CATHOLIC SCHOOLS IN IFUGAO

SCIENCE 10
FIRST QUARTER: Academic Year 2022-2023

EARTH AND SPACE: PLATE TECTONICS

I. DISTRIBUTION OF VOLCANOES, EARTHQUAKE EPICENTERS AND MOUNTAIN RANGES

A. INTRODUCTION: Theories of Plate Movements

The Earth, which has seven separate continents, began as one huge mass of land called Pangaea which in Greek
means “all lands”. The waters surrounding Pangaea was called Panthalassa, which in Greek means “all seas”. It has been
proposed that today’s continents were once joined together and gradually drifted apart as a result of tectonic forces. These
continents are cradled by continental tectonic plates found on the lithosphere. Pangaea broke up 250 million years ago from
one massive supercontinent into the seven continents we know now.

1. Continental Drift Theory - proposed by Alfred Wegener in 1912

- states that there was once a supercontinent that existed called PANGAEA that later broke into two smaller
supercontinents: Gondwana (southern part) and Laurasia (northern part). Gondwana is composed of Africa, Antarctica, South
America, Australia and subcontinent of India. Laurasia included Asia, North America, and Europe. Both supercontinents broke
into the 7 continents known today. Between Laurasia and Gondwana was the ancient ocean called Tethys. The continents
move at about 15 millimeters per year.

EVIDENCES PRESENTED BY ALFRED WEGENER TO SUPPORT HIS THEORY OF PLATE MOVEMENTS

a.) FOSSILS – remains of life that, such as a leaf or bones, that existed hundreds of years ago.

 Glossopteris (glosso means “tongue” in Greek) is an extinct tongue-shaped seed fern. It is a dominant plant of
Gondwana. Fossils have been found in South America, Africa, Madagascar, Antarctica and Australia.
 Mesosaurus (“middle lizard” meaning Greek) was a freshwater lightly built lizard with four legs, long head and snout,
with nostrils near its eyes. Its fossils were found in South Africa and South America.
 Cynognathus (meaning “dog jaw”) was a warm-blooded mammal like reptile. Its fossil remains have been found in
Africa and Argentina (South America)
 Lystrosaurus (the shovel reptile) was a mammal like reptile about the size of a small dog. Fossils have been found in
Africa, India, and Antarctica

b.) FITTING OF CONTINENTS

 The Eastern coastline of South America and the Western coastline of Africa seems to fit each other snugly.

c. ) ROCK AND MOUNTAIN CORRELATION

d.) PALEOCLIMATE DATA

 Glacial striations in warm areas and coal in cold areas

* However, Wegener’s idea of moving continents was rejected because he was not able to identify the mechanism that was
so strong enough to break large masses of land and to cause its drifting.

2. Seafloor Spreading Theory – proposed by Harry Hess

- states that the seafloor was created as mid-ocean ridges, spreading in both directions from the ridge system; that
the ocean floor drifts apart causing the creation of ocean floor features such as underwater mountains, volcanoes and
trenches.

3. Plate Tectonics Theory

– states that the earth’s lithosphere is composed of fragmented, large slabs of rocks that move around and interact
with one another. This tectonic plates move in relation to one another at a rate of 1 cm/year to 10 cm/year.
- Explains how the earth’s crust was formed, how it moved and collided and how it changed.
- It also explains the origins of volcanoes, earthquakes and mountains
PLATES or TECTONIC PLATES - fragments of rocks that compose the earth’s lithosphere. They move on another
while riding atop a hotter and more mobile material known as the Asthenosphere.
- classified into: MAJOR tectonic plate which are larger plates and includes the North American, South American, Eurasian,
Pacific, Indo-Australian, African and Antartic Plates.
MINOR tectonic plates, the smaller plates which includes the Philippine, Caribbean, Cocos, Nazca, Scotia,
Juan de Fuca, Arabian and the Indian plates.
B. EARTHQUAKE CENTERS AND VOLCANO LOCATIONS
Majority of earthquake centers or areas are located along plate margins. The strength of earthquakes can range
from shallow to destructive. These earthquakes can be due to collisions, rifting or slipping between or among the plates.
Around 90% of earthquakes are felt along the plate margins. Earthquakes felt in areas within the plate are mostly due to
stress buildup in some continental rifting zones or due to the transfer of energy from other regions.
Earthquakes release different types of seismic waves.
 Primary and Secondary Waves which travel within the interior of the earth are responsible for the detection of the
epicentre of an earthquake. In determining the epicentre of an earthquake, the difference in arrival time between
the primary and secondary waves is recorded by the seismograph in seismic recording stations. Then mostly the
TRIANGULATION METHOD is used to locate the earthquake epicenter.
TRIANGULATION METHOD OF LOCATING THE EPICENTER OF AN EARTHQUAKE
- uses information determined from 3 seismic stations to locate the earthquake’s epicenter. The distance of the earthquake
from each seismic station is determined using the time difference between the arrival of the primary and secondary waves
from the earthquake.
Focus and Epicenter
FOCUS OR THE HYPOCENTER - the point within the Earth where the tectonic plate rocks start to break and where seismic
energy is first released. It is found within the fault plane.
- maybe : shallow (10-100 km deep), intermediate (70-300 km) or deep (300 km and deeper)
EPICENTER - the point on the crust of the Earth, directly above the focus

