This document provides information about plate tectonics through 5 sections: 1) It defines plate tectonics and provides diagrams of Earth's layers. 2) It describes where plate tectonics is occurring globally and locally through examples. 3) It discusses how plate tectonics has affected life on Earth through changing environments and fossil evidence. 4) It notes there are still issues and debates around fully understanding the mechanisms driving plate tectonics and predicting impacts. 5) It argues more research across scientific fields is needed to better comprehend plate tectonics and issues like its relationship to volcanism and climate change.

1. PLATE TECTONICS
BY
Patrick Caffery

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3. Plate Tectonics
1. What is it?
It is a layer of the earth crust on which most
people refer to as “terra Fermi”, but it a great deal
more. Everything we know mineral, water, living
thing, even our atmosphere has or is affected by it in
some way for all time every since earth was created.
Your book defines plate tectonics – as a coherent
theory of massive lithospheric rearrangement based
on the movement of continent – sized plates.

4. This is a cutaway of the Earth as we think it is.
You see no one has every really gone to the center
of the Earth. But this is what everyone thinks it is.

5. This is another cutaway getting us to where we need to
be.
See that upper left corner that says “Lithosphere” well that
is the layer we are going to be talking about here. Welcome
to “Plate Tectonics 101” The short version.

6. 1. Earth is made up of several layers. The outermost layer is called Earth's
crust. The thickness of the crust varies. Under the oceans , the crust is only
about 3–5 mi (5–10 km) thick. This is at the bottom of those trenches.
2. Under the continents, however, the crust thickens to about 22 mi (35 km)
and reaches depths of up to 37 mi (60 km) under some mountain ranges. 3.
Beneath the crust is a layer of rock material that is also solid, rigid, and
relatively cool, but is assumed to be made up of denser material.
3. This layer is called the upper part of the upper mantle, and varies in depth
from about 31–62 mi (50–100 km) below Earth's surface. The combination
of the crust and this upper part of the upper mantle, which are both
comprised of relatively cool and rigid rock material, is called the
lithosphere. This section is thought to be brittle.

7. 2. Where is it happening?
A. First this is a World Wide situation. Everyone is
affected whether you think you are or not.
B. It is happening in your backyard and as well your
front yard.
C. You cannot see it unless you look at mountain or go look at San Andres
Fault. These plates move all the time 24/7/365. It is when they don’t we
worry.
D. But it is possibly it will be on the news or you have been woke in the
middle of the night when your house and bed moved, or you saw on
the news and saw that a bridge collapsed on a highway or river
somewhere.
E. Maybe you heard about Haiti?

8. Alfred Wegener was a German meteorologist and geophysicist who
developed the first theory of continental drift and formulated the idea that a
supercontinent known as Pangaea existed on the Earth millions of years ago.
His ideas were largely ignored at the time they were developed but today
they are very well accepted by most of the scientific community.

9. Plate Tectonics Today Still Working
• Remember the top layer
of the cake with the whip
cream and cherry on top
and 1st layer of cake. Well
that whole 1st layer
moved on the Earth
“Lithosphere” and has
been moving every since.
The speed it moves is
about the speed your
finger nail grows each
year.

10. IF PANGAEA WAS MAPPED OUT LIKE TODAY’S MAPS

11. 3. How does it affect life on Earth? Or how is life on
Earth affected by it?
If there was no sun, there would be no life on earth!
If there was no lithosphere the earth would not be
like it is, and we would have
No diversity of life!
We have found that certain animals lived in the same
place at one time and the bones where found thousands
of miles away in another land. That how the theory of
plate tectonics started. When the land and earth changes
something new pops up that we had not seen before.

12. You recognize this?
Yes! So let us go deeper. I chose this picture for the
landscape for your bearing. Don’t be shocked at the
next picture.

13. Yes! This is a dead planet with no water.
But hey it is only a picture. Let us go deeper. You are
looking at the continental plate of Africa and it is
floating! Yes! Even without water.

14. This is the giant mechanism that scientist think moves the
plates or build a new crust. Notice the “Ridge in the Center,”
that would be like the Atlantic Ridge.

15. The Mid-Atlantic Ridge, which splits nearly the entire Atlantic
Ocean north to south, is probably the best-known and most-
studied example of a divergent-plate boundary. (Illustration
adapted from the map This Dynamic Planet.)

