evolving earth plate tectonics- universityof michigan（地球板块构造——密歇根大学进化）（9页）.docVIP

Evolving Earth: Plate Tectonics Shockwave module (needs plug-in); copyright W.H. Freeman ?9/10/00 Format for printing In this lecture, we wish to learn: How do seismic waves provide us with information with respect to the physical properties of the Earths interior? How do the properties of the lithosphere and the asthenosphere differ? What is the significance of the pattern of magnetic reversals observed on the ocean floor? What is the relationship seismic zones (characterized by earthquake and volcanic activity) and plate tectonics? Why is it important to understand the past tectonic history of the Earth? Jump to: [Introduction] [Lithosphere-Asthenosphere] [Thermal Boundaries] [Chemical Boundaries] [Origin of Earths Layering] [Ocean Floor] [Prediction] [Paleogeography] [Summary] [Self-Test] Introduction ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?These four views show several characteristics of Earth that we have discussed so far (and one, heat flow, that we will get to later). Topography characterizes the continents and ocean basins, whereas earthquakes and volcanoes show the location of todays geologic activity. You immediately notice that neither earthquakes nor volcanoes are randomly distributed, but that they occur in narrow belts. These belts always coincide with continent-ocean boundaries, which provides the critical clue to understanding geologic processes of Earth and the theory of plate tectonics. Plate tectonics, a concept that has revolutionized thinking in the Earth sciences in the last 25 years, combined the ideas of continental drift (originally proposed in the 1910s by Alfred Wegener) and sea-floor spreading (suggested originally by Harry Hess in the early 1960s).? Plate tectonics says that the Earths strong outer layer (called the lithosphere, which consists of crust and uppermost mantle) is broken into a mosaic of plates that slowly move over a mechanically weaker layer (the asthenosphere, which is part of the upper mantle). Where these plates interact, major geologi