GEOS126 Lecture 3: Plate Tectonics and Ocean Basins Part 2
28 Nov 2018
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Rift: linear region where the lithosphere is being extended; causes crust to thin; reduced elevation; accumulation of water. Africa (embryonic rift valley, faulting, volcanism but no new sea yet); red sea (juvenile narrow new sea); mid ocean ridge (mature producing new ocean crust) Destroyed in a subduction zone; eventually the landmasses will collide and produce a orogeny. Himalayas, evidence of the past oceans can be preserved by the mountain ranges) African plate is moving north relative to the eurasian plate, oceanic plate is being subducted by the eurasian plate, only connected to the rest of the oceans through the. Messinian salinity crisis: mediterranean sea was disconnected from the. Atlantic: the sea dried up and formed a massive salt desert that existed below sea level. Continental margins: continental shelf, relatively flat and shallow part of the ocean basins that lies adjacent to the continents, continental slope, transition from shelf to deeper abyssal plane.
