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Plate tectonics

All-in-one diagram
Key consequences of plate motion
Supercontinents and the Wilson cycle
Map of the plates
Modern shape of the Earth's surface
Past shapes - Pangaea, Gondwanaland and Tethys
Chnages in the Earth's surface over time
Geologic time chart


Key process at plate margins #1:
Seafloor spreading at midocean ridges
Where seafloor spreading takes place -
Midocean ridges
Seafloor spreading
Version A
Seafloor spreading
Version B


Major rock patterns left behind by seafloor spreading
Age pattern of the oceanic crust &
its unusually young age
Relative ages of oceanic vs. continental crust
Symmetry of parallel seafloor paleomagnetic anomalies


Key process at plate margins #2: Subduction into trenches
Subduction
Depths of earthquakes at subduction zones
(a.k.a. Benioff-Wadati zones)
Cessation of subduction, and start of motion along the San Andreas Transform Fault


Unusual case of "midplate" volcanism at a hotspot - Hawaiian-Emperor Seamounts
Age-progressive volcano formation at a hotspot
Hawaiian-Emperor seamount chain


Last edited: January 7, 2010 - M. Yasuda.

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