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Development Team Paper No: 4 Environmental Geology Module: 02 Plate Tectonics Development Team Prof. R.K. Kohli Principal Investigator & Prof. V.K. Garg & Prof. Ashok Dhawan Co- Principal Investigator Central University of Punjab, Bathinda Prof. R. Baskar, , Guru Jambheshwar University of Paper Coordinator Science and Technology, Hisar Dr. Meenal Mishra, IGNOU, New Delhi Content Writer Content Reviewer Dr. Sushmitha Baskar, IGNOU, New Delhi Anchor Institute Central University of Punjab 1 Environmental Geology Environmental Sciences Plate Tectonics Description of Module Subject Name Environmental Sciences Paper Name Environmental Geology Module Plate Tectonics Name/Title Module Id EVS/EG-IV/02 Pre-requisites Objectives Discuss the concepts and theories of mountain building process; Explain the theory of continental drift; Elaborate the basic principles of plate tectonics; Describe lithospheric plates, plate boundary and plate margin; Recognize the causes of plate motion and convection current theory; and Learn the present day example of plate tectonics and evolution of Himalaya. Keywords Mountain building, continental drift, plate tectonics, lithospheric plate, asthenosphere, plate boundary, divergent margin, convergent margin, transform boundary 2 Environmental Geology Environmental Sciences Plate Tectonics Module 02: Plate Tectonics Structure 2.1 Objectives 2.2 Introduction 2.3 Concept of Mountain Building 2.4 Theories of Mountain Building 2.4.1 Contraction Hypothesis 2.4.2 Expansion Hypothesis 2.4.3 Continental Drift Hypothesis 2.4.4 Oscillation and Undation Theory 2.4.5 Convection Current Hypothesis 2.4.6 Plate Tectonics Theory 2.5 Concept of Plate Tectonics 2.5.1 Lithospheric Plates 2.5.2 Plate Boundary and Plate Margin 2.5.3 Basic Principles of Plate Tectonics 2.5.4 Causes of Plate Motion-Convection Current Theory 2.6 Present Day Example-Evolution of Himalaya 2.7 Summary 2.1 Objectives After reading this chapter you should be able to: Discuss the concepts and theories of mountain building process; Explain the theory of continental drift; Elaborate the basic principles of plate tectonics; Describe lithospheric plates, plate boundary and plate margin; Recognize the causes of plate motion and convection current theory; and Learn the present day example of plate tectonics and evolution of Himalaya. 3 Environmental Geology Environmental Sciences Plate Tectonics 2.2 Introduction Earth Scientists in the past have evolved new ideas and theories about the origin of continents and oceans and mountain building processes, drifting of the continents, spreading of the ocean floor, presence of trenches and underwater mountain ridges in the ocean, chain of oceanic island. In this chapter we will be discussing about those ideas and hypotheses that have lead to the development of plate tectonics theory. 2.3 Concept of Mountain Building Let us learn the about the basic concepts, hypothesis and theories of mountain building. Then we would discuss how this led to the development of the theory of Plate Tectonics. The process of mountain building is also known as orogenesis, which has been derived from two Greek words ‘oros’ meaning mountain and ‘genesis’ meaning origin. Mountains are often called orogen in geological studies which represent a comparatively narrow deformed zone over the globe. Earth, in its geological past has several times witnessed the process of mountain building. The development of orogenic belt occurred during several impulses called orogenic phases. Orogenic Belt consists of one or several related mountain systems which have been deformed in a orogenic period. Each orogenic cycle is characterised by distinct glaciations, volcanic activity and evolution of fauna and flora. In the history of the Earth, three major orogenic periods (comprised of several orogenic phases) have been recorded. These are: Precambrian orogeny (before 550 million years ago) e.g. Rodinian orogeny at 1100 ma; Hercynian orogeny (at the end of Paleozoic- about 350 million years ago); and Tertiary or Alpine or Himalayan orogeny (Palaeocene i.e. 65 million years ago to present day) 2.4 Theories of Mountain Building Now before proceeding further let us briefly read about the historical perspectives of plate tectonics. The major hypothesis and theories that have been put forward to explain the causes of origin of mountains are: 1. Contraction Hypothesis 2. Expansion Hypothesis 3. Continental Drift Hypothesis 4 Environmental Geology Environmental Sciences Plate Tectonics 4. Oscillation and Undation Theory 5. Convection Current Hypothesis 6. Theory of Plate Tectonics 2.4.1 Contraction Hypothesis The idea of contraction hypothesis given by Warision in 19th century which was later developed by Jeffreys in 1929, on the basis of the thermal history of the Earth. He