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Introduction to continental drift and plate tectonics
Evidence of continental drift theory
Evidence of continental drift theory
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Pangaea
German geophysicist Alfred Wegener had thought of a theory known as continental drift. He had believed that the continents are mobile and move over time, drifting on earth’s surface. It is thought that the continents have been one continent at some point in the world, combined. Pangaea, although highly controversial, is a legitimate moment in history. It is sought to be the countries were once one at some point. Alfred Wegener noticed that the countries seemed to fit together like a puzzle, this is known as a large continental mass, also known as a supercontinent. A supercontinent had been named Pangaea, which means ‘whole earth’. Ural Mountains separate supercontinents which were formed by two land masses colliding. After the separation,
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Earth's floor then is sucked into deep ocean trenches creating a force, this called subduction. As two rock plates slide past one another a crack or fault develops, which prevents energy to form an earthquake. One of these plates are called Tectonic Plates. Tectonic Plates are pieces of crust moving around earth, pushing together, pulling apart and sliding past each other. The second plate is Plate Tectonics. This is when earth's crust is made up of rigid plate that "float" on molten layer of the mantle beneath earth's crust. Oceanic- oceanic plate is a similar plate that sinks under the other when the two plates converge. With these plates in motion, causes movement and the split of continents. As one plate moves, it cause other plates to move. The split between supercontinent led to divergent evolution, unique species formed in response to different environment conditions, this was the height of the age of …show more content…
This began a theory on dinosaur extinction. Geologists believe that the large meteorite that struck Mexico Yucatan Peninsula caused extinction which led to 70% of plant and animal life dead. It is believed that this occurrence had caused the extinction of dinosaurs. Dinosaurs have been extinct for millions of years. It was believed that asteroid had wiped out dinosaurs. With the force of an impact, it had prevented carbon to liquefy deep in earth's crust. The liquefying in earth’s crust formed tiny airborne beads. The beads, known as carbon cenospheres, could not of formed from plant matter countering a hypothesis that the cenospheres are the remains of an earth on fire. These beads were left next to a layer of iridium which was an element likely to be found in solar system's asteroids. Iridium, in earth's core, could have been exposed when an explosion occurred. Iridium’s core contains magma that scientists think spread. Tektite is a type of rock that most scientists believed formed by the impact of meteorites on earth's surface. This rock causes an enormous explosion when it hits ground. If any living specie was near this rock when it had exploded, would have been killed
The possibility if a meteor strike as the cause of extinctions is discarded, something that most specialists agree on. There is no evidence of any meteor crater big enough or recent enough to be accountable for it; there are no “elements that are common extraterrestrially but less so on Earth, such as iridium, and no sign of a tsunami or other phenomena following the impact.” The extinctions where also very selective and occurred over a very long period of time. If a “one shot” catastrophe had been the cause it would have affected all species at the same time and in similar
Earthquakes are a natural part of the Earth’s evolution. Scientific evidence leads many geologists to believe that all of the land on Earth was at one point in time connected. Because of plate tectonic movements or earthquakes, continental drift occurred separating the one massive piece of land in to the seven major continents today. Further evidence supports this theory, starting with the Mid-Atlantic ridge, a large mass of plate tectonics, which are increasing the size of the Atlantic Ocean while shrinking the Pacific. Some scientists believe that the major plate moveme...
An opposing theory proposes that the impact of asteroid or comet caused catastrophic destruction of the environment, leading to the extinction of the dinosaurs. Evidence to support this theory includes the discovery of a buried impact crater (thought to be the result of a large comet striking the earth) that is 200 km (124 mi.) in diameter in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico. The spray of debris was blown from the edge of the crater. The debris has been found over large regions of North America. Comet enriched material from the impact's fiery explosion was spread all over the world. With radiometric dating, scientists have used the decay rates of certain atoms to date the crater, spray of debris, and fireball layer. Using similar techniques to date the dramatic changes in the record of microscopic fossils, they have found that the impact and the dinosaur extinction occurred nearly simultaneously.
Paleontologists Vivi Vajda, from Lund University, Sweden and Stephen McLoughlin, from Queensland University of Technology, Australia, recently finished research in New Zealand regarding the significant rapid decrease in the diversity of plant species during the brief period following the asteroid’s collision with earth. In their research, Vajda and McLoughlin examined a 10 cm thick layer of coal, known as the K-T Boundary, which represents the time period when the Cretaceous era ended and the Tertiary began. In this thick coal layer of earth,...
Over time, other scientists began finding iridium evidence at many different locations around the world that supported the Alvarez theory. In 1991, an immense meteor crater, about 110 miles in diameter, was discovered on the the Yucatán Peninsula. The crater even extended to the Gulf of Mexico. The Chicxulub Crater, as it was called, was named after a nearby village. Scientists believe the meteor that formed this massive crater was around 6 miles in diameter. It is also believed that it struck the earth at 40,000 miles per hour and released 2 million times more energy than the most powerful nuclear bomb ever detonated. This great impact would have caused so much heat that would have boiled the earth’s surface. The scorching temperatures would have caused wildfires throughout the globe and the Earth would turn into complete darkness because debris would have filled the sky. It is believed that mile-high tsunamis could have the momentum to cover the continents, which would drown multiple species of life. Massive shock waves would even have the power to trigger earthquakes and volcanic eruptions all over the planet.
