Evidence for Continental Drift

● 1. The Fit of the Continents

○ N. America, S. America, Africa, and Europe fit together
○ Using the edge of the continental shelf improves the fit; any overlaps in gaps
reflect geologic changes
○ The fit is too good to be a coincidence
● 2. Distribution of Climatic Belts
○ Glacial striations are evidence of past glaciers
○ The Permian glacial deposits and striations are found in regions where glaciers
don’t occur today
○ These glacial deposits are difficult to explain with unmoving continents
○ With a restored Pangea, Permian glacial deposits fit together in the region that
used to occupy the south polar ice cap
○ Late Paleozoic rocks preserve evidence of ancient climate belts
○ The belts align in a sensible manner - like the climate belts of Earth today - when
Pangea is fit together
● 3. Distribution of fossils
○ Mesozoic fossil organisms occur on many of the southern continents, but these
creatures couldn’t migrate across an ocean
○ Pangea explains the occurrences of these organisms on different continents
● 4. Matching Geologic Units
○ Distinctive belts of rocks occur on both S.America and Africa
○ These belts match up when the present day Atlantic Ocean is removed
○ Paleozoic mountain belts on either side of the Atlantic Ocean match up
*** HOW do the continents move???***

Mapping the Seafloor: Sonar

● Sonar allows a ship to easily measure sea-floor bath bathymetry
● Sonar is based on the travel time of sound waves generated by the ship and reflected off
the bottom

Mapping the Seafloor: Bathymetric Profiles

● Bathymetric profile across the Atlantic Ocean (from X to X’ on the map) illustrates that
mid-ocean ridges are elevated above deeper abyssal plains
● Map of the seafloor reveals the distribution of mid-ocean ridges, deep-ocean trenches,
and oceanic transform faults

Mapping the Seafloor

● In addition to mid-ocean ridges, other bathymetric features were discovered by sonar
● These include deep-ocean trenches, oceanic islands, seamounts, and guyots

Mid-Ocean Ridge vs. Locations of Earthquakes

● Map of the distribution of earthquakes in ocean basins traces the outline of the mid-
ocean ridges, transform faults, and deep-sea trenches

Seafloor Spreading
● New seafloor is created at mid-ocean ridges, moves away from the ridges, and the
subducts back into the mantle

Earth’s Magnetic Field and Paleomagnetism

● Earth’s magnetic field is due to flow of material in the liquid outer core
● The magnetic axis isn’t parallel with the rotational axis

Paleomagnetism
● Iron minerals in rocks archive the magnetic field at time of formation
● In magma, magnetic dipoles are randomly oriented and no magnetization is possible
● As magma cools, magnetic dipoles in iron-bearing minerals becomes aligned with
Earth’s magnetic field
● The magnetic signature is then frozen in the rock
● Inclination and declination changes in a layered succession of lavas can preserve the
history of tectonic plates moving a continent

Paleomagnetism - Continental Drift

● If N. America and Europe haven’t moved, their apparent polar wander paths shouldn’t be
identical
○ However, they’re not, suggesting one or both continents have moved
● If the continent is fixed in place, then the magnetic pole must have moved
● But, if the magnetic pole is fixed in place, then the continent must have moved

Paleomagnetism - Evidence of Seafloor Spreading

● Magnetometers towed by ships moving perpendicular to the mid-ocean ridges recorded
alternating strong and weak magnetic fields
● Positive (strong) and negative (weak) magnetic anomalies lined up to form “stripes” on
the ocean floor
○ These stripes are symmetric around the mid-ocean ridge

Paleomagnetism - Magnetic Reversals

● During reverse magnetic polarity, the magnetic dipole points in the opposite direction
● During these conditions, a compass needle would point to the south magnetic pole
● Reversals in Earth’s magnetic field are recorded in iron-rich rocks, such as basalts
● Magnetic reversals are also apparent in layers of volcanoes that deposit lava flows over
many thousands of years

Chronology of Magnetic Reversals

● A magnetic reversal chronology for the last 4 million years (Ma) reveals differing
durations of normal and reverse magnetic polarity

Marine Magnetic Anomalies

● Sea-floor spreading predicts that magnetic anomalies should be mirror images across
the mid-ocean ridge -> bar-code pattern
● The width of magnetic stripes in sea-floor basalt is proportional to the duration of normal
or reversed magnetic field conditions
○ Anomaly pattern = alternating stripes of normal-polarity and reversed-polarity
seafloor
○ Anomalies get progressively older moving away from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge
○ Rock ages + paleomagnetism -> durations of normal and reversed polarities

