Plate Tectonics The New Paradigm

Notes on

pages 51-60

• Plate Tectonics - The theory of continental drift and seafloor spreading.
• There are 6 different spheres on Earth but the 2 most important are...

1. Lithosphere
2. Asthenosphere

• Divergent boundaries - Where 2 plates move apart, resulting in upwelling of material from the mantle to create new seafloor.
• Convergent boundaries - Where 2 plates move together, resulting in oceanic lithosphere descending beneath an overriding plate.
• Transform fault boundaries - Where 2 plates grind past each other without the production or destruction of lithosphere.