GEOL 1001 Chapter : Chapter 2 - Plate Tectonics
Document Summary
Proposed by german meteorologist alfred wegener hypothesized about pangaea. Plates make up lithosphere (consists of about 20 distinct pieces) Plate tectonics grand unifying theory of geology, plates move and build regional geologic features. Sea floor spreading new ocean floor formed between spreading continents. Subduction as continents move toward each other, ocean when old ocean floor sinks back into earth. Protrude from base of glacier and carve scratches into the substrate = striations . Melting glaciers: sediment drops out of suspension and deposits called tills . Also found fossils of plants and animals on separate continents. According to wegener"s hypothesis of continental drift, all continents were once attached and formed a single land mass that he called pangaea. Continents on the east side could fit snugly against those on the west side. When wegener compared rock units now exposed on different continents bordering the atlantic.
