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.
Overview
Syllabus
- 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