16. The speed at which new ocean floor is created varies from one
location on the ocean ridge to another. Between North America
and Europe, the rate is about 2.2 inches (3.6 cm) per year. At the
East Pacific rise, which is pushing a plate into the west coast of
South America, the rate is 12.6 inches (32.2 cm) per year.

17. The Divergent is the middle example is what may have started the whole separation of
the major continental plates. It runs down the middle of the Atlantic and moves
outward on either side. Closer to it is new while farther out is the older stuff.

18. Map showing the Mid-Atlantic Ridge splitting Iceland and separating
the North American and Eurasian Plates. The map also shows
Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland, the Thingvellir area, and the locations
of some of Iceland's active volcanoes (red triangles), including Krafla.

19. Scientists now have a fairly good understanding of how the plates
move and how such movements relate to earthquake activity. Most
movement occurs along narrow zones between plates where the
results of plate-tectonic forces are most evident. Volcanoes like this
zone also, as well as earthquakes.
There are four types of plate boundaries:
1. Divergent boundaries -- where new crust is generated as the plates
pull away from each other.
2. Convergent boundaries -- where crust is destroyed as one plate
dives under another. Some of the plates will soon disappear.
3. Transform boundaries -- where crust is neither produced nor
destroyed as the plates slide horizontally past each other. That's us.
4. Plate boundary zones -- broad belts in which boundaries are not well
defined and the effects of plate interaction are unclear.

20. Transform boundaries neither create nor consume crust. Rather, two plates move
against each other, building up tension, then releasing the tension in a sudden and
often violent jerk. This sudden jerk creates an earthquake.
The San Andreas Fault is undoubtedly the most famous transform boundary in the
world. To the west of the fault is the Pacific plate, which is moving northwest. To the
east is the North American Plate, which is moving southeast.
Los Angeles, located on the Pacific plate, is now 340 miles south of San Francisco,
located on the North American plate. In 16 million years, the plates will have moved so
much that Los Angeles will be north of San Francisco!

21. 4. Is there some problem or issue with your topic?
Even with all the accumulated knowledge of science and I take all that study
some part of what makes up earth we still have little knowledge per say over
the vast mechanical mechanism that make it work. We have theories that are
still being battled over since 1929. A simple example: We are in deep
decisions and arguments on what “Fraking.” What are the long term effects?
It may be profitable, but is it worth it? What else is being affected? If we
knew everything about the lithosphere why do we spend so much money and
time studying it? The Atlantic, and the California coast, and Yellowstone just
to mention a few. We just don’t know all the facts and do not have enough
people and equipment to deal with something “World Size.” Even with
satellites up their daily gathering facts in some cases you have to have feet on
the ground to tell you what really is happening or to go over the data
collected.
Note: We dig holes it every day looking for oil, coal, gas, diamond, you name it.
These may be worthless in the future or gone. Water may be the new “Gold” in the
future trapped below the surface. New environments have been found under the ice
shelves‘ by the university of Nebraska recently. So who knows?

22. 5. What are some solutions?
We just need more people in the field so many different fields out there to get a grip on all
that is happening. Not just only in Geology, Geography. Physics, Chemistry, Electronics, or just
read the list Professor Schmidt gave you pick a field, they are in desperate need of people.
I will give you two examples of why
Example 1. We know that we humans are producing carbon dioxide at an alarming rate and the
reason we know that is because we can measure what we do and know where it came from, but
if you look at the other big contributor “volcanoes” we really don’t know. Why is that? Well there
are 155 active volcanoes worldwide and recently the testing on them has gotten us to 35 to find
out mother nature may be increasing her rate of contribution to the atmosphere on a bigger
scale than we thought the figures in the past years have jump from 200 ppm, to 400 ppm and
then 600 ppm, and the last figures on saw are closer to 900 ppm. So if you wanted to really sell
the world on that we are shooting ourselves in the foot to make profit and then we need more
help and technical information.
Example 2. On April 29th 2015 5,600 square miles of Nepal dropped 3 to 5 feet all at once. Of
course that included a famous mountain we talk about a lot it is or was 29, 312 feet high and
nobody is going to change that, but it dropped 5 feet. Sentinel-1a radar, which passed over
the affected areas and scanned the differences. There are sensors all over that area, but most on
manual and someone has to go collect the information and is it still where it was and can we get
to it? No one knows and it may take years to collect as emergency teams and everyone else is
trying to deal with loss of life and many other things. Also National Geographic (you got to bless
that group) they were up on Mt. Everest when it happened. One statement said when it happen
Mt. Everest Roared!
Nepal Earthquake Triggers Avalanche at Mount Everest Base Camp
An avalanche triggered by a 7.8-magnitude earthquake in Nepal plowed through Mount Everest's
base camp Saturday killing at least 18 people and injuring dozens more.

