Plate tectonics

Please note: This course is closing soon and will be removed from OpenLearn on 4 July 2024. Please make sure you have finished studying the course by then.  Plate tectonics is an earth sciences topic that attracts a good deal of interest, given that it a topic very often featured in popular science programmes on TV and radio. It is a subject that has strong visual appeal. In this 15-hour free course the coverage is self-contained, up to date and is written in a way that will be accessible to those with interest and motivation, all the more so for those who have some pre-existing scientific understanding.

• Introduction
• Learning outcomes
• 1 Preamble: the moving Earth
• 1 Preamble: the moving Earth
• 2 From continental drift to plate tectonics
• 2 From continental drift to plate tectonics
• 2.1 Continental drift
• 2.2 Evidence for continental drift
• 2.2.1 Geometric continental reconstructions
• 2.2.2 Geological match and continuity of structure
• 2.2.3 Climate, sediment and the mismatch of sedimentary deposits with latitude
• 2.2.4 Palaeontological evidence
• 2.2.5 Palaeomagnetic evidence and 'polar wander'
• 2.3 Sea-floor spreading
• 2.3.1 Linear magnetic anomalies - a record of tectonic movement
• 2.3.2 Plate tectonics
• 3 The theory of plate tectonics
• 3 The theory of plate tectonics
• 3.1 Assumptions
• 3.1.1 What is a plate?
• 3.2 Heat flow within plates
• 3.3 Constructive plate boundaries
• 3.4 Destructive plate boundaries
• 3.5 Destructive plate boundaries, continued: ocean-ocean (island-arc) subduction
• 3.6 Destructive plate boundaries, continued: ocean-continent (Andean type) subduction
• 3.7 Destructive plate boundaries, continued: continent-continent destructive boundaries
• 3.8 Conservative plate boundaries and transform faults
• 3.9 Triple junctions
• 4 Plate tectonic motion
• 4 Plate tectonic motion
• 4.1 Relative plate motions
• 4.2 Hot-spot trails and true plate motions
• 4.3 Plate motion on a spherical Earth
• 5 Plate driving forces
• 5 Plate driving forces
• 5.1 Why do plates move?
• 5.2 Forces acting upon lithospheric plates
• 5.2.1 Forces acting on the underside of lithospheric plates
• 5.2.2 Lithospheric plates: forces acting at plate margins
• 5.6 Implications of plate tectonics
• 5.6.1 The Wilson cycle
• 5.6.2 Plate tectonics and climate change
• Conclusion
• 5.8 Further reading
• Acknowledgements