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Pangaea- The idea of a landmass made up ofall the continents joined together. Thissupposedly happened about 300 million yearsago.
Alfred Wegner- The man who came up withthe theory of Pangaea. Born November 1st,1880, in Germany. He graduated at TheUniversity of Berlin, getting a PhD inastronomy and geology. He died in 1930.
Technically, “Pangaea” means “Allof the earth” in Greek.
The Earth Period in which Pangaeatheoretically occurred in was about300 million years ago. It is believedthat Pangaea broke apart about 180million years ago
The idea of Pangaea was originally accepted byscientists because Wegner’s theory appearedto fit the facts that they already had. Or at least,as for as they knew.
Because Wegner also majored in astronomy, heknew how the universe worked. How itorbited, the planets…etc. He used thisknowledge to relate to how our planet worked.
Another Theory that was around during thePangaea Theory was the “Contraction Theory.”This theory stated that the belief that the planetwas originally a “molten ball,” and in theprocess of cooling, the surface cracked andfolded over upon itself. However, if this hadreally happened, all of the mountain ranges inthe world would be the same age, but they arenot. That is the fault of this theory.
Arthur Holmes elaborated on Wegner’s idea ofPangaea after it was dismissed. This idea wasthat the mantle goes under thermal convection.This idea was unpopular, at first.
30 years later , Harry Hess and R. Deitz had asimilar hypothesis, and this became popular.These ideas related to Wegners because theactual idea that the mantle undergoes thermalconvection was his in the first place
Resources:http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/geology/techist.html
http://scign.jpl.nasa.gov/learn/plate2.htm
A convergent boundary is a sort of“geological” mark that shows where thelithosphere joins together with the platetectonics causing land to rise up.
Hazards such as volcanoes(Volcano- A vent inthe Earth’s crust that which lava runs through)
earthquakes(Earthquake- A Series of vibrationsinduced by two plates rubbing together.)
mountains, mudslides, landslides and trenchesare characteristics and the results of aconvergent boundary.
The Andes Mountain Range
Volcanic activity.
Caused By The South American Plate colliding withthe Nazca plate
Caribbean Volcanic Arch
Islands that are volcanic
Eastern Margin of the Caribbean plate came incontact with the south American plate
Aleutian Islands
Volcanic Islands
Caused by the North American and pacificplates
Resources:
http://scign.jpl.nasa.gov/learn/plate2.htm
Divergent boundary-plates that form theocean form. The plates move away from eachother
Can cause earthquakes, land and mudslides,and trenches because when the plates moveaway from each other, they can devastate citiesand towns with earthquakes that split the landapart.
Red Sea
Narrow Sea
Formed in between the African and Arabian Plates
Linear Lakes
Linear lakes formed on a forming on a divergent plate inEastern Africa
Mid-Atlantic Ridge
Located in Atlantic ocean
Some volcanic activity
Resources:
http://scign.jpl.nasa.gov/learn/plate2.htm
Transform Boundary-A boundary that’screated by two plates rubbing togethersideways.
Causes Earthquakes, volcanoes,mountains(Mountain-A risen sum of landmass caused by two plates colliding on top ofeach other. landslides(Landslide- The massivefalling of any type of rock or soil)mudslides(Mud Slide- The massive falling ofdirt or mud that is wet.), and trenches(Trench-A narrow split in the earth caused by a fire oran earthquake)
Alpine Fault
The Fault Between the Australian and Pacific Plate
San Andres Fault zone
Fracture zone between the North and Pacific Plates.
Resources:
http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Glossary/PlateTectonics/description_plate_tectonics.html
We, as U.S. citizens, live on the NorthAmerican Plate, West of the the Atlantic Plate,South of the Juan De Fuca Plate, and East of thePacific Plate. We live just north of theCaribbean and South American plates.
We, Living in Ohio, can expect hazards relatingto plate Tectonics, such as Sinkholes, CoastalErosion of Lake Erie, Landslides, LightEarthquakes, and Seismic Risks. Other placesin the U.S. may experience these as well asVolcanoes and new mountain ranges forming,especially by the West coast.
Some problems we can expect in the Verydistant future may be collisions of the Northand Juan de Fuca plates, as well as the splittingof the Mid Atlantic Ridge, causing the wholearea around it to split is well. This may causethe U.S. some extreme danger.
