Fundamentals of Plate Tectonics

Tectonics is the study of the origin and arrangement of the broad structural features of Earth’s
surface which includes faults and folds, mountain ranges, continents and earthquake belts.

Plate tectonics is the term used to describe the large scale motions of the earth’s lithosphere. The
basic premise of plate tectonics is that the Earth’s surface is divided into a few large, thick plates
that move slowly and change in size. i.e the Earth’s crust consists of about a dozen large slabs of
rock, or PLATES, that the continents and oceans rest on. Plates are large, mobile slabs of rock
that are part of the Earth’s surface. The surface of a plate may be composed entirely of sea floor
(the Nazca Plate) or it may be made up of both continental and oceanic rock (the North
American Plate). These tectonic plates can move centimeters per year— about as fast as your
fingernails grow up to 15cm/yr in some places.

Tectonic plates are also called lithospheric plates because the crust and the upper-most mantle
make up a sub-layer of the earth called the lithosphere. The plates can move about because the
uppermost mantle, or the asthenosphere, is partially molten and possesses a physical property
called plasticity, allowing the strong, rigid plates of the crust to move over the weaker, softer
asthenosphere. The outermost part of the Earth's interior is made up of two layers: above is the
lithosphere, comprising the crust and the rigid uppermost part of the mantle. Below the
lithosphere lies the asthenosphere.

Theory of plate tectonics

The theory of plate tectonics originated in the late 1960’s by combining two pre-existing
theories:

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1. Continental Drift – The idea that continents move freely over the Earth’s surface, changing
their positions relative to one another.

2. Sea-Floor Spreading – A hypothesis that the sea floor forms at the crest of the mid-oceanic
ridge, then moves horizontally away from the ridge crest toward an oceanic trench.

At the beginning of the 20th Century, scientists realized that they could not explain many of the
Earth’s structures and processes with a single theory. Many scientific hypotheses were developed
to try and support the conflicting observations. One hypothesis was continental drift, which was
proposed by Alfred Wegener in a series of papers from 1910 to 1928.

The principal thought of continental drift theory is that the continents are situated on slabs of
rock, or plates and they have drifted across the surface of the Earth over time; however,
originally, they were all joined together as a huge super-continent at one time.

In the 1960’s, the theory of continental drift was combined with the theory of sea-floor spreading
to create the theory of plate tectonics.

The idea for Wegener's theory was sparked by his observation of the nearly perfect ―fit‖ of the
South American and African continents. i.e Continents can be made to fit together like pieces of
a jigsaw puzzle; the idea that continents were once joined together, and have split and moved
apart has been around for more than 130 years.

The “fit” of two continents

Additional evidence supporting the continental drift theory:

i. Fossils of the same plant (Glossopteris) found in Australia, India, Antarctica and South
America.

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ii. Fossils of same reptile (Mesosaurus) found in Africa and South America. This animal could
not have swum across the existing Atlantic Ocean!

iii. Glacial deposits found in current warm climates and warm climate plant fossils found in what
is now the Arctic.
iv. Nearly identical rock formations found on the east coast of U.S. and the west coast of Europe
and eastern South America and western Africa.

Arguments against continental drift

Wegener’s ideas were not widely accepted, particularly in the United States and much of the
northern hemisphere.

i. Presence of land-dwelling reptiles throughout scattered continents could be explained by

land bridges
ii. Fossil plants could have been spread from one continent to another by wind or ocean
currents.
iii. Most geologists found Wegener’s proposal that continents plowed through the oceanic crust
contrary to what was known about the strength of rocks at that time.

Tectonic plates are grouped into seven (7) major (primary) plates, fifteen (15) minor (secondary)
plates and several micro (tertiary) plates. Major plates are plates with areas greater than 20 km 2,
minor plates with areas between 1 and 20 km2 and micro plates are with are less than 1 km2.

