GEO 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 13: Bathymetry, San Andreas Fault, Continental Crust
22 Feb 2017
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Divergent boundaries: mid-ocean ridges and continental rifts. Convergent boundaries: subduction zones and mountain building. Transform boundaries: right-lateral and left-lateral transform boundaries. Hawai"i is caused by a hotspot underneath an oceanic plate. Hotspots can also come up underneath continental plates (yellowstone) Some plate boundaries follow the edges of continents; some do not. Active margin: at edges of continents where you have an active plate boundary (subduction or mountain building going on) Passive margin: transitional area between oceanic and continental crust; minimal tectonic activity: example: gulf of mexico bathymetry. Wilson cycle: describes how continents rift apart and then come back together again through time. Convective flow in the mantle: mechanism of plate tectonics. Heat from the core creates convection cells in the mantle. Remember, asthenosphere is soft/plastic so it can flow but it is not molten. Convective flow from heat in the mantle is the basic driving force of plate tectonics. Plate motions are measured in relation to hotspots.
