Geography Form 4 Miss Hosein 2021
Earth’s Internal Forces
Structure of the Earth and Plate Tectonics
Introduction
While it is important to understand what is happening on the surface of the Earth, it is also just as important to understand what is happening below the surface of the Earth. This is
because everything happening below the surface of the Earth affects what we see on the surface of the Earth.
Learning objectives Keywords
• Structure of the Earth and its layers Earth, Core, Mantle, Lithosphere, Asthenosphere, Crust. Plates, Tectonics,
• Plate tectonics and the theory of plate tectonics Convergent Boundary, Divergent Boundary, Transform Boundary
• Types of plates and the names of various plates
• Types of plate boundaries
References
Textbook
The Caribbean Environment for CSEC Geography by Mark Wilson
CXC Study Guide for CSEC Geography
YouTube
How do we know Plate Tectonics is Real?
[Link]
Layers of the Earth video
[Link]
Before we start
What do you think happens beneath the earth’s surface?
Structure of the Earth
The surface of the Earth is made up of a thin layer of soil, with solid
rock underneath.
Think of a mango. There’s the skin, the flesh and then the seed.
Similarly, the Earth comprises of three main parts, some of which
are broken up into smaller parts.
• Crust (Skin)
• Mantle (Flesh)
• Core (Seed)
Crust
This is the thin, solid, outer layer which has a thickness of about 70km.
There are two types of crust: oceanic and continental.
Oceanic Crust (SIMA)
The oceanic crust is approximately 5 km deep below the oceans. It is
continuous around the Earth’s surface and is made up mostly of basalt
where silica and magnesium are dominant. It is a dense material and it
also forms the lower part of the crust beneath continents.
Continental Crust (SIAL)
The continental crust is thicker as it measures approximate 20-65 km
deep below the surface of the continents. It is discontinuous around the
Earth and less dense, comprising of rocks such as granite where silica and
aluminium are dominant. It forms the upper part of the continental crust
and floats on the denser SIAL beneath it.
Lithosphere
The lithosphere is made up of the crust and the upper part of the
mantle.
Asthenosphere
The asthenosphere is the solid upper mantle that is just below the
lithosphere. It is about 180 km thick.
Mantle
The mantle is below the crust and is the middle zone of the Earth. It is
approximately 2 900 km thick and the temperature can reach up to 3 800
degrees Celsius. The mantle is mostly dense and solid but there is a thin,
semi-liquid layer in the upper mantle.
Core
This is divided into an inner and outer core. The inner core is an iron rich
solid inner core and has temperatures of up to 4 300 degrees Celsius. The
outer core is liquid. The centre of the Earth is 6 400 km below the surface.
Plate tectonics
Plate- A plate is a rigid segment of the Earth’s crust, which can ‘float’ across the
heavier, semi-molten rock below.
Plate margin- This is the point where two plates meet
Plate tectonics- This is the study of the plates which make up the Earth’s crust and
how their movements affect the rocks and landforms at the surface.
Plate tectonics
The Earth’s surface is broken up into several large sections called plates. Each plate is about 100 km thick and is made up of the crust and the upper part of the
mantle. The solid plates rest on the semi-liquid layer in the upper mantle. This allows the plates to move in relation to each other.
These plates move in different directions. On
average, they only move a few centimetres per
year which is about the same speed at which
your fingernails grow! The movement of these
plates are important as the movement is
responsible for earthquakes, volcanoes and other
landforms.
At their boundaries, the plates have one of three
types of movements:
They move away from each other
They move towards each other
They move (slide) past each other
The Caribbean Plate
The Caribbean Plate is bounded by the North America Plate in the North, the South American Plate to the south and the Nazca and Cocos Plate to the south-west.
Plate boundaries
[Link]
From the video,
What are the three types of plate boundaries?
Divergent Plate Boundary
At a divergent plate boundary, two plates are moving away
from each other. This type of boundary is sometimes called a
constructive margin. This is because new crust is formed,
effectively ‘constructing’ new plate.
• A rising convection current is causing the crust to crack,
allowing molten rock (magma) to pass through it on its way
towards the surface.
• Some magma escapes to the surface as lava erupted from
underwater volcanoes. The volcanoes at this boundary form
a mountain range called the mid-oceanic ridge. In places this
rises above the surface to form islands, such as Iceland in
the North Atlantic.
• Over millions of years, as new plate material forms at the
mid-oceanic ridge, the plates move outwards and diverge.
