OMG ITS the END of the WORLD!. . . NOT!

alrite, the people who do not get earth science that are running around sayin omg its the end of the world or that mother nature has gone mad, READ THIS! it may take me a couple posts. . .

PLATE TECTONICS!!!!!!!

ok, to start it off: What are plate tectonics????

plate tectonics is the the thery that the Earth's crust, the solid part of the surface, is broken into pieces that "float" on top of a weak, putty-like layer of the mantle called the asthenosphere (as-TEN-oh-sfeer), meaning "weak sphere."

What are the pieces?

there are a seven main plates:

Pacific plate
Antarctic Plate
Indian-Australian plate
North American plate
South American plate
African plate
and Eurasian plate

and minor plates:

Arabian plate
Cocos Plate
Juan de Fulca plate
Caribbean plate
Nazca plate
Scotia plate
and the Philippine Sea plate.

How do they move???

The plates ride atop the asthenosphere. The mantle is constantly going through convection, a process where the heated material rises, because it is less dense, to the top of the mantle. the colder, more dense material then sinks back to the bottom. the plates in turn ride on these convection currents. they move very slowly.

But wait, how do we have an idea of this?

look at a map of the world. look at the sides of Africa and South America. do they not look like they fit together? that is called the jigsaw puzzle theory, which states that all the continents fit together like jigsaw puzzle pieces. this in turn led to the idea of Pangaea, the supercontinent whose name meant "all land."

also, many continents have things that also fit into this idea. in Texas, there are salt beds that today form only in tropical areas. in some areas, there are geographical features that stop on one continent and contine on another, like old river beds, mountain chains, striations etc. there can be fossils where they find the body on one continent and the head on another!

now some of you are probably wondering: But wait, what you said about Africa and South America, if they moved apart like that, how'd they move???

now onto another type of proof we have about plate tectonics becauze it is still happening.

there was a big scientific ship that was sent out to gather rocks from the seafloor of the Atlantic to see how old the Earth was. At that time, scientists believed that the ocean floor was made of rock unaltered since the formation of the Earth. Now, imagine their surprise when the findings proved to be less than a few thousand years old! As they neared the center of the Atlantic, the rocks got younger and younger, even a few days old! this led to the discovery of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, a submarine mountain chain longer than the Andes. they are so long because they wind more than the stitches on a baseball. on each side of these mountains is a volcanic ridge that is spewing forth new material every day, causing these continents to move apart. such a boundary of plates is called divergent because they move apart. if earthquakes occur at these boundaries they are usually weak, yet shallow.

boundaries?????

there are two main types, divergent, which i already talked about, and the convergent. Convergent boundaries occur at areas where two plates converge (big surprise, eh? ) now, if 2 oceanic plates were to converge, they would both go into the mantle, "stoking the fire." where 2 oceanic plates meet, it is called a trench, a famous one is called the Mariana Trench.

where a continental and an oceanic plate were to meet, the denser oceanic plate would go beneath the continental and push it back, forming mountains. Volcanoes are also common around these types of boundaries, like the Pacific Ring of Fire.

if two continental plates were to collide, they would both push up, forming mountains. an example would be the Indian-Australian plate and the Eurasian plate forming the Himalayas.

But what do these have to do with ATS????

Earthquakes, like the ones in Chile, Haiti, China, etc, are a part of this. the reason these ones were so powerful is of the elastic rebound theory. In this theory, rocks can be elastic, taking some of the pressure from the plates moving. they can only stretch so far, however, without returning to their original state. the longer you go without a quake, the more powerful the next one will be. make sense? Mother Earth is not going crazy, just being her usual DYNAMIC self.

volcanoes, like in Iceland (an island which is very volcanically active, btw, which heats its homes using geothermal energy), are also powered by this. pressure builds up in the mantle and is released through openings in the crust aka VOLCANOES!!!!

But wait, Hawai'i has volcanoes, and they are quiet, why is Iceland so violent???

Now lets look at the chemistry of volcanoes. The ones in Hawai'i are shield volcanoes, which are not powerful. Iceland's is more than likely a cinder cone, which are explosive.

But shape alone does not contribute to explosivity. Two other components are water and silica. Silica is a mineral that does not melt easily, so it clogs the volcano in a sense. and when you add a high level of silica to a high level of water, which forms steam, you get a very explosive eruption, Krakatoa-like.

Therefore, volcanoes and earthquakes do not have anything to do with global warming.

i posted only the relevant info. as time goes on, i may just put in a lecture lol. . . if you read this far, thank you, hoped you learned something, and i appreciate it.

The Public school system is not a loss.

[edit on 16-4-2010 by LocoHombre]

Good effort

You've obviously put some work into this, not just a cut and paste job. Although I knew most of this, I applaud you for putting it into a thread. I have been getting rather frustrated by the persistent "doomsday" or "the end is coming" type posts with no substance other than wild fear-mongering assumptions.

There's been a definite increase in earthquake awareness as of late, especially with things such as the e-quake firefox applet (or whatever you call it). Having an awareness of earthquakes and volcanoes is great, but just because you hear of more now than 5 or 10 years ago doesn't mean that the world is falling apart. In fact, if you check the stats on USGS, we're right on target for an average year, at this stage.

