Plate tectonics

Movement in NZ

Compression in the east coast of the North Island and Fiordland
Strike-slip in the middle
Stable crust in the far north and south

NZ plate boundary

Most plate motion occurs as earthquakes, Complex boundary with a complex past, Accommodates translation, compression and extension, Significant changes over relatively small distances, Oblique collision

Biggest NZ earthquake

M8.2 Wairapa Earthquake

Fiordland subduction

Frequent large earthquakes, Shallow to deep seismicity, High seismicity rates, and many landslides

Franz Josef town, alpine fault hazards

Earthquake shaking, Fault displacement, Liquefaction, River avulsion and aggradation, Landslide

Taupo volcanic zone

Numerous faults and earthquakes, normal faults, thin crust

Divergant plate margins

Plates move apart, shallow earthwuakes, decompression melting, creation of oceanic crust at mid ocean ridge, hydrothermal activity,
continental rifts
Mid ocean ridges

Continental rifts

Rift valleys, continental lithosphere rifts

Mid ocean ridges

Oceanic-Oceanic lithosphere, ridge and abyssal plains

Mid ocean ridges

Plates pull apart, Asthenosphere wells up to fill gap, Decompression of asthenosphere lowers melting point, Partial melting of mantle produces mafic magma, Magma cools, creating new oceanic crust

Sea floor spreading

Paleomagnetism and marine magnetic anomalies

Convergant plate margins

Plates move together, ranges from shallow to the deepest Eq, flux melting, creation of continental crust at volcanic arc, accrationary wedge
Subduction zones
Continental collision zones

Subduction zones

Oceanic-oceanic or continental-oceanic, trench, volcanic arc

Continental collision zones

Continental continental lithosphere, mountains, thick crustal root

Transform plate margins

Plates slide against each other, shallow EQ, offset surface features
Continental
Oceanic

Continental transform plate margins

Continental-continental, links any two types of plate boundaries

Oceanic transform plate margins

Oceanic-oceanic lithosphere, link divergent segments at mid ocean ridges

Big Bang

13.8 Ga, colled enough for protons, neutrons, and electrons to combine into hydrogen atons,

Big bang nucleosynthesis

Nuclear fusion formed H, He

Stellar nucleosynthesis

Heavy elements created

Supernovae

Creates elements heavier than Fe

Planet formation

Gravity pulls together material to make new stars and a surrounding accretionary disk, starts to coalesce to make planetesimals, collide to make protoplanets and eventually planets

Terrstrial

Small, dense, rocky

Jovian

Large, low-density, gas-giant

Primary waves, P waves

Travel most quickly, travel through solids and liquids, travel fast through cold material, slower through hot material, refracted by changes in density

Secondary waves, S-waves

Travel slower, cannot travel through liquid, cannot travel through liquids

Compositional layer

Continental crust: granite
Oceanic crust: basalt
Mantle: peridotite
Core: liquid outer core, solid inner core

Strength layers

Lithosphere: strong, cool, rigid, crust and upper mantle
Asthenosphere: Weak, easuly deformed, Solid, mantle
Mesosphere: Strong, solid, Mantle

Evidence cupporting continental drift

Fit of the continents, fossil distribution, matching geology, matching paleoclimate,

What is a mineral

A naturally occurring, inorganic, crystalline solid, with a definable chemical composition.

Flux

The constant exchange of energy and matter between Earth’s reservoirs

Sources

Reservoirs that donate energy or matter

Sinks

Reservoirs that receive energy or matter

Isolated system

Matter and energy are fixed and finite,

Closed system

Energy is freely exchanged, Matter is fixed

Open system

Free exchange of both energy and matter

Study earths system over time

Short timescales: time series observations

Long timescales: written records, oral histories

Deep time: geological record