Convergent boundary

Lesson 1: Earthquakes and Volcanoes Layers of the Earth Earth is made up of three layers: crust, mantle and core. The outer layer is the crust, the middle layer is the mantle and the inner layer is the core. Earth's crust and upper mantle are broken into large plates that move slowly. Figure 1 shows the layers of the Earth. Figure 1: Layers of the Earth Plate tectonics The Earth's surface is formed of large pieces of rock called plates that are also called tectonic plates. These plates…

Damages were not nearly as serious as it would be today, mostly because Southern California was sparsely populated. The effects of the earthquake were quite dramatic, even frightening. Were the Fort Tejon shock to happen today, the damage would easily run into billions of dollars, and the loss of life would be substantial. On March 10, 1933, a 6.4 earthquake hit the Newport-Inglewood Fault, causing serious damage in long Beach and other communities. The earthquake resulted in 120 deaths and more…

activity, the first underwater volcano observatory is located near the volcano. (www.pmel.noaa.gov) According to www.en.wikipedia.org, the two plates that create the boundary are called the Juan de Fuca plate and the North American Plate. These two plates form a divergent plate boundary. (www.en.wikipedia.org) A divergent plate boundary is created when two plates pull away from each other. When the plates move away from each other, magma is exposed and seeps through the crack. The magma cools…

The theory that today's continents were once part of a more complex and large super-continent, also referred to as “Pangaea”, was first introduced by Alfred Wegener. Wegener, the German meteorologist and geophysicist, formally initiated the detailed hypothesis that the once intact, large, continent had slowly drifted to their present positions. Although others brought fourth evidence, plate tectonics processes and continental drift was not of interest until the late 1950s, when scientists…

In 1912, German meteorologist Alfred Wegener proposed the theory that all the continents were once all one continent and then later drifted apart and separated leading to the seven continents we have today. He thought that 200 million years ago there was one large continent that he called Pangea, which means “All-Earth.” During the Jurassic period the continents were believed to break up into two smaller continents which were called Gondwanaland and Laurasia. The continents were breaking into…

The topic of this discussion is to explain why Africa and South America are moving apart. The drifting apart of Africa and South America has to do with the theory known as the theory of plate tectonics. Based on this model, the crust the coolest part of the mantle, make up Earth’s strong outer layer, known as the lithosphere. Right beneath the lithosphere is the asthenosphere, the hottest part of the mantle. Rocks at this depth are very near the melting temperature, and respond to forces by…

Plate tectonics is a theory about how the plates are constantly moving on top of a layer of magma that is constantly taking in old crust to recycle it this constant movement causes earthquakes, tsunamis and other geological events. The movement of the Pacific and North American plates cause the old sea floor to be replaced by the now wider North American plate. Also with the movement the continental plate was stretched as the Pacific plate pulled the continental plate to the northwest which…

VMS deposits occur in a diversity of shapes ranging from flat lens shaped to large sheet-like sulphide mineral rich bodies (Allen, et al., 2002). The preferred environment for these deposits to form in is submarine near a seafloor opening i.e. black smokers, where hydrothermal fluids escape and precipitate on the ocean bottom (Evans & Moon, 2006). The mineralogy of Kidd Creek VMS deposits often consists out of more than 60 different ore minerals and ore-related gangue minerals, of which 90% or…

the north side remaining more shallow and the south side having a wider range, but again with a lot fewer earthquakes. The middle of the plate, in the sea, there are almost no earthquakes at all. It isn’t unusual to have earthquakes along plate boundaries, as the plates aren’t the smoothest things in the world. The plates could catch or get stuck on each other until the pressure building up becomes too much and one buckles, falling or is pushed up suddenly against the other, creating an…

New crust is generated as plates pull away from each other and can either cause sea floor spreading or new land to be created. An example of a continental rift valley is the Eastern African Rift Valley which is being formed as the Eastern African plate is moving away from the main Africa plate in a north-easterly direction. Plates move apart due to convection currents in the lithosphere. As the crusts move away from each other the crust thins, tension in the lithosphere causes the plate to…