Age of the Oceanic Crust

● Map of seafloor age shoes that the youngest oceanic floor lies along the mid-ocean
ridge axis, while the oldest is farthest from the axis
● The seafloor spreading model explains this pattern

From Seafloor Spreading to Plate Tectonics

● Hess proposed seafloor spreading
● Seafloor moves away from mid-oceanic ridge due to mantle convection
● Convection: Circulation driven by rising hot material and/or sinking cooler material
○ Rising hot material -> creation of crust -> crustal movement
○ Sinking cooler material -> destruction of crust -> crustal movement

Upper Mantle: Lithosphere and Asthenosphere

● Lithosphere -> rigid (can’t flow) and is comprised of the crust and upper mantle
○ Thicker under the continents; thinner under oceans
○ Can deform over a long time
● Asthenosphere -> below, is soft, and able to flow
● When heavy load (glacier, volcano) is applied, asthenosphere flows out of way ->
overlying plate sags -> surface bends down

Lithospheric Plates “Float” on the Asthenosphere

● DENSITY
Theory of Plate Tectonics
● Centuries of observations have conclude that the Earth’s composition and structure are
not random
● Pattern recognition: earthquakes occur where mountains rise and volcanoes explode
● Earth is composed of lithospheric plates that move on asthenosphere due to convection
in mantle
● 7 major plates ; several minor ones
● When sufficiently cool and dense, these rocks may sink back into the mantle at
subduction zones
● Overall young age for seafloor rocks, ridge elevation, high heat flow, and abundant
undersea volcanism are evidence of this

Plate Tectonics Summary

1. Lithosphere composed of rigid parts -> plates
2. Plates move slowly
3. Most large-scale geologic activity occurs at plate boundaries
4. Interior of plates are relatively geologically quiet(?)

Theory of Plate Tectonics

● Composite of ideas that explain the observed motion of Earth’s lithosphere through
mechanisms of subduction and seafloor spreading -> continents + ocean basins
● Tectonic plates are composed of the relatively rigid, brittle lithosphere
● Plates “float” upon ductile asthenosphere
● Plates interact at their boundaries -> classified by relative plate motion
○ Move apart -> divergent boundaries
○ Move together -> convergent boundaries
○ Slide past each other -> transform boundaries
Earth’s Plates
● Earth’s plates: some plates are entirely oceanic lithosphere; others are made of both
oceanic and continental lithosphere
● Active continental margins = plate boundaries
● Passive margins = not plate boundaries
○ Ex. Continental shelf is top surface of a passive-margin basin

Plate Boundaries
● Location of earthquakes isn’t random
● Earthquakes occur in distinct belts that define tectonic plate boundaries
● Distribution of earthquakes defines the position of plate boundaries
○ Relatively few earthquakes occur in the stable plate interiors

3 Types of Plate Boundaries

● Gravity = driving force: old tectonic plates sink at convergent margins and are formed at
divergent margins - like a conveyor belt, they get recycled in the mantle

● Divergent: Plates move away from each other

● Convergent: Plates move toward each other
● Transform: Plates move sideways past each other

Divergent Boundary
● 2 plates move away from each other; seafloor produces new seafloor at mid-ocean ridge
● As seafloor spreading progresses, ocean basin widens and continents move apart

Mid-Ocean Ridge
● Much shallower than the deeper abyssal plains
● Ridge is offset along its length by transform-fault fracture zones
● Magma chamber -> beneath ridge axis
● Molten rock that flows out onto the seafloor produces pillow basalt
● Basalt dikes inject above the magma chamber and protrude upward
● Gabbro forms at depth

Mid-Ocean Ridge System = Spreading Systems

● Greatest volume of volcanic rock is produced along the oceanic ridge system (plate
divergence)
● Mechanism of (decompression) melting:
○ Lithosphere pulls apart
○ Less pressure on underlying rocks
○ Results in partial melting of mantle
○ Large quantities of basaltic magma are produced

Median Valley
● The Juan de Fuca ridge is a location where plates are pulling apart -> developed median
valley
● Enlargement of the median valley shows that lenses of pillows spill out of distinct
fissures where a dike gets close to the surface
● Newly formed crust breaks up along faults

Pillow Basalt
● Recently erupted pillow basalt from the Juan de Fuca Ridge
● Pillow basalts form in deep water where pressure is high

Forming new Lithosphere

● Lithosphere consists of the crust and uppermost mantle
● As plate moves away from the ridge and cools, dense lithospheric mantle thickens and
the seafloor surface gets deeper
● Note: Oceanic crust forms at mid-ocean ridge ; thickness stays the same as plate ages