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Plate boundaries

There are three basic ways that plates interact with one another. Each of these plate boundaries
has the potential to create different geological features.

i. Convergent boundary - When plates collide with each other. i.e. when both are continental
plates, the plates push against each other, creating mountain ranges. This occurs where two
plates slide towards each other commonly forming either a subduction zone (if one plate
moves underneath the other) or a continental collision (if the two plates contain continental
crust). Deep marine trenches are typically associated with subduction zones. The subducting
slab contains many hydrous minerals, which release their water on heating; this water then
causes the mantle to melt, producing volcanism. Examples of this are the Andes mountain
range in South America and the Japanese island arc.
Oceanic trenches are found where oceanic plates are subducted at convergent boundaries.

ii. Divergent boundary – this occurs when plates separate from each other. New crust is formed
at divergent boundaries. Mid-ocean ridges (e.g. Mid-Atlantic Ridge) and active zones of
rifting (such as Africa's Great Rift Valley) are both examples of divergent boundaries.
The mid-oceanic ridge with its rift valley forms at divergent boundaries.

iii. Transform boundary - When plates slide alongside each other. i.e. plates slide pass another
horizontally. These occur where plates slide or, perhaps more accurately, grind past each
other along transform faults. The relative motion of the two plates is either sinistral (left side
toward the observer) or dextral (right side toward the observer). The San Andreas Fault in
California is one example.
Fracture zones are created at transform boundaries.

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Tectonic plates and plate boundaries

The key principle of plate tectonics is that the lithosphere exists as separate and distinct tectonic
plates. One plate meets another along a plate boundary, and plate boundaries are commonly
associated with geological events such as earthquakes and the creation of topographic features
like mountains, volcanoes and oceanic trenches. The majority of the world's active volcanoes
occur along plate boundaries, with the Pacific Plate's Ring of Fire being most active and most
widely known.

Earthquakes

This is a sudden violent shaking of the ground, typically causing great destruction, as a result of
movements within the earth's crust or volcanic action. A sudden release of energy in the earth's
crust or upper mantle, usually caused by movement along a fault plane or by volcanic activity
and resulting in the generation of seismic waves which can be destructive.

The point of origin of earthquake is known as focus or hypocenter. The point on the earth’s
surface which lies vertically above the focus is known as epicentre.

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Seismic waves are waves of energy that travel through the Earth's layers and are a result of an
earthquake, explosion, or a volcano that gives out low-frequency acoustic energy. Seismic waves
are studied by geophysicists called seismologists. Seismic wave fields are recorded by a
seismometer, hydrophone (in water), or accelerometer.

The propagation velocity of the waves depends on density and elasticity of the medium.
Velocity tends to increase with depth and ranges from approximately 2 to 8 km/s in the Earth's
crust, up to 13 km/s in the deep mantle.

Earthquakes are caused by Tsunamis, Occurrence of landslides, Avalanches, Volcanic

eruptions, Man-made explosions, Meteorites.

Classification of earthquake:

Based on depth of their origin or focus, earthquake is described as shallow or intermediate or

deep.

i. Earthquake with a focus depth less than 50 - 70km are called shallow earthquake.
ii. If the depth more than 70km but less than 300km, they are called Intermediate earthquake.
iii. Which have focus depth more than 300km, they are called Deep earthquake.

Based on the mode of occurrence, earthquakes are described as Tectonic or Non-tectonic.

• Tectonic earthquake are exclusively due to internal causes, due to disturbances or adjustments
of geological formations taking place in the earth’s interior, they are less frequent, but more
intensive and hence more destructive in nature.

• Non Tectonic earthquake on the other hand, is generally due to external or surficial causes.
This type of earthquake is very frequent, but minor in intensity and generaly not destructive in
nature.

Types:

Among the many types of seismic waves, one can make a broad distinction between body waves
and surface waves.

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• Body waves travel through the interior of the Earth.

• Surface waves travel across the surface. Surface waves decay more slowly with distance than
do body waves, which travel in three dimensions.

