GEOL Crises of a Planet Lab 1 - Plate Tectonics Sept , 2012 Department of Earth Sciences

ABOUT ME | 2 ABOUT ME Name: Benjamin Gross Website: Phone: Office hours (ZHS 300): 12:30-2:30, by appointment

Department of Earth Sciences SYLLABUS | 3 SYLLABUS Available on Blackboard Grading −Lab is worth 25% of your overall course grade −11 labs - lowest x 5 points each = 50 pts max −11 quizzes - lowest x 10 points each = 100 pts max −Which means quizzes are worth 2/3 of the lab and exercises are 1/3…. or quizzes are worth 17% of your overall grade and exercises 8%.

Department of Earth Sciences SYLLABUS | 4 LAB PREP Lab exercises available on Blackboard −Print it out, read it, and bring it with you −If you neglect to bring it you will lose 2 points −Note: you are welcome to work with a partner on the exercises but all answers must be your own. Simply copying your partner’s work will be considered cheating. Bring pencil, calculator, and your printed lab exercise every week

Department of Earth Sciences SYLLABUS | 5 LAB ATTENDANCE Attendance in your assigned section is mandatory − me ASAP if you must miss a lab so we can place you in an alternate section −Legit excuses include serious illness or official university event and require a note −Poor excuses include non-required events, volunteer work, or sleeping in Unexcused absence will result in a grade of 0 for both the exercise and quiz

Department of Earth Sciences SYLLABUS | 6 LAB EXERCISES All exercises must be completed during a scheduled lab period Graded on effort and completion Show your completed lab to me, I will briefly review it, and return it Use your lab to study for next week’s quiz

Department of Earth Sciences SYLLABUS | 7 LAB QUIZZES Quizzes will cover material from the previous week Begin promptly at the start of class If you are late and miss the quiz you get a 0 Expect quizzes to take minutes Combination of formats, but primarily short answer

Department of Earth Sciences SYLLABUS | 8 TERM PAPER 3 pages of text, double spaced, 11 or 12 point font Topic is “science behind, and/or the political and social implications and impacts of a current natural disaster” Due Nov. 27th Details will be forthcoming

Department of Earth Sciences SYLLABUS | 9 LAB ETIQUETTE No food or drink in lab Leave the room if you must use your phone During a quiz, phone ≠ calculator Be nice Pretend to love rocks

Department of Earth Sciences PLATE TECTONICS | 10 LAB 1 - TECTONICS - KEY CONCEPTS Types of plate boundaries and their locations Hot spot volcanism: definition and direction of plate movement Methods of determining plate velocity

Department of Earth Sciences PLATE TECTONICS | 11 PLATE TECTONICS Movement of lithospheric plates over the asthenosphere. Plates make contact at plate boundaries Divergent, convergent, or transform boundary Active vs. passive continental margin

Department of Earth Sciences PLATE TECTONICS | 12 SUPERCONTINENT FORMATION Plates move over time, occasionally forming supercontinents

Department of Earth Sciences PLATE TECTONICS | 13 PLATE MOVEMENT BY GPS

Department of Earth Sciences PLATE TECTONICS | 14 ESTIMATING PLATE MOTION Estimating sea-floor spreading rates (v=distance/time) −Distance: measured between edges of continents −Time: Age of oceanic crust closest to continent

Department of Earth Sciences PLATE TECTONICS | 15 HOT SPOT VOLCANISM Volcanic islands form over hot spots Hot spots do not move, the plate moves above it Use the distance between islands and difference in rock ages to calculate plate speed For an animation of hot spot volcanism go to mations/hot_spot_volcanoes.htm mations/hot_spot_volcanoes.htm