GEOL 1330 Lecture 16: Lecture 16
6 Nov 2016
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Document Summary
Alfred wegener the father of continental drift. First proposed his continental drift hypothesis in 1915. Earth has a magnetic field that is generated by the liquid outer core. As lava cools, magnetic minerals align themselves parallel to earth"s magnetic field. The magnetic north pole is not always located at the geographic north pole. It periodically flips so that the magnetic north pole is located at the geographic south pole. North polarity (present) is called normal and south polarity is reversed. Earth"s magnetic field flips polarity on average ~200,000 years. A new ocean basin begins with a continental rift. Landmasses split and move away from each other. The wilson cycle (formation and destruction of ocean basins) Embryonic stage - e african rift valley a. ) Cooling and subsidence of rifted margin allows sediments to be deposited. Continental margin continues to grow supplied from erosion of the continent.
