Plate Tectonics Basics - Study Notes PDF
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These notes provide a foundational overview of plate tectonics, covering essential topics like plate movement, continental graben formation, and their relationship to hydrocarbon deposits. Concepts like active and passive margins are highlighted, alongside the Wilson Cycle and the structure of Earth's interior. Various processes, such as differentiation and the formation of new seafloor, are also addressed.
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# Basics of Plate Movement * How plates rotate around an axis (no detail on triple junctions) * No need to know about super continents # Continental Graben Structures * How they form: * Active: Formed by mantle plumes. * Passive: Formed by extension. * Types: * Symmetrical * Asym...
# Basics of Plate Movement * How plates rotate around an axis (no detail on triple junctions) * No need to know about super continents # Continental Graben Structures * How they form: * Active: Formed by mantle plumes. * Passive: Formed by extension. * Types: * Symmetrical * Asymmetrical * Active vs. Passive # Hydrocarbon Deposits * How grabens are related to Hydrocarbon deposits. * Why lack of oxygen when basins form: * Accumulation of sediment * Erosion takes place on horst and falls into the basin * Anoxic condition preserves organic matter * High enough temperature for sediment to become oil window and heat sediment * When rift develops into MOR, the rift becomes passive margins. # Planetary Features * Active vs. stagnant * Features associated with active/stagnant plates * How forces cause active lid tectonics # Sea Floor Spreading * The ophelite suite * How new sea floor is created at MOR * Mineral deposits * Cross section of MOR # Paleomagnatism * How it proves sea floor spreading was occurring # Hotspots * How hotspots formed and prove plate tectonics # Wilson Cycle * Understand the stages and what it looks like # Earth's Interior * The composition of Earth's crust to core, including the mantle * How the composition changes at different temperatures and pressure intervals # Ancient Oceanic Crusts * How two ancient oceanic crusts converge * Surface temperature was hot, so no subduction occurred * Underplating, meaning not recycled into the mantle * Melting: Oceanic is mafic, continental is felsic # Differentiation * Heavy minerals sink and light minerals rise * If the same region keeps melting, there will be more felsic at the top and mafic at the bottom. * Suspect tonalites formed * Mafic became felsic due to continuous melting of the same rock * TtG became too light to subduct, so they collided and caused granite # Other Topics * No greenstone belts * Moon forming impact
