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Wildlife Assignment

The document discusses plate tectonics, outlining its history, major and minor plates, and types of plate boundaries, including oceanic-oceanic, oceanic-continent, and continent-continent convergence. It also covers forces acting on the Earth's crust, such as exogenic and endogenic forces, and details processes like weathering, mass movement, erosion, and deposition. Examples are provided to illustrate these geological concepts, including the Marianas Trench and the collision of the Indian and Eurasian Plates.

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4 views

Wildlife Assignment

The document discusses plate tectonics, outlining its history, major and minor plates, and types of plate boundaries, including oceanic-oceanic, oceanic-continent, and continent-continent convergence. It also covers forces acting on the Earth's crust, such as exogenic and endogenic forces, and details processes like weathering, mass movement, erosion, and deposition. Examples are provided to illustrate these geological concepts, including the Marianas Trench and the collision of the Indian and Eurasian Plates.

Uploaded by

sf3841043
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Assignment

Wild life and zoo geography


Department
BS Zoology 4th semester.
Topic
Plate tectonics
Roll number
2369
Submitted by
Mahnoor Saleha
Submitted to
Ma'am Beenish
PLATE TECTONICS
Term plate was first used by Tuzo Wilson. Hypothesis of plate tectonics was first
outlined by W.J. Morgan in 1967.

There is spreading of sea floor and new oceanic crust is being continually created at the
active mid-oceanic ridges and destroyed at trenches.

The amount of Earth's crust destroyed at subduction zones is roughly equal to the
amount created at mid-ocean ridges, maintaining a near balance in the overall crustal
volume.

Mid oceanic ridges

Plate tectonics formed an underwater mountain range known as a Mid-Oceanic Ridge. It


is made up of two mountain chains separated by a large depression. Mountain
Ranges can have peaks as high as 2,500 metres, and some even rise above the ocean’s
surface.

MAJOR AND MINOR PLATES


Types of plate margin

Types of convergent boundaries

Oceanic-Oceanic convergence

Cooler is more denser oceanic lithosphere sinks beneath warmer and itself warmer is
less dense oceanic lithosphere that's why it floats.

Water reduces melting point of rocks in the asthenosphere (semi molten layer beneath
lithosphere) and causes partial melting.

Example; Marianas Trench where Pacific Plate is subducting beneath Philippine Plate.
Oceanic-Continent convergence

Dense oceanic lithosphere subducts beneath the less dense continental


lithospMarianas Trench, where the Pacific Plate is subducting beneath the Philippine
Platehere.

Volcanic arcs (partial melting of subducting plates) form on continental lithosphere.

Accretionary wedge (wedge shape geological formation) forms on the continental crust.

Example; Subduction of the Nazca Plate beneath the South American Plate.

Continent-Continent convergence

Both of them have a density that is much lower than the mantle, which prevents
subduction.

The intense compression can also cause extensive folding and faulting of rocks within
the two colliding plates.

Example; The collision of the Indian Plate with the Eurasian Plate.
Forces which act upon earth's crust
Exogenic forces – external forces caused by events occurring outside the earth.

Endogenic forces – internal forces caused by events occurring inside the earth.

 Diastrophic forces - Diastrophism refers to deformation of the Earth’s crust.


Diastrophic movements are gradual and might stretch for thousands of years.

1. Epeirogenic or continent forming movements are radial movements . They can


cause upliftment of continents. Example; uplift of the southern Rocky Mountains.

2. Orogenic or mountain-forming movements act tangentially to earth surface.


Folds are result of ductile deformation of rocks in response to external forces.
Faulting is process under which rocks are forcefully broken with accompanying
displacement. Example; the Cordilleran system from Mexico to Alaska.

Denudational process
Denudation is a long-term process that results in leveling of continental land masses.
Weathering – mechanical disintegration or chemical decomposition of rocks in situ
by different geomorphic agents. Example; potholes in roadways.

1. Chemical weathering

 Hydration - Process by which certain types of mineral expand as they take up


water and expand, causing additional stresses in the rock due to increase in the
volume of mineral itself.

 Solution - Few minerals such as rock salt are significantly soluble in water. Such
rock-forming minerals are easily leached out without leaving any residue in rainy
climates and accumulate in dry regions.

 Carbonation - Many minerals are soluble in rainwater, contains carbon dioxide


and acts as weak carbonic acid (H2CO3)

2. Physical weathering

 Expansion by unloading – pressure release (unloading) mechanism causes


disintegration of rock. Process is termed as exfoliation.

 Salt weathering – On drying and crystallization the salts expand and set up a
disruptive effect.

 Frost action and crystal growth – When water fills the pores, cracks in rocks and
then freezes, it expands and exerts a bursting pressure.

3. Biological weathering

Burrowing and wedging by organisms.

Decaying plant and animal matter help in the production of humic (organic compound),
carbonic and other acids.

Mass movement

Mass movement or mass wasting is the term used for the movement of material down
a slope under the influence of gravity.

Types of mass movement

Slow movements

 Creep - slow downhill movement of debris and soil on moderate slope.

 Solifluction- slow downslope flowing soil mass or fine grained rock debris
saturated or lubricated with water.
Rapid movement

 Earthflow – movement of water-saturated clayey earth materials down hillsides.

 Mudflow – thick layers of weathered materials get saturated with water and
either slowly or rapidly flows down along definite channels. Looks like a stream
of mud.

Landslides - Landslides occur when gravitational and other types of shear stresses
within a slope exceed the shear strength (resistance to shearing) of the materials that
form the slope.

Erosion and deposition

Erosion is a term referring to those processes of denudation which wear away the land
surface by the mechanical action of the debris which is being acquired and transported
by various agents of erosion. Deposition is a consequence of erosion. Example; erosion
of the Grand Canyon by the Colorado River.

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