Overview of the tectonic history of northern central america chapter pdf available in special paper of the geological society of america 428. Zoom to enlarge size north american and caribbean tectonic plates are famous seismic zones. The neoarchean great lakes tectonic zone in the midcontinent of north america exerted a strong control during the proterozoic stabilization of the superior craton. Fairhead department of earth sciences, university of leeds, leeds, ls29ft, uk received may 24, 1991. These zones are also referred to as seismic zones and seismic hazard zones. Revised tectonic boundaries in the cocos plate off costa rica. Of these the best known is the llano cycle of between 1,200 and 1,080 million years ago mya. Continental drift, sea floor spreading and plate tectonics plate tectonics is a theory developed in the late 1960s, to explain how the outer layers of the earth move and deform. Oceanoceanocean plate dives beneath another ocean plate.
An animated tectonic reconstruction of southwestern north. Neotectonic maps are a kind of paleotectonic map in that they represent the tectonic features produced during one part of geologic time, in this case the quaternary or at most the quaternary and latest tertiary. The great lakes tectonic zone gltz is bounded by south dakota at its tip and heads northeast to south of duluth, minnesota, then heads east through northern wisconsin, marquette, michigan, and then trends more northeasterly to skim the northernmost shores of lakes algoman orogeny added landmass to the superior province by volcanic activity and continental collision along a. The descending end of the oceanic plate melts and creates pressure in the mantle, causing volcanoes to form. The oceanic cocos plate subducting beneath costa rica has a complex plate. A plate tectonic setting for mesozoic rifts of west and central africa r. The anadarko basin is structurally deepest along its southern margin and is fault separated to the south and southeast from cambrian igneous rocks exposed in the wichita mountains ham and others, 1964. Plate tectonics information and facts national geographic. The dextral strikeslip queen charlotte fault extends north of cascadia up to alaska united states rohr, 2000.
It is one of the principal oil and gasproducing basins within the north. Plate tectonics provides a basis for understanding the distribution and origin of mineral and energy resources in space and time rona, 1977. The movement and interaction of these plates is referred to as plate tectonics. Jade made of jadeite jadeitite forms when supercritical fluids released from. South america layout edit usgs earthquake hazard program. The theory of plate tectonics grew out of earlier hypotheses and observations collected during exploration of the rocks of the ocean floor. From wikipedia, the free encyclopedia plate tectonics from greek, tekton builder or mason describes the large scale motions of earths lithosphere. Geology and total petroleum systems of the westcentral. North america dynamics and western us tectonics university of. Plate tectonic concepts made all earlier tectonic maps obsolete. Anzaborrego desert state park is located within a complex zone of strikeslip faulting and oblique.
Global kinematics of tectonic plates and subduction zones. Earthquakes occur most often along geologic faults, narrow zones where rock masses move in relation to one another. Ecuador, bolivia and brazil that surround the peruvian tectonic province, and to a more ambitious attempt to reconstruct the tectonic framework of basin development in south america. Cenozoic tectonic history of the north americacaribbean. Observationsandtectonicsettingofhistoricandinstrumentallyl. Plate tectonics in the late paleozoic sciencedirect. The gemstones jadeite and ruby generally form as a result of the plate tectonic processes subduction and collision. The role of the shoreline fault zone in the tectonic and seismic setting is discussed in section 4. These deep earthquake zones congregated in planes that started near the surface around ocean trenches and angled beneath the continents and island arcs. Recent pub lications report a distinctive segmentation of the upper plate. Introduction the neotectonic evolution of turkey has been dominated by the. Plates move apart at divergent plate boundaries such as the oceanic ridge system that separates the north american and. It is a zone of distinctive tectonism, affecting both archean and early proterozoic rocks, along the northern margin of the early proterozoic penokean fold belt adjacent to the archean superior. Tectonic stress field of the continental united states.
In the case of the former, subduction zones are often the result. Trench systems occur for both continentocean and oceanocean boundaries the worlds deepest parts of the ocean are found along trenches. In particular, during the interval 16 to 8 ma, pacificnorth america motion was. The great lakes tectonic zone a major crustal structure. Variance and structural maps above the south modgunn arch show that.
Cenozoic tectonic history of the north america caribbean plate boundary zone in western cuba mark b. You can pay using your paypal account or credit card. Utah has experienced sixteen earthquakes greater than magnitude m 5. Because of the epeirogenic nature of much of this latest deformation, neotectonic maps. An animated tectonic reconstruction of southwestern north america since 36 ma nadine mcquarrie. Tuzo wilson based on the mounting evidence, the theory plate tectonics continued to take shape.
