1. Earth Science 9.4 Mechanisms of Plate Motion

2. Earth Science 9.4 Mechanisms of Plate Motion
Convection Currents
When you heat your home you notice warm air rises and cool air sinks. This is an example of convection currents.

3. Earth Science 9.4 Mechanisms of Plate Motion
Convection Currents
A convection current is a continuous flow that occurs in a fluid or gas because of differences in density. Warm material is less dense, so it rises. Cooler material is more dense, so it sinks.

4. Earth Science 9.4 Mechanisms of Plate Motion
Convection Currents
Convection currents in the mantle of the Earth provide the basic driving forces for plate motion.
The hot but solid rock of the mantle behaves in a plastic way over long periods of geologic time. It can flow very slowly circulating within the Earth.

5. Earth Science 9.4 Mechanisms of Plate Motion
Convection Currents
The main heat source for mantle convection is the energy released by radioactive isotopes in the mantle, such as uranium, thorium, and potassium.
Another source is heat from the Earth’s core.
Since most of the heat comes from the mantle, a bowl of soup in a microwave oven is a better analogy for this process than a pot on a stove.

6. Earth Science 9.4 Mechanisms of Plate Motion
Convection Currents
But how does mantle convection produce plate motions?
The plates are simply the top part of the mantle convection currents.
The weakness of the asthenosphere allows the stiff lithosphere to slide across it.

7. Earth Science 9.4 Mechanisms of Plate Motion
Convection Currents
At the “top” of these convection currents, ocean plates cool and become denser than the mantle rock beneath them.
As a result, an ocean plate will begin to subduct beneath another plate.

8. Earth Science 9.4 Mechanisms of Plate Motion
Convection Currents
The greater density of the cold ocean plate causes it to sink all the way down to the base of the mantle.
Rock from the lower mantle rises into the upper mantle and reaches the surface at mid-ocean ridges, where new ocean floor is formed.

9. Earth Science 9.4 Mechanisms of Plate Motion
Convection Currents
This cyclic flow of mantle rock, which may take a half-billion years, is called whole mantle convection.

10. Earth Science 9.4 Mechanisms of Plate Motion
Convection Currents
The sinking of cold ocean lithosphere directly drives the motions of mantle convection through slab-pull and ridge-push.
In slab-pull, the force of gravity pulls old ocean lithosphere , which is relatively cold and dense, down into the deep mantle.

11. Earth Science 9.4 Mechanisms of Plate Motion
Convection Currents
In ridge-push, the newly formed lithosphere slides down the sides of the mid-ocean mountains after it emerges from the Earth as undersea lava.
This downward slide is the result of gravity acting on the cool and dense oceanic lithosphere ( the newly created ocean floor).

12. Earth Science 9.4 Mechanisms of Plate Motion
Convection Currents
Acting together, slab-pull and ridge-push move ocean lithosphere from mid-ocean ridges toward subduction zones and than down into the mantle.

13. Earth Science 9.4 Mechanisms of Plate Motion
Convection Currents
Because Earth is not growing or shrinking in size, the downward flow of subducted ocean lithosphere must equal the upward flow of rock back up toward the surface.
Scientists are presently debating how this happens.

14. Earth Science 9.4 Mechanisms of Plate Motion
Convection Currents
Some scientists think that most upwelling of mantle rocks occurs in the form of hot-spot mantle plumes.
A mantle plume is a rising column of hot solid mantle rock.

15. Earth Science 9.4 Mechanisms of Plate Motion
Convection Currents
Other scientists think that large mantle plumes DO NOT EXIST. They think that rock replaces sinking ocean lithosphere through a slow, broad rise of rock throughout the mantle .
Most scientists think that both process are involved.

16. Computer Lab Assignment:
Use the internet to research and find the answer to the following questions: DO NOT COPY CUT OR PASTE Write one paragraph (five full sentences) one each question.
How are plate motions connected with motions in the other parts of the Earth’s mantle?
How are the forces of slab-pull and ridge-push related to plate motions?