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A short, data oriented summary of the theory of plate tectonics by Prof. William A. Prothero, University of California, Santa Barbara The two sources of information about the theory of plate tectonics are your textbook, and the Plate Tectonics Lecture on the class CDROM. Some of the most important principles are repeated here to help you do the lab and writing activities. Figure 1. Cross-section diagram of the Eastern Pacific and Atlantic Ocean basins. The theory of plate tectonics states that the Earth’s surface has a number of rigid, brittle segments that move around. The outlines of these plates are easy to see on a world map of earthquakes. Earthquakes occur where brittle pieces of the Earth are slipping past one another. When you break a dish, a crack occurs and there is a separation of two or more pieces. The noise is analogous to the earthquake and the crack is where relative motion between two pieces takes place. There are three kinds of boundaries between plates. These will each be discussed below. Divergent boundaries: These are called “spreading centers” and often occur at “mid-ocean ridges.” Two plates are separating, or diverging. Location A in Figure 1 is the location of the spreading center in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Notice that the spreading center (A) is higher in elevation (shallower water). Even before plate tectonics, this long linear feature was described as a “mid-ocean ridge.” This is because the lithosphere is hottest at a spreading center, so thermal expansion makes its elevation higher. Hot mantle rocks rise into the space left by the separating plates and form the new oceanic crust. The Mid-Atlantic Ridge has many large volcanoes on its flanks. The region is characterized by few earthquakes, most of which are on short “transform” segments (discussed next). The diagram of Figure 2 shows how a spreading center would be illustrated in “Map” view (looking straight down from an airplane). Figure 2. Diagram o