p a l e o g e o g r a p h y( p l a t e t e c t o n i c s)- raleigh charter high school（p l e o g e o g r p h y(p l c t e t e t o n i c s)-罗利特许高中）.docVIP

Chapter 1 PALEOGEOGRAPHY (PLATE TECTONICS) Paleogeography: the study of the historical changes of shapes and positions of the continents and oceans Plate Boundaries: there are 13 sizable tectonic plates Transform (shear) Boundary: plates sliding past each other rock is neither created nor destroyed; there are earthquakes, but no volcanoes transform faults form perpendicular to divergent spreading centers due to stress from seafloor spreading; thus, they are common near mid-ocean ridges; they occur to accommodate a change in shape of the plate fracture zone: extension of transform boundary that is no longer active San Andreas Fault is a transform boundary on land, which are uncommon Convergent (destructive) Boundary: plates coming towards each other Subduction: plate slides beneath another plate rock is destroyed volcanoes occur an oceanic plate usually slides under a continental plate trenches form Mariana trench is the deepest trench; Challenger Deep, the deepest part of this trench goes down to a depth of 11,000 m (36,000 ft) Peru-Chile trench is the longest trench (5,900 km long) ophiolites: fragments of basaltic oceanic lithosphere embedded in continents; not all rock is cycled between lithosphere and asthenosphere, so this is where the remaining rock is located; obduction is the process by which oceanic crust is deposited in continental crust during subduction Collision Makes mountains Continental plates slam together and push rock up Divergent (constructive) Boundary: plates moving apart Rock is created “Sea-floor Spreading” Spreading center: axis of divergent boundary and sea-floor spreading Leads to mid-ocean ridges or rises: convection currents in the mantle push up the lithosphere, creating a oceanic-oceanic divergent boundary where an underwater mountain range is formed; hydrothermal vents are common along ridges and rises Mid-Atlantic Ridge is the longest mid-ocean ridge (16,000 km); East Pacific Rise is the fastest-spreading oceanic rise (13-16 cm/y