Plate Tectonics! By: Amber Boudrie

Pangaea! Alfred Wegener was the first to discover Pangaea. The theory of Pangaea the “supercontinent,” was not originally accepted by all scientists because they didn’t think it would work. Pangaea means "All-earth." It was the all around supercontinent. It began in the Permain period but, started breaking down during the Jurassic period. Alfred was a German geologist and a meteorologist. I think this relates to his discoveries because, meteorology focuses on weather and him knowing about weather probably helped him. Eduard Suess’s ideas later assisted in the recognition of Wegener’s theory. Suess’s ideas related to Wengener’s theory because Pangaea eventually split up into two landmasses. Suess discovered one that was between South America, Africa, India, Australia, and Antarctica so he named it Gondwanaland. Gondwanaland was one of the two parts of Pangaea.

Convergent Boundary! Convergent boundaries are when one plate slides under the other as they are both being pushed this is also called subduction boundaries. Some hazards that are characteristics of a convergent boundary are volcanoes, earth quakes, landslides, trenches, mudslides, and avalanches. An example is mountain range in North America. The plates that are causing this are the JUAN DE FUCA PLATE and the NOTH AMERICAN PLATE. They are pushing together to cause a mountain.

Divergent Boundary! Divergent boundaries are when two boundaries move apart letting magma to fill up the gap. Divergent boundaries cause earthquakes and volcanoes. Volcanoes are caused by the oceanic plates when two are collided one is pushed under the other and magma rises to form a volcano.

Transform Boundary! Transform boundaries are when two plates slide up against each other but instead of sliding smoothly they build up tension with a jerk of movement this is an earthquake. Hazards from transform boundaries are earthquakes. Earthquakes are caused by the lateral slipping plate. This happens when two plats move up against each other this creates a lot of jerky movement creating an earthquake.

Real World Connections! The plate we live on is the North American Plate. The plates that border the United states is the African plate, Eurasian plate, South America plate, Cocoa plate, Naza plate, South Pacific plate. No Ohio is not in danger of any Earthquakes because Ohio has only had 200 earthquakes sense 1776 and even then nobody got seriously injured. Not any part of the U.S would be in danger because one of the most serious earthquakes was an area in Missouri called the New Madrid Seismic Zone. In a couple hundred years when Pangaea starts over then all the continents will move again and cause a giant earthquake and then eventually move back again.

Additional Information! Collisional boundaries are when two land masses are pushed together the masses buckle and fold creating mountains. Plates are 50-250 miles thick.

THE END!