proposed that the inner portion of the mantle below 700 km was neither cooling nor changing in volume and the outermost layer about 100 km had already cooled to reach equilibrium and this too was not changing in volume. Thus cooling and contraction were confined to the layers at the depth between 100 km and 700 km. This zone was thus in tension, but its contraction and thinning resulted in compression in the outermost layer above 100 km. 2.4.2 Expansion Hypothesis Carey on the basis of palaeomagnetic and paleoclimatic studies postulated that oceanic area is expanding and the globe as a whole is also expanding in 1958. Thus he believed that the original diameter of the Earth was less than half of its present size and surface area was less than a quarter. Thus worldwide expansion breaks the Earth’s crust into blocks. These blocks tend to rotate sinistrally (anticlockwise) in the southern and dextrally (clockwise) in the northern hemisphere, because of shearing forces created between polar and equatorial regions due to adjustment of angular momentum. But the questions which remain to be answered are; has the expansion actually occurred? Has the ocean water remained constant in volume? 2.4.3 Oscillation and Undation Theory Haarman in 1930 postulated that the disequilibrium in the layered Earth’s crust was created due to the vertical movements, which were generated due to the influence of an undefined cosmic factor. This resulted in the formation of ‘geotumours’ separated by ‘geodepressions’ caused by the flow of sub-crustal sialic matter from the depressions to the tumours. When the cosmic influence moved in relation to Earth, the tumours also moved. This resulted in oscillation of emergence and submergence. In the second phase the sediments in depressions were lifted up, and consequently glided down the slopes of the new tumours. Later the folded and structurally accumulated rocks were lifted up and in the third phase they became mountain chains. The main objection to the theory is that the basis of cosmic influence is not known and also the gliding tectonic is not able to explain the structural features of all mountains on Earth. 2.4.4 Theory of Continental Drift The thinkers, philosophers and scientists had realised that the coastlines on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean were juxtaposed together like a jig-saw fit (Figure 8.1 and 8.2) which gave birth to 5 Environmental Geology Environmental Sciences Plate Tectonics the theory of continental drift. This theory states that the continents are not stationary. They have moved in the geological past. The concept of continental mobility was initiated by F.B. Taylor, an American physicist in 1910 however Alfred Lothar Wegener (1880-1930) is recognised as the originator and pioneer of the theory of continental drift. Wegner was German meteorologist and geophysicist first suggested this theory in 1912 and propounded this new idea in his book ‘Die Entstenung der Kontinente und Ozeane (The origin of continent and ocean) which appeared in four editions during 1915 to 1928. Figure 1 Jigsaw fit of the coast lines of Atlantic Ocean (source: https://pubs.usgs.gov) Wegener recognised and termed the supercontinent as ‘Pangaea’ (meaning "all lands" and oceanic part as ‘Panthalassa’ meaning ‘all oceans’. Thereafter Pangaea got fragmented into many smaller continents which drifted across to acquire present day disposition of the continents (Figure 3). Wegener’s theory was based on evidences from geological data, continuity of older structures, stratigraphic formations, fossil fauna and flora across the present continental shorelines. The present day southern continents were centered on the pole and the northern continents around equator. It was brought to the notice of the world by Wegner that the presence of widespread glaciations in Permo- Carboniferous times (around 225 million years ago) had affected most of the southern continents while the northern continents had experienced tropical conditions. The continental drift occurred in response to the centripetal force experienced by the continents because of the Earth’s rotation. 6 Environmental Geology Environmental Sciences Plate Tectonics Figure 2 Present day coast lines of Atlantic Ocean. The continents are depicted by shades of yellow while oceanic areas by shades of green. You can notice presence of a ridge in the middle part of the ocean (source: https://pubs.usgs.gov) Wegener considered the centripetal forces exerted by Earth’s movement as the reason for the drifting of continents. This was the weakness in Wegener's theory that it could not satisfactorily answer the most fundamental question like what kind of forces could be strong enough to move such large masses of solid rock over such great distances? Alexander
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