EOSC 114 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Plate Tectonics, Continental Drift, Oceanic Crust
17 Jul 2016
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Document Summary
Disturbing: what appears static and solid is moving violently. Tectonic plates are made of solid crust and solid upper part of mantle. Earthquakes are waves (ground motion) produced from the elastic rebound after a fault breaks due to plate motions. Possible to experience one and not realize it. Living near active plate boundaries results in you feeling more earthquakes. A fundamental process that controls how our planet looks and functions. Structure: continents, ocean basins, trenches, mountain ranges, island chains, etc. (and resulting erosion-and landslides) Tectonics: earth processes generate hazards, but also provides critical benefits and shapes our planet. The "tectonic plates" are continental and ocean-floor rock that moves over and into the solid rock of the earth"s mantle. Plate tectonics need to have a layered earth. Continental crustal rock is very different that the rock that comprises the oceanic crust. The colder an object is, the more dense it is. Oceanic crustal rock & mantle rock are very similar.
