Botkin Environmental Science Earth as Living Planet 8th txtbk

114 CHAPTER 6 The Biogeochemical Cycles
180°
120°
60°
0°
60°
120°
180°
60°
40°
0°
40°
Aleutian
Trench
San
Andreas
Fault
Pacific
Plate
East
Pacific
Rise
North
American
Plate
Cocos
Plate
Nazca
Plate
Caribbean
Plate
Andes Mountains
South
American
Plate Mid-
Atlantic
Ridge
Alps
Arabian
Plate
African Plate
Eurasian Plate
Himalayas
Java
Trench
Plate
Boundary
Uncertain
Philippine
Sea Plate
Caroline Plate
Indian-
Australian Plate
Pacific
Plate
60°
40°
0°
40°
60°
180°
Antarctic Plate
120°
Scotia
Plate
60°
0°
Antarctic Plate
60°
120°
60°
180°
FIGURE 6.11 Generalized map of Earth’s lithospheric plates. Divergent plate boundaries are shown as heavy
lines (for example, the Mid-Atlantic Ridge). Convergent boundaries are shown as barbed lines (for example, the
Aleutian trench). Transform fault boundaries are shown as yellow, thinner lines (for example, the San Andreas Fault).
Arrows indicate directions of relative plate motions. (Source: Modified from B.C. Burchfiel, R.J. Foster, E.A. Keller,
W.N. Melhorn, D.G. Brookins, L.W. Mintz, and H.V. Thurman, Physical Geology: The Structures and Processes of
the Earth [Columbus, Ohio: Merrill, 1982].)
between plates are geologically active areas, and most
volcanic activity and earthquakes occur there. Earthquakes
occur when the brittle upper lithosphere fractures
along faults (fractures in rock within the Earth’s
crust). Movement of several meters between plates can
occur within a few seconds or minutes, in contrast to
the slow, deeper plate movement described above.
Three types of plate boundaries occur: divergent,
convergent, and transform faults.
A divergent plate boundary occurs at a spreading ocean
ridge, where plates are moving away from one another
and new lithosphere is produced. This process, known as
seafloor spreading, produces ocean basins.
A convergent plate boundary occurs when plates
collide. When a plate composed of relatively heavy
ocean-basin rocks dives (subducts) beneath the leading
edge of a plate composed of lighter continental rocks,
a subduction zone is present. Such a convergence may
produce linear coastal mountain ranges, such as the
Andes in South America. When two plates that are
both composed of lighter continental rocks collide, a
continental mountain range may form, such as the Himalayas
in Asia.
A transform fault boundary occurs where one plate
slides past another. An example is the San Andreas Fault
in California, which is the boundary between the North
American and Pacific plates. The Pacific plate is moving
north, relative to the North American plate, at about 5
cm/year (2 in./year). As a result, Los Angeles is moving
slowly toward San Francisco, about 500 km (300 mi)
north. If this continues, in about 10 million years San
Francisco will be a suburb of Los Angeles.
Uplift and subsidence of rocks, along with erosion,
produce Earth’s varied topography. The spectacular Grand
Canyon of the Colorado River in Arizona (Figure 6.12a),
sculpted from mostly sedimentary rocks, is one example.
Another is the beautiful tower karst in China (Figure
6.12b). These resistant blocks of limestone have survived
chemical weathering and erosion that removed the surrounding
rocks.