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one place forming a supercontinent,

Pangea.
PLATE TECTONICS
2. The continents broke apart and drifted to
their present locations.
A theory explaining the structure of the
earth's crust and many associated Wegener’s theory was not taken seriously
phenomena as resulting from the interaction because no one could believe that things as
of rigid lithospheric plates which move large continents could move and because
slowly over the underlying mantle. Wegener could explain such motion.

Epicenter - The point on the earth's surface

directly above the origin of an earthquake. LAYERS OF THE EARTH

Mountain - Landform that rises prominently

above its surroundings, generally exhibiting
steep slopes, a relatively confined summit
area, and considerable local relief.

Seismograph - An instrument that

measures and records details of
earthquakes, such as force and duration.

Earthquake - A sudden and violent shaking

of the ground, sometimes causing great
destruction, as a result of movements within
Lithosphere - is the solid, outer part of
the earth's crust or volcanic action.
Earth, including the brittle upper portion of
the mantle and the crust.
Volcano - A mountain or hill, typically
conical, having a crater or vent through
Asthenosphere - Zone of earth's mantle
which lava, rock fragments, hot vapor, and
lying beneath the lithosphere and believed
gas are being or have been erupted from
to be much hotter and more fluid than the
the earth's crust.
lithosphere.

The theory of plate tectonics was first

proposed by Alfred Wegener . Wegener TWO TYPES OF CRUST
noticed that the shorelines of the continents ● Oceanic Crust
seemed to ‘fit together’ like the pieces of a ● Continental Crust
giant jig saw puzzle.

Wegener’s theory stated:

1. The continents were once all together in
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Sierra Madre - The longest mountain range

in the Philippines
Cordillera Central - the largest mountain
ranges in the Philippines

TRIANGULAR METHOD

The mathematical method for locating the

Oceanic crust - the outermost layer of
epicenter of an earthquake using three or
earth’s lithosphere that is found under the
more data sets from seismic stations
oceans and formed at spreading centres on
oceanic ridges, which occur at divergent
Seismogram - is a graph output by a
plate boundaries.
seismograph. It is a record of the ground
motion at a particular seismic station as a
Continental crust - the outermost layer of
function of time.
earth's lithosphere that makes up the
planet's continents and continental shelves
Palawan
and is formed near subduction zones at
lag time = 64s – 14s
plate boundaries between continental and
lag time = 50s
oceanic tectonic plates. The continental
crust forms nearly all of earth's land surface.

According to plate tectonics theory, the d= 625 km

entire lithosphere is broken into numerous Calculate the distance in cm. Convert
segments called plates. 625km to cm using the scale provided in the
map. 1cm = 100 km

Mt. Everest
- the highest mountain in the world
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There are seven major plates: African,

Antarctic, Eurasian, Indo-Australian, North
American, Pacific and South American.
The Hawaiian Islands were created by the
Pacific Plate, which is the world's largest
plate at 39,768,522 square miles.

FAULTS

A fault is formed in the Earth's crust as a

brittle response to stress. Generally, the
movement of the tectonic plates provides
3 TYPES OF PLATE BOUNDARIES
the stress, and rocks at the surface break in
response to this. Faults have no particular
Convergent Boundary - also called length scale. If you whack a
destructive boundaries, are places where hand-sample-sized piece of rock with a
two or more plates move toward each other hammer, the cracks and breakages you
make are faults. At the other end of the
Divergent Plate Boundary - occurs when spectrum, some plate-boundary faults are
two tectonic plates move away from each thousands of kilometers in length.
other. Along these boundaries, earthquakes
are common and magma (molten rock) rises Reverse fault - a geological fault in which
from the Earth's mantle to the surface, the hanging wall appears to have been
solidifying to create new oceanic crust. The pushed up along the footwall
Mid-Atlantic Ridge is an example of
divergent plate boundaries. Normal Faults - This is the most common
type of fault. It forms when rock above an
Transform Plate Boundary - occurs when inclined fracture plane moves downward,
two tectonic plates move past one another. sliding along the rock on the other side of
Shear stress operates at transform the fracture. Normal faults are often found
boundaries, which involves sliding motion. along divergent plate boundaries, such as
No lithosphere is destroyed or created, and under the ocean where new crust is
mountain chains are not built at transform forming.
boundaries.
Strike-slip fault - A strike slip fault occurs
in an area where two plates are sliding past
IMPORTANT TERMS each other. In relation to the ground surface
the slip involves sideway movement.
Strike-slip faults are found in California, the
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San Andreas fault being the most famous

which has caused many powerful
earthquakes.

