Lecture 5- Marine Geology 2 Flashcards
Pangaea (28 cards)
Pangaea
the supercontinent that split apart to form the present-day configuration
Wilson Rock Cycle
- process in which continents have repeatedly collided and broken apart
- happened even before Pangaea
divergent boundaries occur between
- ocean and ocean
- continent and continent
convergent boundaries occur between
- ocean and ocean
- ocean and continent
- continent and continent
3 plate boundaries
- transform
- divergent
- convergent
earth’s 2 types of crust
- oceanic
- continental
oceanic crust
- thin (5 km)
- more density so floats deeper in the mantle
- consists mostly of basalt
continental crust
- thick (70 km)
- less dense so they float higher in the mantle
- consists mostly of granite
divergent boundaries
- occur where plates are moving apart
- most of these boundaries are mid-ocean ridges and less commonly, continental rifts
examples of new divergent boundary
East Africa rift zone
example of mature divergent boundary
mid-ocean ridges
hydrothermal vent systems
found at mid-ocean ridge spreading centers
continental boundary: ocean and continental
- ocean is more dense so it subducts and is pushed back down into the mantle
- generates deep ocean trenches and explosive volcanoes
examples of ocean crust colliding with continents
- North Cascade Mountains
- Andes Mountains
- Mt. Saint Helens (volcano)
continental boundary: oceanic and oceanic
- the plate that gets subducted is the one furthest from its spreading center
- deep oceanic trench (sometimes filled with sediment)
- older, colder, and more dense subducts
Island Arc
- chain of volcanoes
- ex. Aleutian Islands
continental boundary: continent and continent
- neither wants to subduct
- results in mountains (ex. Mt. Everest)
transform plate boundary
- plates slide laterally relative to one another
- example: San Andreas Fault
type of marine sediment
- terrigenous
- red clay
- calcareous ooze
- siliceous ooze
sediment rate of red clay
less than or equal to 1 cm per 1000 year
sediment rate of ooze
1-5 cm per 1000 year
terrigenous sediment
causes sediment thickness to be high near coast
red clay
- found in open ocean
- created by slow rain of continental dust and very low biological addition
calcareous/ siliceous ooze
- found in high biological productivity
- absence of terrigenous sediment and dilute red clay