Apr 3, 2017 world map of fault lines and tectonic plates. Tectonic model for the proterozoic growth of north america. Geologists use the name pangaea panjeeuh to refer to this giant. Transform faults linking two constructive boundaries are the most common, and account for the displacements between adjacent segments of midocean ridges. Tectonic map of texas university of texas at austin. Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools. Tectonic plates are pieces of earths crust and uppermost mantle, together referred to as the lithosphere. The great falls tectonic zone was first identified in 1985. Plate tectonics describes the distribution and motion of the plates. Up close, they are often zones with miles of overlap. That map appeared in print after publication of wilsons 1965 seminal work on transform faults.
Four types of boundaries between tectonic plates sciencing. Today, the theory of continental drift has been replaced by the science of plate tectonics. When two plates push into each other, they form a convergent plate boundary. In the early 20th century, wegener published a paper explaining. Overview of the tectonic history of northern central america. Plate tectonics the tectonic plates of the world were mapped in the second half of the 20th century. The mediterraneanalpine region between the eurasian and african plates is a good example of a plate boundary zone. The tectonic plates of the world were mapped in the second half of the 20th century. To get around this problem, to scientists search for the slab using a different method of analyzing seismic data, which is based on receiver function analysis. In northern michigan, this zone underlies the paleoproterozoic marquette synclinorium, a. The theory of plate tectonics geology lumen learning. Geologists originally believed the zone was part of the wyoming craton, but now conclude that it is distinct from it.
The great lakes tectonic zone is a major precambrian crustal feature more than 1,200 km long extending eastward from minnesota into ontario, canada. This plate motion causes them to collide, pull apart, or scrape against each other. Any use of trade, product, or firm names in this publication is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the u. Kings 1969b tectonic map of north america was on the basis of geosynclinal theory. The theory encompasses the older concepts of continental drift, developed during the. The mexican subduction zone lacks the typical benioff zone of seismicity, which helps delineate the subducting slab in most subduction zones around the world figure 2. Compiled by a team of researchers at nasas goddard flight center this is the most complete map of tectonic activity. Learn more about the causes and effects of earthquakes in this article. The earth is composed of layers of different composition and physical properties, principally the solid central core, the fluid peripheral core, the viscous mantle, and the solid. Seismic activity can often trigger a succession of additional potentially destructive hazards.
The plates are around 100 km 62 mi thick and consist of two principal types of material. You will recall from a previous chapter that there are three. Multiple choice questions for plate tectonics chapter 19 each chapter will include a few questions designed to test your knowledge of material covered in the chapter and in the internetbased resources. Pdf cenozoic tectonic history of the north america. In southwestern north america, a zone of plate boundary deformation on the.
Late paleoproterozoic geon 18 and 17 reactivation of the. Pdf tectonic setting, origin, and obduction of the oman. This is a list of tectonic plates on the earths surface. The maps are also offered without tectonic boundaries to be used to see if students recognize features in the landscape. Stratigraphy, tectonics, and basin evolution in the anza. This plate tectonic interaction along the western edge of north america produced the farallon subduction zone, which was established in midmesozoic time and persisted from. Each type of interaction causes a characteristic set of earth structures or tectonic features.
Obduction occurs when the continental plate is pushed under the oceanic plate, but this is unusual as the relative densities of the tectonic plates favours subduction of the oceanic plate. It connects to the aleutian trench, a subduction zone. The theory has caused a revolution in the way we think about the earth. Geologic and geomorphic boundary zones the boundaries of the geomorphic provinces are not always as distinct as implied by lines on a largescale map figure 21. The great lakes tectonic zone a major crustal structure in. The san andreas fault zone is located in california.
Continental drift, sea floor spreading and plate tectonics. Tectonic escape mechanism in the crustal evolution of. The great lakes tectonic zone revisited usgs publications. At divergent boundaries in the oceans, magma from deep in the earths mantle rises toward the surface and pushes apart two or more plates. Cenozoic tectonic history of the north america caribbean plate boundary zone in western cuba. These have been chosen as examples, other choices would have worked the same. Tectonic map of south america tentative outline for background colors cenozoic yellow, with two tones ks lighter green jk darker green pz2 lighter brown pz1 darker brown, magenta n2 lighter blue n1 darker blue m2 lighter orange m1 darker orange p3 lighter pink p2 darker pink p1 red a2 violet. A collection of javascript utilities to be incorporated into scientific courseware. Refined plate tectonic reconstructions have provided an improved kinematic model of the change from convergent to transform motion, and have shown that there were significant variations in the obliquity of the transform after it developed. Chapter 8 overview of plate tectonic history and its. Tectonic evolution of the anadarko basin region, oklahoma. These boundary zones have plate movement deformation that occurs over a broad region, or belt. Earthquake danger zone map, an earthquake zone is a region in which seismic activity is more frequent.
Iv the geology of south america almut engler encyclopedia of life support systems eolss the amazonian craton, situated in the northern part of south america, is one of the largest cratonic areas of the world about 430 000 km2, fig. Like the scientists before us, we will now merge the ideas of continental drift and seafloor spreading into the theory of plate tectonics. The structure of the earth, plate tectonics and landforms. Subduction zones are prone to large earthquakes, for the two plates grind against each other, sometimes. The tectonics of north america a discussion to accompany. The theory encompasses the older concepts of continental drift, developed. A plate tectonic setting for mesozoic rifts of west and.