FAULT CATEGORIES

The sense of stress determines the type of

fault that forms, and we usually categorize
that sense of stress in three different ways:

● Compression
● Tension
● Shear

Handily, these three senses of stress also

correlate with the three types of plate
boundaries.
Oceanic to Oceanic Convergent
1. Compressive stress happens at - Collision between two plates composed of
convergent plate boundaries where two oceanic lithosphere
plates move toward each other. -Older crust will subduct

2. Tensional stress happens at divergent What landform is formed when two

plate boundaries where two plates are oceanic plates collide?
moving away from each other.
Converging oceanic plates will cause
3. Shear stress is experienced at transform formation of trenches, and these trenches
boundaries where two plates are sliding will become sources of earthquakes.
past each other.
Underwater earthquakes, especially the
stronger ones, can generate tsunamis. The
Japanese term for “harbor wave,” tsunami is
a series of ocean waves with very long
wavelengths (typically hundreds of
kilometers) caused by large-scale
disturbances of the ocean.
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Tsunami - Caused by underwater Many parts of the Philippines originated

earthquakes from oceanic-oceanic convergence. This
- The deeper the water; the faster the resulted from the collision of two
tsunami. In the deep ocean, tsunamis can oceanic plates, with one of the plates
move as fast as a jet plane, over 500 mph, diving under the other.
and can cross entire oceans in less than a
day. Majority of the islands in the Philippine
- Tsunamis generally reach a maximum archipelago are considered as part of the
vertical height onshore, called a run-up Philippine Mobile Belt. These islands were
height, of no more than 100 feet above sea formed 65 million years ago at the southern
level. edge of the Philippine Sea Plate and are
considered as part of island arcs. Other
How destructive a tsunami? parts of the Philippines, such as Palawan,
A tsunami changes the landscape. It Mindoro, and the Zamboanga Peninsula are
uproots trees and plants and destroys all highland sections of the Sundaland block
animal habitats such as nesting sites for of the Eurasian plate
birds. Land animals are killed by drowning
and sea animals are killed by pollution if The Philippine Mobile Belt eventually
dangerous chemicals are washed away into collided with the Sundaland block which
the sea, thus poisoning the marine life. explains the presence of trenches, such as
the Manila-Negros-Cotabato Trench
➢ largest tsunami wave ever recorded System, and the Sulu Trench
broke on a cool July night in 1958
and only claimed five lives. A 1,720 On the eastern side of the Philippines,
foot tsunami towered over Lituya trenches like the Philippine Trench and
Bay, a quiet fjord in Alaska, after an East Luzon Trough are both products of
earthquake rumbled 13 miles away. subducting Philippine Sea Plate beneath the
archipelago
➢ The deadliest tsunami in history
occurred in the Indian Ocean in side from the formation of trenches and
2004. It was the result of an troughs, the downward movement of
earthquake off the coast of Sumatra oceanic lithospheres underneath the
that took around 230,000 lives Philippine Archipelago creates active
across fourteen countries. volcanic chains.

For example, the descent of the West

Philippine Sea oceanic lithosphere along
Formation of the Philippine
Archipelago the Manila Trench created a volcanic chain
from Taiwan to Mindoro.
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Some of the known active volcanoes in this

chain are Pinatubo in Central Luzon and
Taal in Batangas. Radiometric dating – used to determine
the age of the volcanic island.
Also, the constant dipping movement of
slabs induces frequent moderate to strong Mantle plume - source of molten materials
earthquakes at various depths, gives rise to from the mantle
mountain ranges and develops the geologic ➢ It formed the volcanic island chains.
character of the Philippine Archipelago ➢ As the Pacific plate moves, different
parts of it will be on top of the mantle
plume to receive the molten
materials, thus creating the volcanic
TRANSFORM FAULT BOUNDARY
islands.
➢ Continuing plate movement
Carribean Region - Most transform faults eventually carries the island beyond
are located within the ocean basins. the hot spot, cutting it off from the
San Andreas Fault - Few cut through the magma source, and volcanism
continental crust. ceases.
HAWAIIAN ISLANDS - some of the largest ➢ As one island volcano becomes
and most active volcanoes of the world are extinct, another develops over the
located here. hot spot, and the cycle is repeated.
➢ This process of volcano growth and
What causes the formation of this chain death, over many millions of years,
of volcanic islands? has left a long trail of volcanic
It is because of an area called hot spot. islands and seamounts across the
Pacific Ocean floor.
A hot spot is an area on Earth that exists
over a mantle plume