Convergent Plate Boundary
At a convergent plate boundary, two plates are moving
towards each other. It is sometimes referred to as a
destructive plate margin. There are three types of converging
plates:
• Two oceanic plates
• Two continental plates
• An oceanic and a continental plate
Convergent Plate Boundary
Most convergent plate boundaries are formed
close to the edge of the ocean. The oceanic crust is
denser and is drawn downwards beneath the
adjoining plate. It is reabsorbed into the mantle.
This is called a subduction zone.
• 75% of the world’s earthquakes occur at the
convergent boundaries.
• A deep ocean trench runs parallel to most
convergent place boundaries.
• Volcanoes are also formed at convergent plate
boundaries where a plume of magma rises
towards the surface. when this occurs on
oceanic crust, a volcanic island arc is formed.
Convergent Plate Boundary
From the diagram:
• The Nazca plate to the west is diving beneath
the less dense continental crust that forms part
of the South American plate.
• As the Nazca plate descends, friction along the
plate margin triggers earthquakes.
• The oceanic crust is melting and magma is
forcing its way to the surface to form volcanoes.
• The crumpling of the sea floor sediments at this
boundary forms fold mountains which, together
with newly formed volcanoes, form the Andes.
Convergent Plate Boundary
When two continental plates converge, they form a
collision margin.
Here, there is no subduction since they are both of
the same density. Instead, the layers in the seabed
between them crumple to form fold mountain
ranges such as the Himalayas.
• The enormous pressures and sudden creaking of
rocks often triggers powerful earthquakes in
these regions.
• There is no magma at these plate boundaries
owing to the lack of subduction. This means
that there are no volcanoes.
Transform Plate Boundary
When two plates are moving past each other
without converging or diverging, there is a
transform plate boundary, sometimes with an
ocean trench.
Earthquakes occur at all types of plate margins but
volcanoes are found are found mainly at
convergent and divergent plate margins, not
transform plate margins.
Example:
San Andreas Fault
The Pacific plate is moving north-westwards by
6cm a year.
The North American plate moves north-
westwards by 1cm a year but appears to be
moving south-eastwards in relation to the faster
moving Pacific plate.
Continental Drift
[Link]
Evidence of continental drift:
• We can measure the present day movement of the continents with sensitive electronic surveying equipment
• We can detect new rock at the emerging divergent plate boundary
• There are no sediments more than 150 million years old on the floor of the South Atlantic. In the areas close to the
ridge, sediments are much younger than this.
• Rocks that formed more than 150 million years ago in eastern South America are very similar to rocks that formed at
the same period in western Africa.
• Animals that lived at this time in South America and Africa were very similar.
Let’s revise
[Link]
The Caribbean Plate
Much of the Caribbean region lies on the
Caribbean plate. The boundaries of the
Caribbean plate are extremely active as it is
being squeezed by converging plates on either
side.
• On the northern edge, there is a transform
plate boundary between the Caribbean
plate and the North American plate.
Sideways movement occurring along this
boundary has been responsible for many
major earthquakes including the 2010 Haiti
earthquake which killed over 230 000
persons.
• [Link]
UIjdY
The Caribbean Plate
• At the western boundary, oceanic crust
making up the Cocos plate is subducting
beneath the Caribbean plate, forming a
zone of volcanoes, earthquakes and fold
mountains.
• The southern boundary is complex as it is
part convergent and part transform. While
earthquakes do occur here, it is not as
active as the other plate boundaries.
• To the east is an active convergent plate
boundary between the South American
plate and the Caribbean plate. The
subducting South American plate is
responsible for the formation of a chain of
mostly volcanic islands called the Lesser
Antilles.
Formation of the Lesser Antilles volcanic arc
• Most of the islands that form the Lesser
Antilles in the eastern Caribbean are
volcanic.
• They have been formed at a convergent
plate boundary where the South American
plate is subducting beneath the Caribbean
plate.
• Lines of weakness develop in the overlying
continental crust and magma rising from
deep underground trenches reaches the
surface to form a chain of volcanoes called
an island arc.
• Many of the volcanoes have erupted
violently in the past such as Mt. Pelée in
Martinique, Soufriere Hills in Montserrat
and Mt. Soufriere in St. Vincent and the
Grenadines.
Areas of stability
Some Caribbean countries are not close to
plate boundaries so they are geologically stable
with few earthquakes and no volcanoes. These
include:
• The Bahamas, which are formed on a stable
platform of rocks, as part of the North
American plate.
• Guyana and Suriname, which are made up
mainly of the ancient rocks of the Guiana
Shield which is part of the South American
plate.
Shield- a large area with very old, stable
rocks. Eg. Guiana Shield, Canadian Shield.
Let’s revise
[Link]
