Geological Sciences 107 Our Dynamic Planet
Geological Sciences 107
Our Dynamic Planet
PLANET EARTH IS A DYNAMIC EVOLVING SYSTEM - FROM 4.6 BILLION YEARS AGO TO NOW
STRUCTURE & COMPOSITION REFLECT ONGOING EVOLUTION
EVOLUTION DEPENDS ON HOW HEAT- "THE GEOLOGICAL LIFEBLOOD OF PLANETS" - TRANSFERRED OUT OF COOLING EARTH BY THERMAL
CONVECTION (Hot stuff rises)
THERMAL CONVECTION CAUSES PLATE TECTONICS: PLATES OF EARTH'S SURFACE MOVE RELATIVE TO EACH OTHER AT A FEW mm/yr
(about speed fingernails grow)
PLATE MOTIONS CAUSE EARTHQUAKES, VOLCANOS, MOUNTAIN BUILDING AT PLATE BOUNDARIES
PLATE TECTONICS MAKES EARTH WHAT IT IS - DIFFERENT FROM NEIGHBOR PLANETS (Mars, Venus, & Earth: 3 bears principle)
PLATE MOTIONS ARE CRUCIAL FOR THE ORIGIN OF LIFE, ITS SURVIVAL, AND OUR CLIMATE
PLATE MOTIONS PROVIDE RESOURCES AS WELL AS HAZARDS TO SOCIETY
"CIVILIZATION EXISTS BY GEOLOGICAL CONSENT"
EARTH- A LAYERED PLANET DUE TO ITS EVOLUTION
THE PLATES (= LITHOSPHERE) ARE THE COLD, STRONG OUTER
BOUNDARY LAYER ("thin scum": 100 /
6371 km)MOVING OVER
WEAKER ASTHENOSPHERE
Earth’s surface divided up into about a dozen major lithospheric plates
Three Types of Plate Boundaries (Margins)
NORMAL FAULTING
QuickTime™ and aGIF decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Wasatch Fault
Salt Lake City, Utah
Region under extension
REVERSE FAULTING
QuickTime™ and aGIF decompressor
are needed to see this picture.Region under compression
STRIKE SLIP FAULTING
QuickTime™ and aGIF decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Offset fence showing 3.5 m of left-lateral strike-slip motion on San
Andreas fault in 1906 San Francisco earthquake
Western North America: Three Major Plate Boundaries
CONVERGENT (SUBDUCTION)-
Kirby et al., 1996
2001 NISQUALLY, WASHINGTON EARTHQUAKE (M 6.8, $2B damage)
Within subducting Juan de Fuca plate
Intraslab earthquakes now recognized hazard
QuickTime™ and aH.263 decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
CASCADE VOLCANOES INDICATE JUAN DE FUCA
PLATE SUBDUCTION BENEATH NORTH
AMERICA
Mt Saint Helens1980 eruption
USGS
Mt. St. Helens: May 18, 1980
www.fs.fed.us/gpnf/volcanocams/msh
QuickTime™ and aTIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Mount St. Helens as part of the new dome collapses. USDA Forest Service photograph by taken moments after a 3.2 magnitude earthquake triggered the event
on July 18, 2005
TRANSFORM- San Andreas Fault System: Motion Between North American & Pacific Plates
San Andreas Lake- San Francisco Bay
Area
1906 SAN FRANCISCO EARTHQUAKE (Magnitude
7.8)
~ 4 m of slip on 450 km of San Andreas Fault
~2500 deaths, ~28,000 buildings destroyed (most
by fire)
San Andreas Fault- Carrizo Plane, California
San Andreas Fault- Palmdale, California
DIVERGENT: Seafloor Spreading in the Gulf of California
Plate Boundaries in Western North America Evolve Over Time
Western North America Tectonics- The Movie
QuickTime™ and aAnimation decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
ICELAND - Part of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge
- Made of Recently Erupted Basalt
- Formed in past 15 million years
Thingvellir
Eurasian plate
North American plate
20 mm/yr
1973 Eruption on the island ofHeimaey, Iceland
QuickTime™ and aTIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
East Africa Rift - New Spreading Center Forms by Rifting Continental Crust