* Volcanoes, on the other hand, are mostly situated along plate margins which may be a constructive or a destructive
boundary. Also, they may also be found in areas where there are subducting plates.
* Most volcano arcs are found around the region of what is called as the Pacific Ring of Fire or the Circum-Pacific belt
* Just like earthquake epicentres and volcanoes, most mountain belts or ranges or a chain of mountains are also found
along plate margins.

II. PLATE BOUNDARIES AND INTERACTIONS

PLATE BOUNDARIES/PLATE MARGINS – regions between tectonic plates
- classified into three according to the relative plate movements which determines the type of plate interaction happening
along the boundaries.
1. Divergent Plate Boundary
- a tectonic boundary where two tectonic plates move away from each other resulting to the formation of a new crust from
the magma that rises to the earth’s surface between the two plates.
* Diverging motion of plates result to the formation of Ridges like the Mid-Atlantic Oceanic Ridge, Rift like the Great
African Rift Valley, bodies of water like the Tethys sea.
* Iceland is seated on the North American and Eurasian Tectonic Plates
* In places where molten lava or magma can move up and fill the gap, volcanic islands are eventually formed. Molten
lava that rises eventually cools and forms part of the ocean floor. This is called seafloor spreading or ocean floor spreading.
If there are two continents located on these plates, they are pulled apart. Eurasia and North America move away from each
other at a rate of five centimeters per year. As a result, the Atlantic Ocean is getting wider.
2. Convergent Plate Boundary
- a tectonic boundary where two plates slide towards or collides with each other and form either a subduction zone (if one
plate moves underneath the other) or an orogenic belt (if the two simply collide and compress).
OROGENIC BELT - a region of deformed rocks
- collision of plates of plates are of three kinds:
a.) Oceanic-Continental Convergence – an oceanic plate collides with a continental plate.
SUBDUCTION – a process whereby the denser oceanic plate moves beneath or subducts beneath the lighter continental plate
such that the sinking oceanic plate moves back to the mantle and undergoes partial melting.
 CONTINENTAL VOLCANIC ARC – a chain of volcanoes formed parallel to the subduction zone
Example. Volcanic Arcs in the Andes are formed from the subduction of the Nazca Plate with the South American
Plate
 TRENCH – a deep narrow depression on the ocean floor caused by the subduction of tectonic plates
Example. Peru-Chile Trench off the west coast of South America – formed from the subduction of the oceanic Nazca
plate beneath the continental South American Plate
b.) Oceanic-oceanic Convergence – the collision of two oceanic plates resulting from the subduction of the denser oceanic
plate, resulting in the formation of trenches and underwater volcanoes and eventually volcanic island arcs
Example : Aleutian Islands, Mariana Islands, Japanese Islands
Marianas Trench – the deepest trench, around 10.9 Km deep
- formed from the subduction of the oceanic Pacific plate beneath the Philippine plate
c.) Continental-Continental Convergence – two continental plates move toward or collides with one another causing the
continental crust to crumple, buckle and piling of rocks creating towering mountain ranges or belts.
Example. Himalayan Mountain Ranges – formed from the collision of the Indian Plate and the Eurasian Plate
Alps – formed when the African Plate collided with the Eurasian Plate
Apalachian Mountain Ranges –
3. Transform Plate Boundary – a tectonic boundary where tectonic plates slide past horizontally to each other without
destroying the lithospheric plate to generate an earthquake
Example. The San Andreas Fault in California, USA – created by the grinding motion of the North American plate and
the Pacific Plate