H3 Flashcards
age of east african valley
5,3 mil yrs old
age of red sea
25-30 mil yrs old
age of atlantic ocean
50 mil yrs old
age of stille oceaan (pacific)
55 mil yrs old
age of the mediterranean sea
180 mil yrs old
age of the himalayas
225 mil yrs old
alfred wegener
german meteorologist who developed the hypothesis of Continental Drift (verschuiving) in 1915.
Continental Drift hypothesis
“once (>200 million years ago), there was one large landmass (pangea) that slowly fragmented into our current landmassa’s”
how did pangea drift apart?
- the granite continental crust “plowed” through the basalt ocean substrate according to Wegener
- new basalt flowed into the opening and formed the atlantic ocean
is wegener’s hypothesis on how pangea fell apart possible?
he supported his hypothesis with facts, but indirect proof is difficult to measure. There is still no explanation for driving force yet. Despite Wegener’s evidence, it took until about 1950 before the theory was accepted and extended
the moving ocean floor: mid-ocean ridges
here you can find seafloor spreading
seafloor spreading
plates in the lithosphere move away from each other and between the plates, new lithosphere is formed.
what do the structures of mid-ocean ridges show?
- there is tension
- along the axis there are fractures (breuken –> normal faults)
- laterally there are disturbances (verstoringen –> transform faults)
normal fault
a normal fault, also called shear (afschuiving), is vertical and is caused by stress in the opposite direction. This happens with divergent motion.
reverse fault
a reverse fault, also called a shift (opschuiving), is vertical and is caused by compression. This happens with convergent motion.
strike-slip fault
Strike-slip fault, also called transcurrent fault (horizontaal- verschuiving), wrench fault, or lateral fault, in geology, a fracture in the rocks of Earth’s crust in which the rock masses slip past one another parallel to the strike, the intersection of a rock surface with the surface or another horizontal plane.
subduction zones
where destruction of sea floor occurs.
subduction
Subduction is a geological process in which the oceanic lithosphere is recycled into the Earth’s mantle at convergent boundaries. Where the oceanic lithosphere of a tectonic plate converges with the less dense lithosphere of a second plate, the heavier plate dives beneath the second plate and sinks into the mantle
how is the pacific ocean changing in size
decreases in size
how is the atlantic ocean changing in size
increasing in size
proof of sea-floor spreading?
- sediment
- age
- magnetism
magnetic bands
at mid-ocean ridges, magnetic anomalies (afwijkingen) were observed. As a result of measuring them, a pattern became visible in which alternating strong and weak magnetic bands were observed parallel to the ridge
geomagnetism
the Earth’s magnetic field produced by the flow of iron-rich material in the core.
paleomagnetism
fissile magnetism in rocks. When the direction of the minerals corresponds to the current geomagnetism, we measure a stronger magnetic field and vice versa