has been through the past 400 years by several scientists. At first scientists, including Wegener only compiled a small amount of evidence supporting this theory. However
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The Development Theory of Plate Tectonics * Introduction In this report I will be describing the theory of the Plate tectonics and showing its main points of development. There are matches between the shapes of South America and Africa. The two continents look like pieces of a jigsaw. Alfred Wegner thought that this meant that the continents where moving. They had once been joined together. He looked for evidence which was recorded in their rocks. In 1912 Wegner presented the idea of continental
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Plate tectonics give and take – Discuss Plate movement is caused by convection currents in the asthenosphere which is the lower part of the mantle. Heat form radioactive hotspots decays near the core and this residual heat, heats up the surrounding magma causing it to rise. This forms the rising limb of the convection current. When the current reaches the lithosphere, made up of the crust and the upper part of the mantle, the convection currents diverge. As it diverges, it drags the lithosphere
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the evolution of the Sierra Nevada, one must have a grasp of the theory of plate tectonics, which states that the surface of the earth is composed of rigid plates between 5 and 100 kilometers thick. The plates, either oceanic or continental, float on a partially molten layer that allows them to move relative to one another at velocities of a few centimeters per year. Oceanic plates are much younger than continental plates and, in fact, are created continuously along the ridges that line the world's
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Sea-floor spreading, the theory of plate tectonics, and continental drift, are three different theories stating three different things. These theories have many aspects that they share, while they also have their own unique aspects. The theory of sea-floor sreading says that molten material is shot up from the mantle through mid-ocean ridges and cools, forming magnetic strips across the ocean floor. Then, as the molten material cools it gets heavier and sinks into trenches to start this process
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every day. Those rocks are called tectonic plates, and about fifty years ago, scientists came to the conclusion that they move. Tectonic plates affect the Earth’s landscape drastically. Plates can change the Earth’s landscape by creating geographical features, causing natural phenomena such as earthquakes, and causing the drifting continents. Tectonic plates are located in between the upper mantle and crust, which are layers of the Earth. “The motion of tectonic plates is the biggest force reshaping
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Evaluate how plate tectonic theory helps our understanding of the distribution of seismic and volcanic events (40 marks) Outline the theories Supporting evidence Notes: * Alfred Wegner – suggested that continents were once all joined together in an ancient super continent called Pangaea. Land masses had drifted apart until they got to a certain position. Used 4 different pieces of evidence to help support his theory: 1. Continental Fit – If you placed certain continents together they
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GLG/200 Allen Fronabarger PLATE TECTONICS AND EARTHQUAKE HAZARDS IN LOS ANGELES There are many serious hazards associated with earthquakes in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. This includes ground shaking, ground displacement, liquefaction, fires, and tsunamis (Girty, 2009, Chapter 7). During an earthquake there are varying degrees of vibration of the ground, dependent on the magnitude of the earthquake. This violent movement of the soil can compromise the structure of buildings or other structures
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meteorologist Alfred Wegener first proposed the theory of continental drift, which states that parts of the Earth's crust slowly drift atop a liquid core. The fossil record supports and gives credence to the theories of continental drift and plate tectonics. Pangea was a supercontinent that existed during the late Paleozoic and early Mesozoic eras. It formed approximately 300 million years ago and then began to break apart after about 100 million years. Unlike the present Earth, much of the land
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Evaluate how plate tectonics theory helps our understanding of the distribution of seismic and volcanic events. Plate tectonics is a relatively new science. It’s partially explained in the sense that we still don’t know fully about how the plates came together, what they were before they were the seven continents we know today. We already know, or have a theory, about what our world was like a long time ago and so if we already know that the plates can pull and push against each other, then surely
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