Mapping of seafloor volcanoes in the Seismic Waves - Caused by the sudden

Pacific - revealed a chain of volcanic movement of materials within the earth,
structures extending from the Hawaiian such as slip along a fault during an
Islands to Midway Islands. earthquake.
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P-waves (primary waves) and the

S-waves (secondary waves).
2 MAIN TYPES OF SEISMIC WAVES

BODY WAVES AND SURFACE WAVES P-wave (primary wave)

● Is a pulse energy that travels quickly
Surface waves through the earth and through
➢ Can only travel through the surface of the liquids.
Earth ● Travels faster than the s-wave
➢They arrive after the main P and S waves ● Also called compressional waves,
travel by particles vibrating parallel
What are the two types of surface waves? to the direction the wave travel
Love waves and the Rayleigh waves
S-wave (secondary wave or shear wave)
Love waves ● Is a pulse energy that travels slower
❖ named out the mathematical model than a p-wave through earth and
after A.E.H. Love, a British solids.
mathematician who worked for this ● The s-waves move as shear or
kind of wave in 1911 transverse waves, and force the
❖ It is faster than Rayleigh wave ground to sway from side to side
❖ Movement : side to side similar to
snake
In 1909, Yugoslavian seismologist Andrija
Rayleigh wave Mohorovičić (moh-haw-rohvuh-chich)
❖ It was named after John William found out that the velocity of seismic waves
Strutt, Lord Rayleigh, who changes and increases at a distance of
mathematically predicted the about 50 kilometers below the Earth’s
existence of this kind of wave in surface.
1885.
❖ Movement : similar to ocean wave Difference in density between the earth’s
❖ Most shaking felt from an outermost layer (crust) and the layer that
earthquake is due to the Rayleigh lies below it (mantle)
wave.
The boundary between these two layers is
called mohorovičić discontinuity in honor of
mohorovičić, and is short termed moho
BODY WAVES
● Can travel through the earth’s inner ➤ In 1936, the innermost layer of the Earth
layers. was predicted by Inge Lehmann, a Danish
seismologist.
What are the two types of body waves ?
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➤ He discovered a new region of seismic thickness extends to 72 kilometers.

reflection within the core. The earth’s crust, as gleaned from
➤ So, the Earth has a core within a core figure 5 on page 12, is subdivided
into two regions: the continental
The size of the inner core was accurately crust and the oceanic crust.
calculated through nuclear underground
tests conducted in Nevada. Echoes from Continental crust
seismic waves provided accurate data in ➢ Made up of mostly silicon, oxygen,
determining its size. aluminum, calcium , sodium, and
potassium
➢ Thickness : 35-40 kilometers
➢ Made of less dense rocks such as
granite

Oceanic crust
➢ 7-10 kilometers thick
➢ Made of dense rocks such as basalt
➢ Heavier than the continental crust

MANTLE
● Extends to about 2900 kilometers
from the earth’s surface
● It makes up about 80% of the earth’s
CRUST total volume and about 68% of its
total mass
● Thinnest and the outermost layer of ● Mainly made up of silicate rocks
the earth ● Made of the elements silicon,
● It extends from the surface to about oxygen, iron and magnesium
32 kilometers below. Underneath ● Lower part of the mantle consists of
some mountains, the crust’s more iron than the upper part
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Lithosphere - The crust and the uppermost

EARTH’S MECHANISM
part of the mantle form a relatively cool,
outermost rigid shell called lithosphere and
is about 50 to 100 kilometers thick. These Continental Drift - In 1912, Alfred Wegener
lithospheric plates move relative to each (pronounced as vey-guh-nuhr), a German
other. meteorologist, proposed a theory that about
200 million years ago, the continents were
Asthenosphere - Beneath the lithosphere once one large landmass.
lies the soft, weak layer known as the
asthenosphere, made of hot molten What did he call that landmass ?
material. Its temperature is about 300 – Pangaea, a Greek word which means “All
800oC. Earth.”

