#Plate tectonics
10 messages in this thread
I am doing a project for science class. I need lots of info! please help!!
Hi, Megan–
"Plate tectonics" is the current theory that the Earth's crust is made of
rigid plates of rock that "float" on the deeper rocks of the Earth (the mantle)
which are under such pressure that they become able to flow almost like a
liquid (though much more slowly, at speeds measured in inches per year). These
crustal plates move, driven by currents in the mantle (again too slowly to know
about without making very careful long term measurements), and the continents
that sit on top of some of them are carried along by these movements.
When two plates are pushed together, most often one pushes on top of and over
the edge of the other, forcing the other to dive into the mantle; this creates
the deep "trenches" under the ocean and volcanoes and earthquakes on the
surface of the upper plate. The Pacific Ocean sea floor is a plate that is
being forced under by the plate carrying Asia, thus Japan and other places near
where the plates meet have many quakes and volcanoes, and trenches are found in
the Pacific nearby. Where the plates are pulling apart, mantle rock is melted
and wells up to fill in the gap, creating more crustal rock to make up for what
is destroyed when plates collide.
Is this the sort of thing you are looking for? Please feel free to ask any
questions I have left you with.
–Doug
Hi Doug
I am interested in this subject too. I am especially interested if anyone knows
a software application, that can be used to visualize this theory. In fact I am
interested in any software that can be used in education about plate tectonics.
Do you know any available software for PCs or Macs ? Please let me know.
Niels Dybdahl
Hi, Niels–
I hear the Microsoft Bookcase CD ROM has some sort of animation of plate
tectonics (I am not clear on whether it covers motions of continents over time
or dynamics at plate boundaries).
A list I have been keeping of geo-software suppliers follows. I think one of
them offers a program that shows continental motions, but cannot recall which.
–Doug
RockWare Inc.
Suite 101, The RockWare Bldg.
2221 East St.
Golden, Co 80401
Phone: 303-278-3534
FAX: 303-278-4099 CIS: 72257,3240 free catalog; many geoscience programs
Earth'n Ware, c/o Geology Dep't, George Washington University, 2029 G Street
NW, Washington, DC 20052 USA, FAX (1 410) 655-3741
Angus Scott-Fleming Fax . . . . . . . . . 602-327-7752
GeoApplications BBS . . . . . . . . . 602-881-5836
P. O. Box 41082 Compuserve . . . . . . 76711,517
Tucson AZ 85717 Internet 76711.517@compuserve.com
GeoPak Software – RTI-CAD 47 Jefferson Ave. geophysics programs Toronto,
Ontario M6K 1Y3 Canada tel: 416.588.7075 25-Dec-1993
Geosoft Inc. – various Geophysics & Mapping programs #500 – 204
Richmond St. W. Toronto, Ontario M5V 1V6 tel: 416-971-7700 6-Feb-1994
Graphics Information Technologies, Inc.-CADXplor, Map Utilities for AutoCAD 400
W. 15th, Suite 1000 Austin, TX 78701 tel: (512)472-0900 6-Feb-1994
Pangaea Software – GeoSymbol, Geological Symbol Set (DOS &
Mac) RR #5
– GMM, Geological Map Maker (Windows) Brockville, Ontario – METPET,
metamorphic diagrams & reactions K6V 5T5 – Parallax 3D, shape
maker & perspective tool tel/fax: (613)342-1513 – Quake!, earthquake simulation
– RockFill, lithological fill patterns (CorelDRAW)
– SpheriStat, orientation analysis and plotting
– SpheriStat-S, orientation analysis(student ver)
6-Feb-1994
Thankyou so much Doug! I need all the information I can get. If you have
anything else like references or other things please tell me!
Megan,
You'll probably find a discussion of plate tectonics in any good book on
prehistoric life, especially one published in the last decade or so. My
paleontology reference textbook, EARTH AND LIFE THROUGH TIME, has sections on
each period of Earth history, and in each section there's at least one diagram
of what the continents looked like at that time.
Also, if you have a CD-ROM, at least some of the encyclopedias around have
animations of continental drift.
Jon W.
Jon W,
Can you give me a name of one or more of the CD-encyclopedias that have
animations of plate-tectonics.
Thanks in advance
Elisabeth Johnsen
Megan,
I do not know what info you have gotten already, but recently I acquired a
copy of a CD-ROM, The Theory of Plate Tectonics, which is published by TASA
Graphic Arts, INc., 15 Nexus Lane, Tijeras, New Mexico 87059. I acquired mine
from Rockware, which is a distributor of geologic software, but the publisher
sells directly as well.
The CD-ROM has nice graphic demonstrations of the evolutionary patterns of
plate tectonics, presents the evidence in favor of this theory, and discusses
earth quake and volcano phenomena in th3e light of plate tectonic theory.
It's pricey (about $80), but a good resource.
Nathan
That CD sounds very interesting.
I have been working on understanding some parts of this theory and am having a
rough go at it.
Sounds like that would be a great resource.
Ho HO Ho merry christmas to me!
Thanks Nathan
Kamron