...t of laurasia, just like most of the other plates. North America,Europe, and Green land all used to be connect because of Pangea ( as mentioned earlier). But when everything started to separate, first europe, then green land, and lastly the North American plate. After pangea was no more and the plates all started moving, the continents started going their own ways, there fore putting the continents where they are today.
The most significant event of the Cretaceous era came at its end. Nearly 65 million years ago, the second most severe mass extinction in earth’s history occurred. This resulted in the loss of around 80% of species living at the time. Though nowhere near as severe as the end-Permian mass extinction, the end-Cretaceous extinction is the most well known mass extinction event. This is due to the violent event that caused it the extinction, as well as the chapter of earth’s history that it closed: the Dinosaurs. The Cretaceous Event ( often shortened to K-T event) Of the animals that were killed off were the flying reptiles (pterosaurs) and the last few mosasaurs and plesiosaurs, both early marine reptiles. Many mollusks and species of microscopic plankton were killed. Terrestrial plants suffered mass extinction as well. Almost 60% of terrestrial plants were lost. This led to high extinction rates among insect populations, especially insects that were highly specialized to feed on just a few types of plants had it the worst. It took approximately 9 million years for the global insect populations to recover from the Cretaceous extinction. Immediately after the extinction, the earth saw an explosion of short term species who respond well to fire, or other external disturbance. Evidence of the catastrophe comes from a thin rock layer deposited worldwide just after the impact. It is dominated by fossil plants whose descendants recover quickly after fires of other disturbances, such as Fire Weed in Alaska. The causes of the Cretaceous extinction are still being debated by paleontologists. Scientists agree that the main cause of the extinction was a...
Several mass extinctions have occurred during the Earth’s history. The Cretaceous – Tertiary Boundary (K-T) Extinction caused the loss of at least three-quarters of all species known at that time including the dinosaurs. The cause of this mass extinction is a controversial subject among scientists but the fossil evidence of it’s occurrence is abundant.
When the continents crashed into one another, without realizing it, formed the supercontinent known presently as Pangaea.
They are the earth’s crust; they move very slowly every year. As the tectonic plates slide over each other they cause earthquakes. Earthquakes produce various damaging effects this includes damage to structures of buildings, bridges and other standing formations which then...
The most popular theory of dinosaur extinction, the asteroid theory, says that dinosaurs died out because of a single, giant asteroid. They say that the asteroid that struck the earth near the Gulf of Mexico went 43,000 mph and spanned six miles wide (Erdman). When it hit the Earth the asteroid it left an enormous crater that measured 24 miles deep and 125 miles wide (Erdman). Just the impact of the asteroid destroyed the forests and landscape of the majority of North America due to its massive shock wave (Erdman). Many species went extinct when the asteroid hit, these species include dinosaurs, ammonites (certain ocean dwelling creatures), pterosaurs, and some plant groups dinosaurs, ammonites (mollusks related to the octopus and the chambered nautilus), pterosaurs, and certain plant groups. Although devastating, the asteroid did not wipe out all of the animals on Earth, it didn’t exterminate fish, frogs, turtles, birds, mammals and croco...
The earth subsystem, often called the geosphere, can be considered as all the parts that make up the mass of the earth. The earth has three main layers, the core, the mantle, and the crust. However, the lithosphere is just the upper part of the geosphere, the crust and the top portion of the mantle. These parts contribute to the active plate tectonics. The theory of plate tectonics is that the crust of the earth is divided into separate solid plates that move independently on top of the mantle. The two major processes of plate tectonics are spreading and subduction. This idea was discovered by Alfred Wegner in order to support his idea that the earth originally had one large common continent, Pangaea, before drifting into the several continents we have today.
Alvarez, a researcher at the University of California, discovered a pencil thin layer of Iridium around the rocks in Gubbio, Italy. (New Scientist, 1) Iridium is an element found in meteorites and asteroids. In 1980 it was proven that the layer if Iridium was evidence of a huge comet or meteorite that crashed into the earth sixty five million years ago. The normal amount of Iridium an area is to have is 0.001 on an average. The layer of Iridium found in Gubbio Italy was 0.003. Thirty times the average amount in parts per million. (New Scientist, 1) The theory of the Alvarez Asteroid states that the strength of this comet is at 10,000 times the explosive power of the global nuclear arsenal. The Alvarez Asteroid theory is the leading explanation as to why the amazing dinosaur creatures died millions of years ago, along with many other animals of the Earth's Crustaceous Period.
The concurrent convective circulations in the mantle leads to some segments of the mantle moving on top of the outer core which is very hot and molten in nature. This kind of movement in different segments occurs as tectonic plates. These tectonic plates are basically seven on the earth surface as major ones, although, several small ones exist also. The plates motions are characterized by varying velocities, this variance results to sub sequential collision of two plates (leading to formation of a mountain in a convergent boundary), drift of two plates (leading to formation of rifts in a divergent boundary), or parallel movement in a transform boundary(Webcache 3).