EESA06H3 Chapter 2: Chapter 2 - Plate Tectonics.docx
12 Apr 2012
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Document Summary
Plate tectonics earth"s surface is divided into a few large, thick plates that move slowly and change in size. Continental drift continents move freely over the earth"s surface, changing positions relative to one another. Wegener studied climates, rocks and fossil, magnetic poles supported the continental drift. Multibeam sonar measures water depth and draws profiles of submarine topography. Rock dredge an open steel container dragged over the ocean bottom. Rock corer steel pipe dropped vertically into mud and sand of ocean floor. Submersibles small research submarines, observe, photograph and sample rock and sediment. Polar wandering an apparent movement of the earth"s plates. Rocks in brazil and african country gabon are very similar. Gps allows us to watch continents move in real time. Space geodesy a space-based technique for taking very precise measurements of points on the earth"s surface (ex: very-long-baseline interferometry (vlbi), satellite laser ranging (slr), gps) Gps is the most useful technique for studying earth"s movements.
