Plates Tectonics

The Continental Drift Theory

This theory is the movement of the Earth's continents relative to each other by appearing to drift or compacted together. In 1915, Alfred Wegener proposed this theory, he hypothesized that there was supercontinent 220 million years ago, which he named Pangaea or All-earth. Alfed founded evidence such as fossils, puzzle, and mountains when they were together. Overtime Pangaea started to break up into two smaller supercontinents, called Laurasia and Gondwanaland, during the Jurassic period. By the end of the Cretaceous period, the continents were separating into land masses that look like our modern day continents which are seven continents.

 

 

The part of lithosphere (land) we live on is made up of four layers from the inside ad the outside. For example the Inner core a solid layer made up of nickel and iron, the Outer core is also made mostly of iron, nickel and melted metals  into a very hot liquid. The mantle very thick and made up of melted rocks. Also the crust the thin and rocky layer we consider as earth.

 

The plates tectonics is the theory by which scientist believe that the earth is made up of plates (piece of earth broken up into many pieces) and moves. Also explains the cause of earthquakes, volcanoes, oceanic trenches, mountain range formation.

 

The top layers of the plates are called the crust. Oceanic crust (the crust under the oceans) is thinner  than continental crust which is the land we live on. The earth interior is made up of plates (break in earth surface) that could be either continental or oceanic crust.

In these plates there is different type of movement happening such as divergent boundary (the plates moves apart each other), convergent boundary (the plates moves toward each other) and transform boudary (the plates slide past each other).

Faults is a break in the earth's surface. There is three main types of faults. Normal fault when the one side of the break moves down, Reverse fault when one side of the break moves up and finally Strike slip faults slide past each other. Each of them create a continental earthquake.

 

These different type of boundaries can cause natural disasters such as earthquake which is a movement of the earth's surface causes by the pressure of the two plates sliding each that can causes a lot of damages.  Also tsunami an earthquake happen under the ocean with huge waves.

 

Not only naural disasters happen but there is other effects created such as mountains building which happen when convergent plate comes together and formed like folded and dome mountains formed by when magma entered between two layers of sedimentary rock. Also rift valley and ridges.

Folded Mountains

Dome Mountains

I agree with the plates tectonics theory because all the evidence are realistic and are showned with facts. I believe these natural disasters can't stop happening nothing can't prevent them. They will occur as long the earth is still there. Over all the plate tectonics movement happen naturally even it causes damages and change to the environment, we can protect ourselves and be careful about the changes and be able to adapt with it. The earth will still moving.

Reflection

As long I was doing this project, I enjoyed most of the parts of it. The research was interesting and I never knew how the earth was formed. Based on what I found it was incredible and informative to know and to learn. The challenging part was to get information organized and summarize it in my own word in order to present it to the teacher. I learned a few new skills such as an editor I have to proofread my own work and to get things done on time which is hard for me often. I guess I could have search more topic and work on topic I dont really know about yet. I dont really have nothing to change about the tectonics plates project. I though it was a great lesson to know about and it is important to know how the earth is form and why things around us happen.