Africa is splitting up into Nubia (West Africa) and Somalia (East Africa)
2001 Eruption near Goma, Congo
Along the East African Rift
DECEMBER 2004 INDIAN OCEAN EARTHQUAKE AND TSUNAMI
INDIAN PLATE MOVES NORTH COLLIDING WITH EURASIA
COMPLEX PLATE BOUNDARY ZONE
IN SOUTHEAST ASIA
Northward motion of India deforms large region
Many small plates (microplates) and blocks
Molnar & Tapponier, 1977
India subducts beneath Burma
microplate
Earthquakes occur at plate interface
along the Sumatra arc (Sunda trench)
Largest & most destructive
earthquakes results from many years of accumulated motion
BETWEEN EARTHQUAKES:
India subducts beneath Burma at about 20 mm/yr
Fault interface is locked
EARTHQUAKE:
Fault interface slips, overriding plate rebounds, releasing accumulated motion and generating tsunami
HOW OFTEN:
Fault slipped ~ 10 m --> 10000 mm / 20 mm/yr = 500 yr
Faults aren’t exactly periodic - intervals vary
Crucial for assessing hazards
Stein & Wysession, 2003
INDIA BURMA
Tsunami generated
SUMATRA TRENCH
Earthquakes rupture a patch along fault's surface. Generally speaking, the larger the rupture patch, the larger the earthquake magnitude. Initial estimates from the aftershock distribution show the magnitude 9.0 Sumatra-Andaman Islands Earthquake ruptured a patch of fault roughly the size of California, and modeling seismic waves show that most of the slip occurred in the southern 400 km of the patch. For comparison, a magnitude 5 earthquake would rupture a patch roughly the size of New York City's Central Park.
MAGNITUDE 9 EARTHQUAKES ARE INFREQUENT
Stein & Wysession after IRIS
TSUNAMI - water wave generated by earthquakes, volcanic eruptions & landslides
NY Times
TSUNAMI GENERATED ALONG FAULT, WHERE SEA FLOOR DISPLACED, AND SPREADS OUTWARD
http://staff.aist.go.jp/kenji.satake/animation.gif
Red - up motion, blue downHyndeman and Wang, 1993
QuickTime™ and aTIFF (LZW) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
TSUNAMI SPEED IN DEEP WATER of
depth d
c = (gd)1/2
g = 9.8 m/s2 d = 4000 m
c = 200 m/s = 720 km/hr = 450 m/hr
Tsunami generated along fault, where sea floor displaced, and
spreads outward
Reached Sri Lanka in 2 hrs, India in 2-3
QuickTime™ and aGIF decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
http://staff.aist.go.jp/kenji.satake/animation.gif
Because seismic waves travel much faster (km/s) than tsunamis, rapid analysis of seismograms can identify earthquakes likely to cause major tsunamis and predict when waves will arrive
TSUNAMI WARNING
Deep ocean buoys can measure wave heights, verify tsunami and reduce false alarms
HOWEVER, HARD TO PREDICT EARTHQUAKES recurrence is highly variable
M>7 mean 132 yr 105 yr Estimated probability in 30 yrs 7-51%
Sieh et al., 1989
Extend earthquake history with geologic records -paleoseismology
Plate boundary volcanism produces atmospheric gases (carbon dioxide CO2 ; water H2O) needed to support life and keep planet warm enough for life ("greenhouse" )
May explain how life evolved on earth (at midocean ridge hot springs)
Plate tectonics raises continents above sea level
Plate tectonics produces mineral resources including fossil fuels
PLATE TECTONICS IS DESTRUCTIVE TO HUMAN
SOCIETY BUT CRUCIAL FOR HUMAN LIFE
Press & Siever
“CIVILIZATION EXISTS BY GEOLOGICAL CONSENT
- SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE”
The same geologic processes that make our planet
habitable also make it dangerous