Global Expressions of Plate Tectonics Through Time

Plates = Crust + Lithospheric Mantle

Testing Plate Tectonics

This model is consistent with a large number of detailed tests, including: * sea floor spreading * paleomagnetic paths * locations and focal depths of earthquakes * seismic tomography * age structure of the continents

* hotspot tracks

BATAS DIVERGEN

Tektonika Lempeng: Batas Divergen

* Gempabumi dangkal * Terutama volkanisme basalt

* Sesar normal penipisan kerak

Samodera:

* ridges secara volkanisme & kegempaan aktif, tetapi tertutup lautan

Benua: * rift valleys (Great Basin of W.US; East Africa) * Danau basin tertutup (evaporasi) * Sedimentasi klastik cepat

Batas Lempeng Divergen

kecepatan: lambat ~ 1 cm/yr cepat ~ 10 cm/yr

Continental Extension
The north-south ridges of the Basin and Range Province of the western US come from crust-scale extension. With continued extension this could develop into an ocean basin. Buy your beachfront property in central Utah now!

CA

NV

AZ

Extension in the Red Sea

Red Sea

Gulf of Aqaba Africa Arabian Pen. Gulf of Suez Nile R.

The East Africa Rift

A triple-junction is an unstable plate join where one arm usually fails, forming a single divergent plate boundary. In the not too distant future (geologically) the eastern part of Africa will rift off, becoming a big brother for Madagascar.

Continental Leftovers -- Passive Margin

This is what the edge of the North American continent looks like as it slopes into the Atlantic. The normal faults are all that remain from the tearing apart of Pangaea and the opening of the ocean, ~200 Myr ago.

The Atlantic Record

180 Myr

Looking for old ocean crust? You can find it as far as possible from divergent plate boundaries. Some of the oldest borders the US East coast and the African northwest.

Ocean Crust of the Globe

Where else on Earth is there old ocean crust?

Plate Tectonics: Transform Margins

Transforms exist to accommodate movement of other plate margins on the globe of the Earth. Plate motion can never be

entirely convergent or divergent: somewhere there needs to be

places where plates slide past one another. Hence the orientations of transforms will parallel the direction of motion of the plates involved. * most common in ocean crust * abundant intense but shallow earthquakes

* essentially no volcanism
* strike-slip faulting

Transform Margins

Transforms were the last plate tectonic

margin to become
well understood. These boundaries, where plates slide horizontally past one another, typically are not volcanically active. Do you see why that is?

Transforms Under the Sea

Transforms became obvious when high-resolution views of the

sea floor showed their spectacular offsets of the mid-ocean ridges.

Continental Transforms
Transforms are rarely seen on land. Unfortunately for Californians, the best natural example is the San Andreas Fault. Motion on this fault will eventually send southern

California as an island up
toward Alaska. At a rate of ~1 cm/yr, how

long will this take?

Divergent and Transform Margin Earthquakes

The difference between earthquakes at these kinds of margins is that transform (strike-slip) margins will have much greater forces involved, and so the quakes will be much stronger.

The similarity between earthquakes at these kinds of margins is that all of the foci will be shallow (in the upper <60 km).

Divergent and Transform Plate Margin Earthquakes

On both the normal

(divergent margin)
and strike-slip (transform margin)

faults, earthquakes
are shallow-focus.
in this image E-W = transform N-S = divergent

Within-Plate Earthquakes
Earthquakes occurring

away from active

convergent plate boundaries are also

always shallow focus.

The devastating earthquakes in Turkey in the last few decades, for instance, all originate within the shallow crust.

Plate Tectonics: Convergent Margins

* deep focus earthquakes * seismic tomographic evidence for subduction * positions of oceanic trenches * island arcs * nature and age of volcanic rocks * orogenic belts (granite batholiths, high pressure rocks, fold/thrust belts) * ophiolites * microplate terranes

Development of a Subduction Zone

Convergent Margin Earthquakes

Convergent margin earthquakes have lots of energy, given the forces and masses involved, but are there differences between continental and oceanic collisions?

The Wadati-Benioff Zone

The only place where there are deepfocus earthquakes is at subduction zones, where foci align on a plane called

the Wadati-Benioff zone.

Subduction Zones
sites of deep-focus earthquakes

Kuril-Kamchatka, eastern Russia (ocean-ocean)

Subduction Zones
sites of deep-focus earthquakes

western South America (oceancontinent)

Contrast: Divergent and Intraplate Earthquakes v. Convergent Margins

Subduction in the Pacific Northwest

Most of the U.S. west coast is a transform margin, but subduction goes on beneath WA, OR and N. CA. This has produced the volcanoes of the Cascade Range, including Mt. Saint Helens.

Seismic
Tomography
This image shows the track of a cold

(seismically fast)
subducting slab beneath North

America, a
process going
Note that the slab appears to penetrate deep into the mantle, to the boundary of the core.

on for >140 Myr.