Includes Primary and Secondary waves:

Primary waves (P-wave): Primary waves are compressional waves that are longitudinal in
nature. P waves are pressure waves that travel faster than other waves through the earth to arrive
at seismograph stations first, hence the name "Primary". These waves can travel through any
type of material, including fluids, and can travel at nearly twice the speed of S waves. In air, they
take the form of sound waves, hence they travel at the speed of sound. Typical speeds are 330
m/s in air, 1450 m/s in water and about 5000 m/s in granite.

Secondary waves(S-Waves): Secondary waves (S-waves) are shear waves that are transverse in
nature. Following an earthquake event, S-waves arrive at seismograph stations after the faster-
moving P-waves. S-waves can travel only through solids, as fluids (liquids and gases) do not
support shear stresses. S-waves are slower than P-waves, and speeds are typically around 60% of
that of P-waves in any given material.

Seismic belts and shield areas:

• Seismic belts are those places where earthquakes occur frequently. Shield areas are those places
where earthquakes occur either rarely or very mildly.

• Occurrence of an earthquake in a place is an indication of underground instability there.

• Statistics have revealed that nearly 50% of earthquakes have occurred along mountain ridges
and 40% of earthquakes along steep coasts.

• The study of recorded earthquakes shows that they take place on land most frequently along
two well-defined seismic belts.

1. Circum Pacific Belt which accounts for 68% of earthquake occurrence.

2. Mediterranean belt accounts 21% of earthquake which extends east-west from Portugal,
Himalayas and Burma with a branch through Tibet and China.

Richter scale:

• The Richter magnitude scale (also Richter scale) assigns a magnitude number to quantify the
energy released by an earthquake. The Richter scale, developed in the 1930s, is a base-10
logarithmic scale, which defines magnitude as the logarithm of the ratio of the amplitude of the
seismic waves to an arbitrary, minor amplitude.

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• In 1935, the seismologists Charles Francis Richter and Beno Gutenberg, of the California
Institute of Technology, developed the (future) Richter magnitude scale, specifically for
measuring earthquakes in a given area of study.

• The Richter scale was succeeded in the 1970s by the Moment Magnitude Scale (MMS). This is
now the scale used by the United States Geological Survey to estimate magnitudes for all
modern large earthquakes.

• An Earthquake of magnitude 5 may cause damage within radius of 8km, but that of magnitude
7 may cause damage in a radius of 80km, and that of 8 over a radius of 250km.

Construction of buildings in seismic areas-precautionary measures:

• Buildings should be Founded on hard bedrock only and never on loose soils or fractured rocks,
this is because lose ground settles due to earthquake vibrations.

• Buildings situated in cuttings on hill slides, near sheet slopes always suffer more when an
earthquake occurs.

• For large Buildings, raft types of foundations are desirable. Square foundations are more stable.

• Different parts of a building should be well tied together so that the whole structure behaves
like a single unit to the Vibrations.

• Only rich cement mortar and reinforced concrete should be used.

• Buildings with irregular shapes with wings, Verandas, Porches and all structures should be
avoided.

• Buildings should have RCC roofs and they should be designed not to yield to lateral stress.

• Resonance is the important factor, if the period of vibration of a structure is the same as that of
the foundation rock it will collapse because of the resonance effect.

Civil engineering considerations in seismic areas:

• Seismic areas are the places which experience earthquakes frequently.

• Therefore constructions in seismic areas differ in terms of their design.

• So a civil engineer should only think of making his constructions immune to earthquakes.

It is possible to find the difficulties by predicting some crucial factors:

a. The exact place of earthquake occurrence.

b. The duration of the earthquake.

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c. The direction of movement of the ground at the time of earthquake

Tsunamis

A Tsunami is a giant wave (or series of waves) created by an undersea earthquake, volcanic
eruption and landslide. Tsunamis are often called as tidal waves but this is not accurate
description because tides have little effect on giant tsunami waves.

Avalanches

An avalanche is any amount of snow sliding down a mountainside. Another term for avalanche is
snow slide.

Tornadoes

A tornado is a violent rotating column of air extending from a thunderstorm to the ground. The
most violent tornadoes are capable of tremendous destruction with wind speeds of up to 300
mph. They can destroy large buildings, uproot trees and hurl vehicles hundreds of yards.

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