GEOL 1114 Lecture 4: GEOL 1114 Condensed Notes Lecture 4
Document Summary
Plate tectonics: the new paradigm: earth"s major plates. They are associated with earth"s strong rigid outer layer, known as the lithosphere. They consist of the uppermost mantle and the overlying crust. Overlies a weaker region in the mantle called the asthenosphere: earth has 7 major lithospheric plates. Pacific, indian-australian, antarctic, north american, south american, eurasian, & There are also minor plates (cocos, nazca, philippine, arabian, caribbean, & scota) The largest plate is the pacific plate but many of the plates consist of entire continents plus large areas of seafloor. These plates are constantly in motion and continually change in shape and size. The plates move relatively to each other at a slow, constant rate (5 cm per year: plate boundaries & types of plate boundaries. Interactions among individual plates occur along their boundaries. Most are located along the crests of oceanic ridges. Oceanic ridges, along well-developed divergent plate boundaries, the seafloor is elevated, forming oceanic ridges.