CORE

The core is subdivided into two layers: the

inner and the outer core

Outer core
❖ 2900 kilometers below the earth’s
surface
❖ Made up of iron and nickel
❖ Temperature in the outer core
reaches up to 2000oc at this very
high temperature, iron and nickel
melt.
➔ Wegener searched for evidences to
Inner core support his claim.
❖ Made up of solid iron and nickel ➔ He noticed the fit of the edges of the
❖ Its temperature reaches to about continents on the opposite sides of
5000oc the South Atlantic.
❖ The extreme temperature could ➔ His evidences to the Continental
have molten the iron and nickel but it Drift Theory includes the distribution
is believed to have solidified as a of fossils in different continents, rock
result of pressure freezing, which is features, and ancient climates
common to liquids subjected under
tremendous pressure. Evidence: The Continental Jigsaw
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India, and Antarctica, which are now

Puzzle
separated from each other by wide oceans.

● The most visible and fascinating The large seeds of this plant could not
evidence that these continents were possibly travel a long journey by the wind or
once one is their shapes. survive a rough ride through ocean waves.
● The edge of one continent
surprisingly matches the edge of Example:
another: ● Mesosaurus and Lystosaurus are
● South America and Africa fit freshwater reptiles. Fossils of these
together; animals were discovered in different
● India, Antarctica, and Australia continents, such as in South
match one another; America and Africa.
● Eurasia and North America complete ● It is impossible for these reptiles to
the whole continental puzzle in the swim over the vast oceans and
north. move from one continent to another.
● Fossils were also found in
Antarctica.

Evidence from Rocks

Evidence from Fossils

❖ Fossils found in rocks support the

● Fossils are preserved remains or
Continental Drift Theory
traces of organisms (plants and
❖ The rocks themselves also provide
animals) from the remote past.
evidence that continents drifted
apart from each other
Example:
Fossilized leaves of an extinct plant
Rock formations in Africa line up with that in
Glossopteris were found in 250 million years
South America as if it was a long mountain
old rocks. These fossils were located in the
range.
continents of Southern Africa, Australia,
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was not accepted by the scientific

society until the 1960s.
● He wasn’t able to explain how this
drifting took place. This made
scientists conduct further studies in
search for the answer.
● 1950s and 1960s, new techniques
and modern gadgets enabled
scientists to make better
observations and gather new
information about the ocean floor

Coal Deposits - Coal beds were formed

from the compaction and decomposition of
swamp plants that lived million years ago.
These were discovered in South America,
Africa, Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia,
and even in Antarctica.
●
The current location of Antarctica could not
Scientists found a system of ridges or
sustain substantial amount of life.
mountains in the seafloor similar to those
found in the continents.
Antarctica is the only continent with no
permanent human habitation.
These are called mid-ocean ridges. One of
these is the famous Mid-Atlantic Ridge an
undersea mountain chain in the Atlantic
THE SEAFLOOR SPREADING Ocean. It has a gigantic cleft about 32-48
km long and 1.6 km deep. The ridge is
● The question as to how the drifting offset by fracture zones or rift valleys
took place left the Continental Drift
Theory blurry.
● Despite the evidences presented by
Wegener, his idea that the
continents were once joined together
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Seafloor spreading is also pulling the

continents of Australia, South America, and
Antarctica away from each other in the East
Pacific Rise. The East Pacific Rise is one of
the most active sites of seafloor spreading,
with more than 14 centimeters every year.

Seafloor Spreading Theory

In the early 1960’s, scientist Harry Hess,

together with Robert Dietz, suggested an
explanation to the continental drift

➢ According to this theory, hot, less

dense material from below the
earth’s crust rises towards the
surface at the mid-ocean ridge. This
material flows sideways carrying the
seafloor away from the ridge, and
creates a crack in the crust. The
magma flows out of the crack, cools
down and becomes the new
seafloor.

➢ Overtime, the new oceanic crust

pushed the old oceanic crust far
from the ridge. The process of
seafloor spreading allowed the
creation of new bodies of water

For example, the Red Sea was created as

the African plate and the Arabian plate
moved away from each other.