Convergent Margins

ocean crust v. continental crust

ocean crust v. ocean crust

continental crust v. continental crust

Convergent Margins

Of note: island arc, oceanic trench, accretionary wedge, age of volcanic rocks and intrusive equivalents

Convergent Margins
ocean-continent convergence

Of note: continental arc, oceanic trench, accretionary wedge, age of volcanic rocks and intrusive equivalents, granite batholiths, thrust fault belt

Orogenic Belts
Orogeny is the process of mountain building by plate collision. Orogenic belts comprise high grade metamorphic rocks, fold-andthrust provinces,

fold and thrust belt of the Appalachian orogen, central PA

and granite batholiths. These belts separate more ancient blocks of cratonic crust.

Convergent Margins
continent-continent convergence

What kinds of faults are these?

Age Structure of the Continents

Continents are collections of material that get put together and torn apart through time. The cratons are the old, stable (interior) portions of continents.

Cratons
Cratons are the old, stable
interior portions of the continents.

Like continents themselves,

cratons are frequently agglomerations of old

terranes that have been

sutured together by the accretion process through

geologic time.
In this figure orogenic belts suture the older cratonic

blocks together.

Ophiolites
An ophiolite is a fragment of the ocean crust that has been tectonically obducted (accreted, uplifted) onto continental crust. Ophiolites occur as conspicuous but narrow belts of mantle rock in orogenic belts.

Part of the Appalachian

ophiolite belt (metamorphosed and deformed) crops out in and

around Baltimore.

Microplate Terrane Accretion

* During plate convergence, material on the ocean floor can be swept up and attached (accreted) to the leading edge of a continent. Materials: -- seamounts (oceanic volcanoes) -- sediments -- small continents & island arcs
How are microplate terranes recognized?
differences in: -- ages of rocks -- igneous history -- structural (deformation) history -- fossil assemblages/paleoenvironment

-- paleomagnetism

Large Microplates

Continents grow by adding real estate :

some chunks are big

(other continents)...

Small Microplates
... some chunks are small

(seamounts, accreted
sediment, island arcs, continental fragments, etc.).

Accreted Terranes of Western North America

All of these elongate belts are

packages of ocean basin sediments,

seamounts, island arcs and small continents that were at one time

adrift in the Pacific.

Millions of years of subduction on the western continental margin lead to their accretion. Plate tectonics: the natural empire-builder.

The New England Appalachians

The Maryland Appalachians

Orogenic (mountain) belts preserve extended histories of plate tectonic processes. In the Appalachians, we have records of island arc formation, continental collision, and eventual divergence and ocean basin formation.

Mantle Plumes
When plumes pierce continents they produce volcanic eruptions called flood basalts for their massive volumes.

Plumes originate deep in the mantle, some at the coremantle boundary.

Large Igneous Provinces

At various points in Earth history massive basaltic eruptions have taken place, producing what are sometimes called flood basalts, or large igneous provinces. These eruptions have left lasting marks of the Earths surface and may have had significant effects on global climate.
Why these massive eruptions occur is poorly understood, but they are fundamentally like hot spot activity on Hawaii, except that much greater volumes are involved and eruptions last for much shorter time periods.
Columbia River Ontong-Java plateau 16 Myr 120 Myr Deccan Traps 65 Myr

Hotspot Tracks: Trails of Mantle Plumes

-- plumes are responsible for the only volcanic activity not associated with plate margins

-- hotspot tracks provide an independent means of determining the direction and velocity of tectonic plates

Hot Spots

Hot spots do not occur exclusively

at divergent plate boundaries.

Here is a hot spot track that traces back into the South American continent. Similarly, the source of

volcanism in
Yellowstone, WY, is a hot spot.

Hot Spots and Ridges

Many hot spots are found in close

proximity to divergent
plate boundaries (as in the case of Iceland, a

hot spot at the MidAtlantic Ridge).

Plumes may play a

significant role in initiating spreading, but

this remains difficult to

test rigorously.

Global Tectonics

Global Tectonics

Plate Reconstructions: Ancient Earth

Using the direction and inclination of magnetized rocks (that can be preserved through at least 500 Myr), the paths charted the continents can be charted and we can reconstruct plate positions of the past.

Plate Reconstructions: Ancient Earth

Plate Reconstructions: 200 Myr

Plate Reconstructions: 140 Myr

Plate Reconstructions: 65 Myr

Plate Reconstructions: 50 Myr

Plate Reconstructions: Future Earth?

Notes: So. California Australia E. Africa

Plate Tectonics on Other Planets?

To determine if plate tectonics were active on other planets, what would we look for? Volcanic activity alone does not require plate tectonics, but it is a sign of geological activity. Extinct volcanoes

abound on both Mars and Venus.

Plate Tectonics on Other Planets?

Patterns of fractures and ridges like these have suggested past plate tectonic activity.
Venus

Even so, Earth-style plate tectonics on other planets cannot be verified.

Mars