GEO 110 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Convergent Boundary, Radiogenic Nuclide, Thrust Fault
4 Feb 2020
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Document Summary
Occurs when oceanic plates are pulled apart or when a continental plate. As the crust thins, it is fractured and pushed upward, producing block mountains breaks up into fragments. Results in alpine mountain chain consisting of intensely deformed strata of marine origin. Faulted slices of rock move over the underlying rock on fault surfaces (overthrust faults) Earth"s history includes supercontinent cycles in which the continents unite in a single landmass and then break apart. Power to move lithospheric plates - heat release by radioactivity matter through radioactive decay. Elements have unstable isotopes that spontaneously emit energy or. Energy is absorbed by the surrounding matter - radiogenic heat. Earth"s radiogenic heat is released in the rock beneath the continents. One theory is that the plate motions are produced by convection currents in hot mantle rock. Fold belts create a ridge and valley landscape of alternating ridges of resistant rock and valleys of weak rock.