23. Landsat 8 satellite observations were first obtained over Nepal after the earthquake on April 30. Landsat 8 acquired the first largely cloud-free
image of the Langtang Valley. This imagery helped show the true extent of the disaster that took place in Langtang Valley.
May 2, 2015 • [By: Tony Greicius, NASA JPL] The magnitude 7.8 Gorkha earthquake that struck Nepal on April 25, 2015, caused extensive
damage in Kathmandu Valley and severely affected Nepal’s rural areas. The Langtang Valley in the Rasuwa district was particularly hard hit, as
became apparent from pictures taken by a rescue helicopter mission on April 26. Numerous tourists and Nepali were, or are, still trapped in
the valley as access is completely blocked by avalanches and landslides. The valley’s main village, Langtang , was completelydestroyed by the
earthquake and the large, wet, debris- and ice-rich avalanche and likely pressure wave from dust avalanche that it triggered, resulting in an
unknown number of casualties. Other avalanches also struck elsewhere in the valley.

24. Note:
As a passage on Earth we are moving constantly even when resting!
Earth rotates at a speed of 1,040 mph, and we are not done yet. Earth
circles the Sun each year at a velocity of 66,600 mph. Also since the
Sun and our solar system is moving through space at 45,000 mph.*
Is the Earth under “Stress” Yes! Otherwise we would not have the
“bulge” at the equator from rotation of the Earth.
Remember I said the “lithosphere is Brittle!” What happens to brittle
things when put under stress? They break up.
Also for your information the reason you don’t notice it is that gravity
locks you in place and you have no reference of the movement
because everything else is moving at the same speed.
*This speed is in a frame of rest if the other stars were all standing still.

25. Is the “machine still working” Yes! This a new island that was
born about 620 miles from Japan on November 21, 2013.

26. So can we control it? NO!
Look at what has happen every time man has tried to control
Mother Nature.
Do we really understand it? Yes! and No!, because in science it
theory, proof then agreement and we are still arguing over it
since 1929. We are dealing with some new technical things that
we have no idea what the impact will be. I would like to know we
gave the next generation something to base the work and not
have it still in theory.
Can we track it? Yes!
Can we learn something more than we do now? Yes!
Can we get a warning system from the studies? Maybe?
Have we in some cases complicated the system? Yes! We need
a more unified front to educate the public. The public can force
companies and politicians to change their ways. Education of the
masses.

27. Note:
This is just the tip of what is going on daily around the world and unless it is in your
back yard you don’t pay attention to it. You’re the future and I’m not proud what my
generation has done. Some of us are getting back in the fight trying to change the
thinking, but it will be you that will have to make the difference. I have just giving you
a glimpse of what is happening and this class is showing you the effects that are
happening at an alarming rate. Plate Tectonics is a massive element that even now
new theories are being put forth from NASA scientist that completely turn everything
around. In either case it will still keep happening and time is not our side. We work in
years and the system works in millenniums at a steady pace with immovable objects
meeting ever relenting force. We are destroying the environment and go on doing our
everyday thing saying is it won’t happen to me. Really! Give it time, which I said was
against us.
This part has been about layers and the different layers of jobs and position in this
field is really open. THINK ABOUT IT!
I THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME ON THIS . SORRY ABOUT THE SOAP BOX!

28. Work Cited
Document from Print Source Published Electronically
"Structure of the Interior of Earth." Earth's Interior. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 July
2015.
http://www.windows2universe.org/earth/Interior_Structure/interior.html
"This Dynamic Earth--Contents [USGS]." This Dynamic Earth--Contents [USGS].
N.p., n.d. Web. 15 July 2015.
http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/dynamic/dynamic.html
"The Geological Society." The Geological Society. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 July 2015.
http://www.geolsoc.org.uk/Plate-Tectonics/
"Continents in Collision: Pangea Ultima." - NASA Science. N.p., n.d. Web. 15
July 2015.
http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2000/ast06oct_1/
National Association of Geoscience Teachers (NAGT): Plate Tectonic
Movement
http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/geophysics/visualizations/PTMove
ments.html