The fact is this planet we live in is a highly dynamic rock, always has been and always will. At the moment we are seeing a continuation of the processes which have been going on forever. It would always pay to be aware of the potential for disaster at any moment, but don't let that burden you with a "the end is coming!" mentality. Again, thanks

reply to post by Curious and Concerned


Thank you, i just hate it when people do that. . . and yes most of it is VERY basic, but ya know, just tryin to educate the masses.

and no (forget this in my op), its not the government's, HAARP's, TPTB, ACORN, Mason, Illuminati, NWO, etc's fault

That was actualy a very nice read.

You said "the public schoolsystem is not a loss"
Are you still at school or has it been a while ? Just to get a clue of the time period you learned this.

I have a few questions for you.
Have you ever heard from the expanding Earth theory ?
and
You said volcanic eruptions don't have anything to do with the climate.
What do mean there exactly? Like the climate doesn't influence an eruption. or vice verse ?

Very nice explanation for the masses. As I read it I thought Lava Lamp I Love Lava Lamps.. Is that how they got there name? . Geothermal you say - --- no comment!!

So, if it isn't the NWO, Haarp, TPTB etc.... fault, shall we say then it's the Fault fault

My question is, are these occurrences becoming more frequent and violent or are we just more informed these days of every quake/volcano?

Hard to get good reliable info on that, lots of different opinions.

Good post by the way

Tectonics will go the way of flat earth theory, but not without a fight. Sure the situation is complex but the fact remains there is not enough subduction to account for the spreading. The rest of the worlds spreading should be shrinking the pacific basin, but the pacific basin has been seen to be expanding! Im not asking for 50% spread, 50% subduction proof, but even if a tectonics backer like yourself could show me 5% subduction that has remained consistently proven id be happy. Tectonics is called grasping at straws to explain phenomena that are much more complex than we are yet to understand.

This guy knows what he's talking about.
www.expanding-earth.org...

its the end of the world as we know it.

Id like to add that The end of the world will not happen ever ,

all tho we may someday experiance the end of mankind where we become extint but when that happens the planet her self will continue .

reply to post by Sinter Klaas


i'm in 8th grade.

and what i meant was that climate change does not influence plate tectonics, if that clears it up.

reply to post by rogi22


we are just better informed about major ones. in fact, there are millions of very small earthquakes that happen every day. they are just way too minor to be felt.

reply to post by alysha.angel


true, quite true. you cannot kill energy, only transform it, like hydrogen to deuterium to helium 4 in nuclear fusion.

and the extinction of mankind is inevitable, but the planet will live on, at least until the Sun reaches the point in its evolution where it becomes a giant and shoots past Earth all the way to Jupiter.

reply to post by polarwarrior


plate tectonics will not go the way of the flat earth theory, mainly because we have tons and tons of evidence that it is true. and plus, the Pacific plate is expanding in all directions, and the South American is also heading its way. therefore the basin would expand and not shrink. also, tectonics are responsible for volcanoes, earthquakes, and other such events. re-read the OP.

Originally posted by LocoHombre
reply to post by Sinter Klaas

 

i'm in 8th grade.

and what i meant was that climate change does not influence plate tectonics, if that clears it up.

8th grade ? Is that the year before you start high school or high school already.
Sorry I don't know this but over here we work with a different system.

I believe you are right about climate does not effect plate tectonics.

Your title is what makes this site look bad, alot of here already know what these things are.

reply to post by Sinter Klaas


before i enter high school. i'm 14 of that helps

just saw one of my biggest pet peeves. . . hollow earth "theory."

it is not a theory if it has no scientific backup and just came out of a crazy "scientists" mouth. it is not even a hypothesis, an EDUCATED guess. it is a bunch of Eric von Daniken believers thinking they know the nature f the universe.

I understand what you are saying and I don't disagree with you. However, I think you have left out some major points.

Earthquakes and volcanoes do alter the climate. Large volcanic eruptions can block the sun for years -- which I can assure you most certainly affects the climate.

Also, the Earth goes through periods of time -- cycles -- in which the number of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are greater. Just as it then returns to a more quiet time.

Many people believe we are now entering a more intense period of such quakes and eruptions as has gone on countless times throughout the history of Earth.

How volcanoes can change the world

-- Ash from Iceland volcano has grounded much of western Europe's air traffic
-- Rosanne D'Arrigo says Iceland volcano in 1783 had drastic effects
-- She says it killed many, stunted agriculture and led to starvation
-- A similar event today could prevent some air travel for five months, she says

Long before the advent of air travel, the eruption of Iceland's Laki volcano in 1783-84 had profound effects on climate, not just in Iceland but around the globe.

Just such an aerosol effect is believed to have disrupted the Earth's thermal balance during the Laki event, cooling some Northern Hemisphere regions by as much as 1 or more degrees Celsius below the long-term average.

Source: www.cnn.com...

reply to post by lpowell0627


Yes yes i know this can happen, sorry i left it out. . . Just as Krakatoa, my all time favorite eruption, shot tons of ash into the jet stream and spread it all around the world, causing the global temperature to drop. its ash also caused many interesting things to happen. it caused spectacular sunsets for months and people often saw an emerald moon set against a crimson sky! kinda makes you wish you were alive in 1883. . .

Flag because I thought it was very easy to read and understand the way you describe. I agree there have been many chickens running around with their heads off lately because of a few earthquakes and a volcano.

All in all, nice breakdown of tectonics (8th grade or not ).