ERTH 2415 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Continental Crust, Formation And Evolution Of The Solar System, Oceanic Crust

• School: Carleton University
• Department: Earth Sciences
• Course: ERTH 2415
• Professor: Ralph Calistro

Document Summary

Theory of plate tectonics is central to understanding natural disasters related to the. Earthquakes and volcanoes do not occur at random locations. Most of them coincide with plate boundaries. The sun and planets were born from a rotating disk of cosmic gas and dust, the solar nebula. The flattened form of the disk constrain the planets: To move in the same direction as the disk. To have their orbits in the same plane. Differentiation: process by which gravity causes denser material to gradually migrate to the center of a planet. Earth is differentiated into layers based on: Thin crust rich in silicon and oxygen. Continental crust is thicker and less dense than oceanic crust. Magnesium- and iron-rich mantle iron-rich metallic core. Earth can be described as a series of layers where less dense material floats on top of denser material. Continental crust is less dense than oceanic crust. Low-density crust floats on top of the denser mantle.