Mendocino is a transform pacificnorth america boundary, rather than a convergent farallonnorth america boundary atwater, 1970. Each individual map is available for free in pdf format. Observationsandtectonicsettingofhistoricandinstrumentallyloca. A tectonic earthquake occurs where tectonic plates meet, an area known as the boundary. The tectonic map of texas distinguishes three principal tectonic cycles. Since the development of the theory, geologists have had to reexamine almost every aspect of. What type of convergent plate boundary is found along the west coast of south america where there is an ocean trench offshore and the andes mountains onshore. Accordingly, this type of ocean transform fault forms an integral part of constructive plate boundaries, and their position is made obvious by the jagged shape of parts of the oceanridge. For example, the oceanic nazca plate off the coast of south america along the peruchile trench pushes into and is subducted under the south american plate. The unusual case of the mexican subduction zone mexico is located on one of earths subduction zones, where the ocean floor of the cocos tectonic plate is forcing its way down subducting beneath the continental edge of the north american plate. Plate tectonics the earths crust is divided into plates which are moved in various directions. This change in the configuration of the plate boundary is both relatively simple and profound, making southwestern north america an ideal laboratory for investigating how continental lithosphere. The central america convergent margin off costa rica and nicaragua has been an area of concentrated study during the past decade because of its variable character in a relatively small area and its wellimaged subduction zone.
They have a thick crust and deep lithospheric roots that extend as much as several hundred km into the mantle. Just download it, open it in a program that can display pdf files, and print. Implications for the segmentation of the convergent margin and for plate tectonic models udo barckhausen, cesar r. The theory of continental drift is most associated with the scientist alfred wegener. When the concept of seafloor spreading came along, scientists recognized that it was the mechanism to explain how continents could move around earths surface. Areas of tectonic activity in the united states as indicated by. Pdf pacificnorth america plate tectonics of the neogene. Multiple choice questions for plate tectonics chapter 19. Lexa4 1british geological survey, keyworth, nottingham, uk 2institute of geology and mineral exploration, athens, greece 3university of napoli federico ii, naples, italy 4geological survey of slovak republic, bratislava, slovak republic.
Geology and total petroleum systems of the westcentral coastal province 7203, west africa by michael e. Tectonic setting, origin, and obduction of the oman ophiolite article pdf available in geological society of america bulletin 1111 january 1999 with 2,109 reads how we measure reads. The subducting plate is bent downward to form a very deep depression in the ocean floor called a trench. The southeastern side of the rsz forms an abrupt boundary that extends to depths of 1215 km. Plate tectonics shape and shake british columbia earthquakes. The pacific ring of fire, a string of volcanic regions extending from the south pacific to south america. Mar 24, 2020 earthquake, any sudden shaking of the ground caused by the passage of seismic waves through earths rocks. Islamabad, capital of the asian country of pakistan, is located on major. Revised tectonic boundaries in the cocos plate off costa. The term craton is used to distinguish the stable portion of the continental crust from regions that are more geologically active and unstable.
While that boundary intersects the surface trace of the mesozoic ramapo fault, its dip is generally steeper, placing it within older footwall rocks. The tectonics of north america a discussion to accompany the. The location where sinking of a plate occurs is called a subduction zone. Tectonic evolution of strikeslip zones on continental. These include properties such as convergence rate, age of subducted lithosphere, and position of plate boundaries through time, which are key elements to a variety of. Since its origin in the nascent mobilistic concept of continental drift, as first put forth by wegener 1912, paleogeography has come to be fundamental to our understanding and interpretation of geology and geophysics. This is a consequence of motion on a sphere earth rather than a flat surface map. Continental drift describes one of the earliest ways geologist s thought continent s moved over time. The occurrence of energy and mineral deposits can be related to plate tectonics in three ways. Tectonic plate boundaries that do not fall neatly into one of the above tectonic boundary types are called plate boundary zones. Today these earthquake zones called wadatibenioff zones. World map an earthquake zone is a region in which seismic activity is more frequent. But though wegener had presented a late paleozoic reconstruction relative to europe and africa a century ago, it wasnt until the plate tectonic. The caribbean plate is a mostly oceanic tectonic plate underlying central america and the caribbean sea off the north coast of south america roughly 3.
The intact motion of plates away from spreading centers and toward subduction zones led early workers to conclude that plates are bounded by relatively weak. Much of this geology was the subject of my 1997 aapg distinguished lecturer tour of south america, and was also addressed in a fullday seminar through the sociedad. Based on events over the last million years, the map includes detailed plate boundaries, volcanic centers, and continental rift zones. Notice that the two arrows, indicating places that will match when the continents are pushed together, are not the same length.