Plates Tectonics Assignment
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Dec 6, 2023
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ENV-113-WB: Introduction to Oceanography
Professor: Kim Frashure
Keila Patricia Lopes Pires
Plate Tectonics Assignment
PART 1. Types of Plate Boundaries
1.
What are the four types of
plate boundaries
?
The four types of plate boundaries are: Divergent boundaries, convergent boundaries,
transform boundaries, and plate boundary zones.
2.
What directions do the plates move relative to one another in a
divergent plate
boundary?
In a divergent plate, the new crust that is generated pull apart from each other. In simpler
words, is when two tectonic plates move away from each other.
3.
What is a
spreading center
and what is made at one?
A spreading center is a straight line between two tectonic plates. On this line, occurs the
process of divergent boundaries, where the tectonic plates move apart from one another.
Also,
at a spreading center is created a new crust by magma.
4.
Name one
spreading center
(or divergent plate boundary).
There are many spreading centers around the world, but the one that is best known is the Mid-
Atlantic Ridge.
5.
What are the three types of
convergent plate boundaries
?
The three types of convergent plate boundaries are: Oceanic-continental convergence, Oceanic-
oceanic convergence, and Continental-continental convergence.
6.
What two kinds of
crust
are involved in a
subduction zone
?
In the subduction zone the two kinds of crust that are involved are oceanic plate (oceanic crust)
and continental plate (continental crust).
7.
What type of
convergent boundary
is the Himalaya Mountains formed by?
The Himalaya Mountains was formed by the continental-continental convergence.
8.
What happens along a
transform plate boundary
?
Along a transform plate boundary, two plates slide horizontally past one another.
9.
Name a famous
transform fault
in western North America.
A famous transform fault in western North America is the San Andreas Fault zone.
10. Which
plates
are sliding past each other along the San Andreas Fault?
The plates that are sliding past each other along the San Andreas Fault horizontally is the Pacific
Plate (the west side) and the North American Plate (the east side).
PART 2: Plate Boundary Interactions
11. Describe what is happening to the
plates
at the red line located in the center of the
video?
The plates are moving apart from each other, they are moving in opposite directions. To be
more specific, the plates that are moving apart from each other are called lithospheric plates.
The plates on the red line are riding over the asthenosphere.
12. What do the red lines represent? Be specific.
The red lines represent the Mid- Ocean ridge. In the Mid- Ocean ridge occurs the process where
the hot mantle rock rises, melt forms under the lithosphere, magma rises into magma chamber,
lava erupts onto ocean floor adding to crust, and plates move apart cool and thicken.
13. What two kinds of
convergence
are shown in the movie?
In this movie, the two kinds of convergence are ocean-continent convergence.
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PART 3: Plate Tectonic Maps
14. Using the key at the bottom of the map, what is happening in
Idaho, tectonically
speaking?
Idaho sits on the North American plate. Tectonically speaking from what I saw on the map,
Idaho has active ridges and continental extensions, which can create minor transform faults; It
has a normal fault; It also has volcanos active within the last million years. Idaho is one of the
few earthquake’s hotspots (Idaho is the little orange spot on the U.S.).
15. What kind of
plate interaction
occurs here? Hint: It was responsible for the
December 26, 2004, tsunami.
This huge earthquake that killed so many people, occurred along a tectonic subduction zone in
which an oceanic plate (India plate) was being subducted under a part of the larger Sunda plate
(Burma plate).
16. Describe how the
plate boundary along the west coast of the United State changes
over time?
Due to the transform fault, that has been happening beneath the surface where two plates
sliding horizontally past one another. With the formation of magma and erupted lava flows, it
creates a new oceanic plate, making it move away from the ridge. On the surface, we have an
example of the San Andreas fault zone where the North American plate and Pacific plate has
been grinding horizontally past one another for 10 million years.
17. What continents did North America used to be attached to during
Pangea
time?
North America, during Pangea time, was attached to South America, Africa, and Europe.
18. What happens to North America in the future? Will North America be attached to
other continents? If so, which continents. Be specific.
From the research, the plates are still moving which means that the Atlantic Ocean is getting
wider, and the Pacific Ocean is getting narrower. A scenario that is most believed is the NoVo
Pangea, where we can see that North America will be attached in the future to South America,
Eurasia, and Australia.
19. Answer the following questions about hot spots:
a)
What are
hot spots
?
According to Wilson’s theory, hot spots are small, long-lasting, and exceptionally
hot regions that exist below the plates supply sources of high heat energy to sustain volcanism.
b)
How do hot spots form?
The hot spot is deeper in the mantle, the magma rises through the mantle and
crust to erupt at the surface or the seafloor, creating an active seamount.
c)
Name a geographic location where hot spots are located?
A location where hot spots are located for example is below the North America
plate, the Yellowstone National Par in northwester Wyoming.
PART 4: Plate Boundaries Map
20. Familiarize yourself with each map. How does each map compare with the original
plate boundaries map? What does each map show? What are the major categories for each
map? (Hint: use the key for each map that explains colors, symbols, features, etc.,)? Provide a
major example for each category. Where is major activity occurring? What did you learn? What
questions do you still have?
These maps are different from each other, especially different from the original plate
boundaries map. The
original plate boundaries
map is divided in plates it shows every single
plate name, which are circled in a different color. The
second map
is more colorful and the
differences in color are specific, also is in a bigger dimension. The
third map
is composed by
different symbols which has popping colors, and a neutral color design of the countries. The
fourth map
is rather interesting because the background is composed by neutral colors, but the
continents are painted with heavy colors. The
fifth map
also has a neutral design of the
countries but instead it is composed by different symbols which creates different lines.
The first map is the
original plate boundaries map
, the second one is the
global
topography map
, the third one is the
volcanoes and volcanics eruptions map
, the third one is
the
age of the oceanic crust map
, and the fifth one is the
earthquakes map
.
The
plate boundaries map
is simple, the red lines are dividing the plates that compose
the earth.
Global Topography map
gives us detailed information about the geographic positions
and elevations. In this specific map we can see that the color changes according to the
elevation, green can be 0 while yellow can be 1500. The
Volcanoes and Volcanics eruptions
map
show where the types of volcanos are located and the eruptions that occurred using an
index called volcanic explosivity index. The symbols are simple colorful triangles that could
mean calderas, lava domes, or shield volcanos, fissure vents, etc. The VEI is also identified with a
symbol, to be more specific, a star which can be a small one (0-2) or a big one (6-7). The
Age of
the oceanic crust map
is self-explanatory, the colors explain the age of the oceanic crust such as
dark orange means 0 millions of years or blue means 100 million years. I feel like the
Earthquakes map
is also self-explanatory because by using symbols as little colorful dots that
means the dept of hypocenter, and circles with dots in the middle that shows magnitude. All of
this to show, explain, and compare earthquakes that occurred. For example, a red dot means 0-
33km and a small circle is 7.0-7.5 magnitude.
I learned that everything can be put in a map for an easier and clarified perception of
what happens below the surface, what happens in the middle of the ocean far away, why does
tsunamis and earthquakes happen, etc.
I do not think that I have questions, but I will say that this was one of the hardest
assignments that I ever needed to do and I hope that at least I did okay.
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