CONTINENTAL DRIFT THEORY AND PLATE TECTONICS
Ancient Climate
Continental Drift Theory
o proposed by Alfred Wegener in 1915
o a single supercontinent consisting of all Earth’s
landmasses once existed called Pangaea (“Pan”
= all; “Gaea” – earth/land) that broke and
drifted apart
o When all the continents were together, there
must also have been one huge ocean called
Panthalassa (“Pan” – all; “Thalassa” – sea)
surrounding them
o Evidences:
1. Continental jigsaw puzzle
o Continents fit together like a
puzzle
o Continental Shelf – submerged
part of continent in water
2. Fossil Matches Across the Sea
o If continents were all joined 300
million years ago, then this
would have provided an
opportunity for plants and
animals to disperse among
joined continents.
a) Mesosaurus - aquatic fish-
catching reptile; eastern
South America and
southwestern Africa
b) Glossopteris - “seed fern”;
Africa, Australia, India, and
South America
c) Lystrosaurus - A land-
dwelling reptile; South
Africa, India and Antarctica
d) Cynognathus - A land
mammal-like reptile;
Central South America and
Africa
3. Rock Types and Geologic Features
o Wegener recognized several
such assemblages of rock, now
separated by ocean basins
o Scandinavian and Appalachian
mountain ranges
4.
a) Location of past glaciations
- The passage of a glacier
causes deep grooves to be
carved into underlying
rocks, called STRIATIONS.
- Glaciers also leave behind a
distinctive sediment type,
called TILL.
- Using the distribution of till
and striations, Wegener
saw that South America,
southern Africa, India,
Australia and Antarctica all
experienced a glaciation.
b) Distribution of tropical
climates
- Wegener’s reconstruction
of Pangea, together with his
evidence of glaciation,
predicted that tropical
climate should have
extended in a belt across
southern North America
and Europe and northern
South America and Africa
about 300 million years
ago.
However, Alfred Wegener was not able to explain
how the continents break, and how they drifted
apart. 
Plate Tectonics
o The lithosphere (crust and uppermost mantle) is
broken down into segments called plates.
o The lithosphere is in constant motion because
the asthenosphere is also moving.
o 2 types of plates:
 Oceanic – denser
 Continental – less dense
o Major Plates:
 North America
 South America
 Eurasian
 Pacific
 Indo-Australian
  Antarctic
 African
o Minor Plates
 Philippine Sea
 Juan de Fuca
 Nazca
 Cocos
 Caribbean
 Arabian
 Scotia
Plate Boundaries
1) Divergent Plate Boundary
o Constructive plate margins
o Plates move away from each other
resulting in upwelling of hot material
from the mantle to create new seafloor
o also called spreading centers because
seafloor spreading occurs at these
boundaries
o results to the formation of oceanic
ridges, rift valley (deep down faulted
structures) and continental rifting
(elongated depression; divergent
boundaries within continental plate)
2) Convergent Plate Boundary
o Destructive plate margins
o Plates move towards each other and
colliding
o also called subduction zones because
they are sites where lithosphere is
descending (being subducted) into the
mantle.
o Types:
a) Oceanic-Continental
- the denser oceanic plate
subducts under the less
dense continental plate
- forms volcanic arc and
trench
- ex: Philippine Trench
b) Oceanic-Oceanic
- they form large trenches
underwater
- material that is liquified
under the pressure is
pushed upwards, forming
underwater volcanoes,
which can create islands.
- forms volcanic island arc
and trench
- ex: Aleutian, Mariana, and
Tonga islands
c) Continental-Continental
- when one landmass moves
toward the margin of
another because of
subduction of the
intervening seafloor
- forms mountain ranges
- ex: Himalayas mountain
ranges
3) Transform Fault Boundary
o Conservative plate margins
o plates slide horizontally past one
another without the production or
destruction of lithosphere
o creates fault system
o characterized by some of the most
intense earthquakes in the world
o ex: San Andreas fault
Testing the Plate Tectonics Model
Evidences:
1. Deep Ocean Drilling
2. Hot Spot
3. Paleomagnetism
4. Magnetic reversal and seafloor
spreading
5. Earthquake patterns and volcanoes –
Pacific Ring of Fire
Measuring Plate Motions
1. Mantle Plumes – by measuring the length of a
hot spot track and the time interval between
the formation of its oldest and youngest
volcanic structures, an average rate of plate
motion can be calculated.
 2. Global Positioning System -

What Drives Plate Motions?

 Plate-Mantle Convection – occurs in the

asthenosphere

Forces That Drive Plate Motions

1. Slab Pull – results from the sinking of the cold,

dense slab of lithosphere
2. Ridge Push – gravity-driven mechanism results
from the elevated position of the oceanic ridge;
causes slabs of lithosphere to “slide” down the
flanks of the ridge
3. Slab Suction – occurs when a subducting slab
drives flow in the nearby mantle; this mantle
flow tends to “suck” in nearby plates.